Criminal Justice

You will write an assignment applying skills learned from Module 1 in order to choose a research topic.

1- At least TWO initial research questions you would like to address within this hypothetical study.

2- Why you chose your research topic?

3- Why you think your research topic is important to research/relevant to criminology?

4- Any initial ideas you have about the approach to the research, based on the readings in Module 2. For example, think about pitfalls to avoid, difficulties that may arise, or the possible research designs to use.

ANSWER

Why Chinese Cars Are Not Sold in the U.S

Some of the two initial research questions related to this study are; Are Chinese cars of low quality? Are there no consumers for the Chinese cars in the US? The reasons behind the choice of this research topic are; despite the fact that the Chinese are the highest car producers globally, they have not been able to enter the U.S market which is definitely a viable market for the automotive. One would think it might be due to political difference or rather personal reasons why the Chinese can’t have their cars sold in the U.S. This research topic has been of interest for quite a long time and many have always wanted to know the real reason behind it. Studies have shown that the Chinese cars are of low quality according to the U.S standards, they don’t meet the US safety standards and the intended consumers are not well informed on the subject products. Researchers have also noted that the Chinese producers were also lagging behind in terms of technology but have since improved (Wincup 2017).

This research topic is very significant to criminology since it prioritizes on finding out why the world’s largest car producer is not able to enter one of the largest and potential markets in the world. This research prioritizes on finding out the exact reasons behind this barrier and also discusses some loopholes on the reasons. For instance, one would ask himself/herself why other countries in the same class and economic level as U.S import cars from China; does it mean that the safety inspectors and engineers do not care about their respective citizens or does it make them even less experienced in the same field? It is evident there is more to this barrier other than the documented reasons, it is also clear there is insecurity, bureaucratic and personal reasons indented to this research topic. The above highlighted reasons makes this research topic very significant to criminology hence a key interest that needs to be evaluated, the exact reasons behind the condition need to be unfolded to minimize unnecessary questions from citizens from both countries.

Some of the initial ideas on the research approach would be carrying out one on one interviews with the targeted consumers and get their opinions with regards to preference of the subject goods. It would also be prudent to carry out interviews with the producers from China and get to understand whether the documented reasons are true. Another idea would be to have a road test of vehicles from both countries and evaluate the safety and quality standards involved in order to have primary information. Some of the pitfalls to avoid during this research are like avoiding confrontation of the authorities involved in decision making, forcing interviews with those individuals who don’t feel like giving out their views, getting the wrong or rather unfit personnel for the interview and also publicizing the participants involved in the interview against their will (Yu & Zhang 2019).

Potential difficulties would be like language barrier, misinformation, unwilling participants due to insecurity issues and finally, failure to get the right participants for the interview. Another potential difficulty would be uncooperative automotive producers from both countries, thereby affecting the quality of results. The best research design would be to carry out a reconnaissance in order to analyze the potential harms, the required federal procedures and ensure minimal privacy invasion. Finding out the recommended and accepted ethical standards in an intended research would boost the success rates of the research.

References

Platt, S. M., El Haddad, I., Pieber, S. M., Zardini, A. A., Suarez-Bertoa, R., Clairotte, M., … & Prévôt, A. S. H. (2017). Gasoline cars produce more carbonaceous particulate matter than modern filter-equipped diesel cars. Scientific reports, 7(1), 1-9.

Truant, E., Corazza, L., & Scagnelli, S. D. (2017). Sustainability and risk disclosure: An exploratory study on sustainability reports. Sustainability, 9(4), 636.

Wincup, E. (2017). Criminological research: Understanding qualitative methods. Sage.

Yu, M., & Zhang, R. (2019). Understanding the recent Sino-US trade conflict. China Economic Journal, 12(2), 160-174.