Assignment: Part II: Presentation of Executive Summary

Tiffany D Tyson CRJS 6216 Criminal Justice Research Week 9 Assignment 10/31/22 Design a study to examine the effect of crime on your community from a quantitative and qualitative approach. Title of Study: Discussing the relationship between domestic violence and liquor consumption and purchase among various sections of society. Research question: Is there any positive correlation between liquor consumption and domestic violence committed within the community? Hypothesis: The hypothesis here is that the easy availability of liquor shall result in increased rates of domestic violence. Furthermore, this is also likely to be affected by the stability of a person’s lifestyle—i.e., those with unstable means of income in high-cost-of-living areas might be more prone to domestic violence when they have consumed liquor since they are already under an amount of stress due to the lack of a stable lifestyle. Sampling Method and Population: A correlational research design will be used here to discover whether there is a positive or negative relationship between domestic violence and liquor consumption. For the sampling method, stratified sampling under the probability sampling method shall be used. The target population is the US Virgin Islands, consisting of 104,068 persons. Salaries in Virgin Islands (US) range from 680 USD per month (minimum salary) to 12,000 USD per month (average maximum wage, actual maximum is higher). The median salary is 2,640 USD per month, which means that half (50%) of the population are earning less than 2,640 USD while the other half are earning more than 2,640 USD. The median represents the middle salary value. Of this, 150 people from each class to be selected for survey, half of whom shall be working persons, and the other half shall be their dependant spouses, i.e., a total of 450 persons. Variables in the Study: The independent variable is the cause, i.e., that which is constant and unaffected. Here, it is the consumption and purchase of liquor. Other independent variables can also be the stability of income, education level, cost of living, etc., all of which are stress factors that may lead to a loss of inhibition in a person, making them prone to domestic violence. The dependent variable, i.e., the changing effect, would be domestic violence, which may or may not occur as a result. The independent variables here cannot be manipulated, but they can be used to group subjects based of if and what amount of alcohol they consume and has been used in grouping subjects on the basis of their income. Domestic violence has been defined under Title 16 Section 91 of the Virgin Islands Code, the occurrence of any of the following acts, attempts or threats against a person who may be protected under this chapter pursuant to subsection (c) of this section: (1) Assault; (2) Battery; (3) Burglary; (4) Kidnapping; (5) Unlawful sexual contact; (6) Rape; (7) Forcible or unlawful entry; (8) Coercion; (9) Destruction of property; (10) Harassment; (11) Threats; (12) False imprisonment; or (13) Stalking. (14) Violation of a restraining order issued pursuant to section 97(b)(2) or section 98 of this chapter. (c) “Victim” includes any person who has been subjected to domestic violence by a spouse, former spouse, parent, child, or any other person related by blood or marriage, a present or former household member, a person with whom the victim has a child in common, or a person who is, or has been, in a sexual or otherwise intimate relationship with the victim. Survey Instrument: List of Questions: Questions for the working spouse: How much do you earn every month? How many times per month do you visit a liquor shop? At each visit, how much do you spend on average? Do you feel that your purchase of liquor puts a strain on your household expenses? What is the reason behind your consumption of liquor? Do you feel that your liquor consumption results in loss of inhibition? If yes, what kind of loss of inhibition do you experience? Do you feel that you are under any kind of external stress? If yes, what kind of stress? Do you feel that this stress contributes to your alcohol consumption? Questions for the dependant spouse: 1. In your opinion, how much of the total monthly income goes towards liquor? 1. To what reasons would you attribute your spouse’s consumption of liquor? 1. Do you feel that your spouse’s purchase of liquor puts a strain on your household expenses? Do you feel that your partner’s consumption of liquor changes their behaviour? If the answer to the previous question is yes, do you consider the change to be positive or negative? Has your spouse ever threatened you or your children in any way (e.g., violence, abandonment, isolation, etc.)? Has your spouse ever tried to intimidate you or your children physically? Has your spouse ever acted violently towards you or your children? If the answer to the previous question is yes, do you feel liquor was a factor in violent behavior? Do you fear for your partner’s safety due to their consumption of liquor? Existing Data: A recent study states that alcohol consumption by men in the US Virgin Islands has increased by around 5 percent among almost all age groups from the 1990s. A different study also reports an increase of 53% in domestic violence against women in the US Virgin Islands between 2001 and 2018. Prima facie, there may be a tenuous correlation between alcohol consumption and domestic violence within the territory. Limitations: Limitations of the current methods include the fact that they do not represent the entirety of the population. Furthermore, the existing data is insufficient to prove a correlation beyond a reasonable doubt. It is also essential to understand that correlation does not equal causation; domestic violence and alcohol consumption may be dependent variable factors that some unnoticed independent variables affect. As such, neither affects the other. Rise in one may lead to rise in the other, but there would be no cause-effect relationship between the two.