- Find a public setting where you can practice your hand at field observation to answer a question that you find interesting. For example, it could be studying who does and does not properly return shopping carts at a grocery store. Or, are men or women more likely to hold a door open for someone when entering a building. Plan on spending at least 30-minutes making observations. Write up what you observed in a 250 – 350 word essay. In your essay, include what you learned about field research in doing this exercise. Here is a link to the grading rubric. For this discussion everything should be in your own words, there shouldn’t be any quotes.
- Does the criminal justice system represent an effective deterrent against crime? Are punishment mechanisms determined based on partisanship rather than interest in maintaining public order? Why do Republican-dominated states tend to have higher incarceration rates than Democratic-dominated states? Why does proximity to an election increase incarceration rates?
- Everything should be original and written in your own words.
