Thesis Committee

[DavidPhillips]

Hello fellow Criminology/Criminal Justice enthusiasts,

I am a typical overwhelmed graduate student looking for some help. Since I’ve exhausted most other options, I naturally turned to the internet for guidance. I was in the process of finishing my master’s degree when all progress came to a screeching halt thanks to the program’s thesis requirement. I know this is extremely common, by my situation is a bit unusual in that I’ve had no problem when it comes to the actual writing portion of the project. I had an easy time coming up with hypotheses, procuring data, analyzing it, and writing about the results. The committee member in charge of the project supervised me through the process and he thinks I have a good product. My only problem is that the project requires the approval of three committee members and, for the life of me, I can’t find a second or third committee member. Everyone I ask seems to think it will be a large time commitment which would be understandable if it was a Doctoral dissertation, but since this is a simple research project of 50 – 60 pages with a huge chunk of it already written this should not be the case.  And so, I’ve come to this forum hoping to find potential candidates to fill these roles

Background on the study:

The first hypothesis is simply that there will be a moderate negative correlation between the two variables: 1.State Brady scores (from the Brady Campaigns annual scorecard), and 2. State firearm homicide rates. (i.e. the higher the Brady score, the lower the firearm homicide rate). This hypothesis is based on the literature review which shows inconsistent or inconclusive results with similar studies on state gun laws and firearm homicide.  The second hypothesis is much more interesting and insightful. It suggests that when the homicide population is broken into age groups, the correlation between the two variables will be stronger as age increases. Currently, the population is broken into five age groups: 1.) 14-24 years, 2.) 25-34 Years, 3). 35-44 years, 4). 45-54 years, and 5.) >55 years. Therefore, if the second hypothesis is correct then group 5 will have a stronger correlation coefficient than group 4, which will have a stronger coefficient then group 3, etc.

Who can be a committee member:

The criteria for this is much more flexible than you might think. Since the study is related to criminology, I prefer the committee members be professionals in the field or at least have an advanced degree in the subject or a similar subject. (i.e. a PhD or Master’s degree), however this does not have to be the case. Acceptable committee members could specialize in writing, APA format, data analysis, etc or simply be considered experts in the subject matter. Committee members do not have to do any paperwork or attend a thesis defense. Committee members literally just advise the student until they produce a paper that the members deem acceptable and then sign the final product.

If any of you could help or know someone who could help, it would help me immensely. Thank you.

[GradSchoolTruther]

Does your chair have any ideas? He/she should be getting other faculty to help, as they are supposed to be your advocate in the process. Seems odd a committee member is not a part of the defense.

As for your hypotheses, you need to simplify them. States with higher levels of gun control have lower firearms homicide rates. How did you develop it if the literature states it's inconclusive? Also there are questions of causality when analyzing the models. Are firearms laws driving Brady scorecard grades, or vice-versa?

As for your second hypothesis, age is an interactive term. Firearms homicide rates are higher among older individuals than younger individuals in states with low levels of gun control compared to states with high levels of gun control.

I assume you are using OLS regression to test the hypotheses.

Edited April 19, 2016 by GradSchoolTruther

[DavidPhillips]

Hi ,

I appreciate your response. Yes, I find a lot of things odd about the thesis process for this program and would not recommend the program for that reason, but I’ve come this far so I feel the need to finish it. The background I mentioned in the initial post was intended to be a very general summary just so the readers know the nature of the project, but I have no problem elaborating.

Hypothesis 1 - suggests a moderate negative correlation because while most of the research on this subject does suggest a negative correlation (i.e. more gun laws correlates with less firearm homicide), the strength ranges from negligible to strong. Naturally there is no literature that is the exact same as my study (which would make me doing it pretty pointless) so my best guess with all factors considered is that the correlation will be negative but the strength of the correlation will be moderate.

Correlation vs. Causation – There are certainly many possibilities that may explain the nature of the correlations. While the state laws themselves may effect firearm homicide rates, it’s also possible that states with a larger gun violence issue adopt more laws which could effect the results. More factors include the degree to which law enforcement enforces the laws, socioeconomic issues, the state’s proximity to state’s with few gun control laws (For instance, California has many gun laws while Arizona has few and perhaps if Arizona adopted stricter laws then the “flow” of guns to California will be greatly reduced and reduce firearm homicide in California). Many of these possibilities will be elaborated on in the discussion section after reviewing the results of the analyses.

Data Analysis- Correct, OLS regression is used. Results are also displayed on scatterplots with trend lines.

I don't quite follow your paragraph: “As for your second hypothesis, age is an interactive term. Firearms homicide rates are higher among older individuals than younger individuals in states with low levels of gun control compared to states with high levels of gun control. “ Could you elaborate more?

Again, thank you for your input.

[GradSchoolTruther]

What's your dependent variable, which establishes causality in your models?

[fall2016applicant]

An interactive variable is a variable that affects the relationship between two other variables, and the direction or strength of that effect varies by quantity/quality of the interactive variable. 

So if C=1, A has a positive effect on B. But if C=2, A has a negative effect on B.