Sample Paper Excerpt
A collaborative effort by a team of sociologist and criminologist present a 'routine activity approach' for analyzing crime rate trends and cycles. Rather than emphasizing the characteristics of offenders, with this approach they concentrated upon the circumstances in which they carry out predatory criminal acts. Most criminal acts require convergence in space and time of likely offenders, suitable targets and absence of capable guardians against crime. This study has been written and submitted to a prestigious journal for peer review.
An author summarizes the distribution of the overall crime rate for incorporated places in the United States for the year 2001, by reporting the mean, 4,512 crimes per 100,000; and the standard deviation of 820. The author feels confident that these statistics will be sufficiently descriptive of the crime rate. The author's position is that use of a graphical display might be considered redundant, and not likely to be accepted by reviewers or editors of the journal that will review the manuscript.
Is the author's use of the mean and SD adequate to describe the crime rate?
Yes – use of the mean and SD alone is adequate
No – the author should include additional information
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Developed 2006 by the
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Northern Illinois University
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Developed 2006 by the , Northern Illinois University.Developed 2006 by the , Northern Illinois University.