The research by James DeFronzo was conducted with the purpose of analysing the correlation between unemployment, cost of living, and government remittances o low-income earners and their direct or indirect relationship with burglary rates. DeFronzo was motivated by the idea that people with no sources of income tend to engage in criminal activities to meet their daily needs. There is, however, another argument that when people receive financial assistance from the government tend to become lazy since they are guaranteed their basic needs being met.
The independent variable in his research study was the AFDC assistance per person. This is so since it has a direct link to the decline in the rate of break-ins. The dependent variable in his study was the 1970 burglary rate which either rose or fell depending on the AFDC assistance per person. Other controlled variables in his research ranged from low employment rate, average per capita income, number of persons living below the poverty line as well as the total number of people living in a given city.
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The study was conducted in 141 cities divided into 100 areas way more than in the previous year which was selected as a representation of the whole country. DeFronzo employed both the systematic and random sampling methods to come up with his study group. This is so since he depended on the data provided by the Department of Commerce which was adjusted values for the cost of living in 1991. The sampling was also random since anyone who fell under a broader umbrella of the adjusted value could have been part of the study. From the samples, he was able to have a diverse group of people living in different areas (spread across 100 MSAs). He used the longitudinal research design since it was to be carried out over a widespread population employing observation as the data collection approach represented in the first set with the next set representing modifications on population size and rate of employment.
In conclusion, it can be said that the research components were all valid since they all provided the researcher with the necessary data to arrive at his conclusion.
