Juvenile justice dissertation ideas?

I already have a tentative research topic. I have submitted my concept draft for the first three chapters (mini-dissertation) and got good feedback.

I spoke to a research analyst at my state's juvenile justice commission that maintains the data I'd like to use for one of my research questions. He said it's definitely something they would assist with once I submit the necessary data request form. He told me that the state has consistently reduced its use of out of home placement (incarceration) over the past few years. I also looked at the annual reports and this is the case. So, I started to I feel like researching the use of community-based alternatives to juvenile incarceration doesn't make sense since they seem to already be moving away from incarceration. However, he told me that it's still a good area but I just have to figure out how I am going to approach it. He said maybe I could look at why some programs are more effective than others. He spent over 30 mins giving me some advice. He has a Ph.D. in Sociology (juvenile justice research) from Princeton. He suggested I speak with senior probation officers. I am awaiting a response from my county's chief probation officer.

While I await more direction on my research interest, I am open to other interesting research ideas in juvenile justice. I am passionate about everything related to juvenile justice issues (DMC, mental health, educational attainment, employment possibilities, LGBT (which I doubt Liberty would entertain lol), comparison of for-profit versus state facility treatment outcomes).

 

Your research ideas should come from gaps in the scholarship of your field, not be based cool topics. Of course, personal interest certainly enters into it, but the need should be there first.

 

While I join my esteemed colleagues at being delighted that Doctor Doctor Dougle has once again graced us with his presence, I must cordially disagree. You may find an area that could use some scholarly attention, but if you don't find it a cool topic for you, you're just going to muck it up. Personal interest is paramount - if you've got that, you can "create the demand for your product."
Lots of dissertations have been "done before" - they key is what you can bring to yours that makes it new and different. You can even "combobulate" other people's research as long as you bring your own perspective to it in a manner that you are making an original contribution to the scholarly body of knowledge in your field.

The key advice I usually give (based on the key items I have usually seen people screw up): (1) KISS - keep it simple, stupid. But most of all, keep it focused. A friend of mine did his dissertation at one of the Roman pontifical universities on the life of St. Augustine. Bad move - the literature search alone hung him up for years. Choose a topic that will not involve a massive literature search or search of similar previous projects.

(2) Keep the human element in it. Unless you're a master of statistics and get your jollies out of empirical studies, stay quantitative instead of qualitative. You (Chris) have a gift that most people don't have - you can already write well. Make the most of it. But if you utilize a survey or testing instrument, make sure it's not too subjective - I'm just speculating, but I would imagine that evaluating the efficacy of a program, or of one program over another, should be worded carefully in terms of measuring what may be people's subjective opinions. Needless to say (in case they didn't cover this in the research portions of your program at Liberty), make sure that any survey or testing instrument follows any required guidelines regarding human subjects.

(3) Do you yet have a specific dissertation advisor at Liberty? That is the key person you want to tap into, since he or she will be the one to put the kibosh on anything you do that's off the wall (or that they merely think is off the wall). External experts (like those in your state or county) are giving you feedback based on their interests, which may or may not jive with what will be required by your "powers that be."

I don't know what schedule you're on in terms of submitting a topic or proposal, but chances are that during your coursework you'll literally stumble onto a topic that makes you go, "Hmmmmmmm . . . that would make a good dissertation." The lightbulb will go on over your head and it will literally fall into place. But most important, you'll be turned on by whatever the idea is, and formulating it into a dissertation proposal will be a natural.

 

Along the lines of moving away from incarceration is to look at other forms of confinement that we have moved towards/away from and analyze the reasons why.

I took a graduate class in juvenile justice years ago when juvenile boot camps were still a thing so I decided to write my term paper about that. I started with the thinking that the intense discipline would be beneficial as it seems to work for the military. By the time I completed my paper I decided juvenile boot camps among the more ill conceived ideas for several reasons (lack of follow up discipline, lack of preliminary health screening, not exactly a volunteer program, etc.).

Anyway, this piggy backs on the topic you have already selected and may work as part of your introduction.

Good luck!

 

Ooooooops . . .

Obviously, from the first part of the sentence, I must have been in a bass-ackwards mood when I wrote that. It should read, " . . . stay qualitative instead of quantitative."

 

I think you meant that the other way around. If OP enjoys stats and such then they would definitely want to stay quantitative. Otherwise, they would definitely want to stay qualitative.

 

Wow! Levicoff and Douglas . . . Douglas and Levicoff . . . together again. Maybe there should be a reunion tour . . . sell T-shirts and everything . . .

Unlike Dr. Douglas and Dr. Levicoff, I do not have a doctoral degree. I've never even tried. But one thing I've heard is that the dissertation is the killer. Lots of ABD people floating around in Limbo because they just couldn't manage to finish the dis. To my way of thinking that means you have to have some real interest in the subject in order to push through. It doesn't have to be your life's work but it has to be interesting enough so that you're willing to spend a shmillion hours reading and writing on the topic. Best of luck.

 

Great point. While driving the other day and pondering on my dissertation interest, I said I would read recently published peer-reviewed articles on juvenile justice and see what the authors suggest as areas for future research. I believe this is always a good place to start. I think passion is equally important.

 

Here's what Harvard say to say on the subject

https://gsas.harvard.edu/news/stories/how-pick-dissertation-topic

 

Steve, I'm not surprised that you'd use that version of KISS. Anyway, for my reply, I'll keep it short and simple!

Steve said I write well... My head is now swollen haha. On a serious note, I'm not a stats person. I am currently finishing up my last two weeks of Quantitative Methods of Research which involves weekly SPSS assignments. Based on the research questions I submitted in my concept draft, I decided on a mixed-methods study. I was hesitant because I heard it was strongly discouraged in the School of Education at Liberty. However, the chair for doctoral programs and research in the School of Government said mixed-methods was not only allowed but encouraged. I know it will be more time consuming so I would prob hire a statistician while I handle the qual portion. As far as the other advice you've given about evaluating programs and using testing instruments, I will be sure to keep those in mind. I took a program evaluation course during my master's program at Lamar U. I will be taking both Qualitative Methods of Research and CJ Program Evaluation in the fall. They are my last two research course as I've taken two so far.

So, based on the recently published dissertation manual, our chairs and readers will be assigned. The chair of doc programs said it will alleviate the issue of faculty members turning down students. So, they plan to assign members based on their research interest. Sadly for me, Liberty only has juvenile justice SMEs who don't hold doctorates. So the chair said basically anyone with a Ph.D. in CJ or a closely related field will be able to serve on my committee. Even though they will assign the chairs/readers, we will have the opportunity to identify people in advance and notify the doctoral chair if they agree to serve on our committees. There's a faculty member that I'd like to be my chair but I haven't asked as yet. He has a Ph.D. in CJ from Walden, double master's (one in Forensic Science from George Mason). He recently published two peer-reviewed articles, one in the Journal of Forensic Science and the other in The Qualitative Report. It's good to know that at least one faculty is publishing. He will be working on another peer-review publication which is Liberty grant funded. Guess who was selected to be the paid student research assistant? Yours truly. I am excited to gain this experience. It will be a quantitative study but he said he'd provide all the guidance I need. I see him as the perfect person to be my chair.

I am on track to finish my coursework in Spring 2020 and take the comp exam and research concept in the summer. If all goes well, the dissertation will start in Fall 2020.

 

I agree with you about the dissertation not being one's life's work. The chair of doctoral program and research in the School of Government told us on a recent webinar that we shouldn't see the dissertation as this perfect piece. He said it should be good enough to earn the degree and we can always do more research post-Ph.D.

I recently read this piece on the good enough dissertation:
https://www.thedissertationcoach.com/blog/the-good-enough-dissertation/

 

The notion that a dissertation must be torture is a vicious rumor started by doctorate holders to prevent people from even attempting a doctorate, let alone a dissertation.

FWIW, I came up with my doctoral dissertation subject when I was seeking a subject for my master’s thesis. One subject came along that made me think, “Nahhhhh, this is too good for a master’s thesis. It should be a doctoral dissertation.” It was in an area that did not require an extensive literature search (yet respectable enough in volume to justify it as doctoral work), had never been done before, and definitely fit the ultimate requirement that a dissertation make an original scholarly contribution to the body of literature in my field.

And that, in part, is why I went on to the doctorate. The only on-location research I needed to do was in Iowa, of all places, so I occasionally took a drive out there during my coursework portion of my program to do preliminary research. I learned that at the Iowa Historical Society, which had several cartons of original documents on my subject, no one had ever gone into those cartons, nor had they even been catalogued. You can’t get more original than that.

This was all before the Internet had the resources it has today, so I ended up keeping more than one library in the black by making photocopies out the wazoo. On my home end, I did massive case research at the local law libraries, again exhausting multiple copy cards. I logged relevant quotes over a year-plus period, again doing it the old fashioned way, on three-by-five cards. When I finally sat down to actually write the thing, it took only 30 days to write it. And it was easy as pie.

(I will confess that the 30 days of writing took place over a 60-day period. A couple of weeks into it, I put the dissertation aside to write Christian Counseling and the Law, for which I had signed a contract with Moody Press. That took all of 30 days, after which I went back to the dissertation.)

So what’s the secret? Simple – you have to be a good writer at the start. Most of the people who complain that a dissertation is torture have CWS syndrome (can’t write shit). And, quite frankly, they are the type who never should have attempted a doctorate in the first place.

So, kiddies, for those who have not yet begun a doctorate, if you have never learned to write well, do it now. Buy your very own copy of the Turabian Style Manual and keep it in your bathroom, then read a portion of it every time you take a crap. It’s more interesting than porn or comic books, and will pay off when it comes time to formulating notes and references. And if you have the related disorder of CSS (can’t spell shittt), find someone who can review your work for basic things like spelling, grammar, and punctuation.

For the curious, my dissertation was 318 pages according to Proquest. Compared with my master’s thesis, which was 130-ish pages and took only three days to write (once again, on top of a year of research). If you write well and you like writing, you can be as brilliant as me. And as humble.

 

YER BACK!!!

 

Perhaps a qualitative study. Interview adults who were (past tense) incarcerated as juveniles on their perceptions of the nuclear family during their formative years and how it impacted their choices in life. I stated adults who were incarcerated as juveniles to avoid "vulnerable populations" in research. I like a qualitative study because it can certainly lead to further areas of research.

 

Very interesting - something to consider.

 

Well, as I said, I don't know from personal experience but the sheer number of ABDs out there suggest that it's a daunting task. Maybe they're not good enough writers, as you suggest, but whatever it is, it would seem to me that from a strictly business viewpoint the universities would be better off if the had more successful, satisfied customers.

 

Your department chair is absolutely correct. One thing that ends up defeating people is the drive to write a dissertation that is the ultimate magnum opus, to do it better or greater than anyone has before.

When I was in California, a fellow student breezed through his M.A. program in Apologetics and was determined to write the ultimate thesis on Mormonism as a cult (he was one of those cult-buster types, down to the point of actually having the t-shirt). And he could regale you with his primary source knowledge of Mormon theology – this guy would have done Walter Martin proud (and he had even studied with Martin). But he never started writing his actual thesis. A few years later, he ultimately took two more courses in lieu of writing a thesis and graduated with a thesis-free degree.

I tried to convince him for a couple of years of the notion that no one really gave a crap what he did, and that even if he did succeed in writing a magnum opus, someone would come along afterwards and do it better. (I found this out twice after I wrote trailblazing books. If you write a trailblazer, someone will come along who has your book to use for their research, and they will write one that is better, more comprehensive, more complete, and more current. It’s just part of the game.)

So how much should you do to finish your dissertation? Exactly what you have to do, and no more. Unless you feel like it at the time. But realize the entire time that nobody gives a crap, that your dissertation will not change the world, and that after it’s done and you have earned your degree, the most prominent spot it will take up in your life is a space on your bookshelf where it can gather dust in peaceful retirement. And after all is said and done, even you won’t give a crap as long as you’ve got that piece of parchment that says “Chrisjm18, Ph.D.”

So take a moment. Sit back, and kick your feet up. Close your eyes and smell the coffee. In other words, clear your head. Because right now you’re being inundated with other people’s ideas, advice that may or may not be sound, and enough happy horse manure to put you into a state of information overload. I would find it incomprehensible if you didn’t get to the point where it would do you a world of good to take a week or two off and vege out so you don’t burn out.

The article on the “good enough dissertation” is spot on. Because that’s all a dissertation has to be. And because, once you have the Ph.D. is in your hand (or on your wall), even you will forget your dissertation. And that’s fine, since it will have accomplished what it is intended to do – become the icing on the cake of your Ph.D. And once you have graduated, you can change the world. Until then, don’t rock the boat of your life, don’t burn out, but do “enough” to get through your program.

Now, you have a wall in front of you. It’s 100 feet high. You are going to ultimately climb 60 feet of it, after which you will have a Ph.D. And it’s time to set your goal. If you set it at, say, 75 feet high but you only make it 60 feet, you will have fallen short of your goal, you will be frustrated, and you will ultimately join the ranks of the great unwashed ABD’s of the world. But if you set your goal at, say, 50 feet but you make it to 60 feet, you will have met your goal and surpassed it, coasting your way along to graduation. “Good enough” is, in fact, a pretty good goal to set.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve had quite enough alliteration and symbolism for the day.

 

[QUOTE="chrisjm18, post: 526202, member: 32184"The chair of doctoral program and research in the School of Government told us on a recent webinar that we shouldn't see the dissertation as this perfect piece. He said it should be good enough to earn the degree and we can always do more research post-Ph.D.[/QUOTE]

I completed my 2nd Residency at Keiser for the DBA program, and the above is exactly what they told us.

My department chair also said "Do a world changing, perfect peer-reviewed paper after you do this dissertation and have the doctorate title . . . . now is not the time"


Michael

 

It is. In America. But it doesn't have to be.

Our problem is the "taught" doctorate, where one completes a couple or three years of coursework before undertaking a dissertation. That coursework doesn't represent a significant deviation from one's previous coursework, so it all fells fine. Until the dissertation phase. A doctoral dissertation is unlike any other academic experience prior, even a master's thesis or a bachelor's dissertation.

In a typical "big book" British PhD, candidates are admitted to the MPhil, not the PhD. Then after some thesis development they can apply to "upgrade" their candidacy to the PhD. Some are refused, however, and are "degreed out" at the MPhil. Others stay and continue to pursue admission to the PhD. I don't have exact numbers, but it's pretty safe to say a great number of candidates--after going through all of that--go on to graduate. Contrast that with PhD students in the US, of whom only about half actually earn the doctorate.

Taught programs in the US can and should demand greater amounts of research work be done prior to candidacy. Reduce the shock and increase the likelihood of eventual success.

 

I completed my 2nd Residency at Keiser for the DBA program, and the above is exactly what they told us.

My department chair also said "Do a world changing, perfect peer-reviewed paper after you do this dissertation and have the doctorate title . . . . now is not the time"


Michael[/QUOTE]


I just sent this to my dissertation chair as we are trying for a December defense....I put exclamation marks on it...!!!