Discuss the application of knowledge to social science research

What will be an ideal response?


• A basic problem with knowledge application has been raised by some academics, who question whether social science research has reached a level of sophistication sufficient to merit influencing public policy. Elliot responded to a call for greater influence by sounding a note of caution. He argued that criminologists should be more hesitant to offer advice to policy makers.
• Elliot also posited that replication, or retesting experiments in different settings and at different times to see if the same or similar results are found, should be a standard research procedure. However, the nature of criminal justice agency activities make this a difficult process.
• Finally, Elliot contends that high-quality studies are still few in number. Little data on criminal justice have been collected over a long enough period of time to ensure confident conclusions. A major consequence of taking research seriously is that doing so opens up the policy process for critical examination. Data take policy out of the realm of simple preferences or untested assumptions. A commitment to research is a commitment to defending policy choices as rational.

Criminal Justice

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