Deviance
Assignment: Test of a Theory
**The Analysis MUST be in ASA format.
**The body of the paper will be 4-5 double spaced typed pages. This does not include
title page and reference page. You do not need an abstract.
**You will use one peer-reviewed journal article and your textbook.
**This assignment is worth 140 points.
** Each student will be expected to find and report on at least one study that tests some
theory or theories of deviance. You can look for a theory that you like from the first three
chapters in the book.
**Once you find a theory that you like, then look in a scholarly journal for an article that
tests that theory. The source of the publication should be from a professional journal in
Sociology or Criminology (e.g., Social Problems; Criminology; Journal of Crime,
Criminology, and Police Science; Social Forces, Crime and Delinquency, Justice
Quarterly).
Select an article published in the last 10 years. Make sure the article reports on actual
research and is NOT a theoretical article or just a review of the literature! If you are
unsure if it is indeed peer-reviewed, I should approve the article before you begin the
analysis. You can email me a link to the article for approval. If the article is not peerreviewed, you will receive a 0 on the paper.
Answer the following questions in your test of a theory:
1. What is the theory being tested in the article? Whose theory is it? Where
originated? (Use your book here as well as the article).
2. What is the research question or hypothesis in this article? (If there is no research
question or no hypothesis, describe what the research is about.)
3. Define the variables or concepts that are studied. For each concept or variable,
give the definition and how it was measured. List independent, dependent, and
control variables. How did they operationalize or measure the variable?
4. Describe the studys population, sample, study population and the kind of
sample used. How did they gather their sample?
5. Comment on the generalizability of the study, supporting your statements. For
example, can their study be generalized to all criminal populations? If so, how? If
not, why not?
6. What method(s) of data collection were used? What were the advantages and
disadvantages of using this method or methods? Would different method(s) of
data collection been possible or better? Comment on the practicality of methods.
7. Describe the studys major findings. (Look in the conclusion section.) What
statistical tests did they use in the paper? What variables/relationships were
statistically significant? At what level?
8. What is your reaction to this research? Do you think this study will be useful or
helpful to others in some way