Valerie Holmes

Quantitative Research by Valerie Holmes

Describe the type of quantitative research that was conducted: non-experimental, experimental, quasi-experimental; cross-sectional or longitudinal.

The purpose of the quantitative study selected was to examine the childhood maltreatment and delinquency relationship in a sample of 12,955 deep end youth offenders completing juvenile justice residential programs between January 1, 2010 through June 30, 2013 in Florida (Baglivio, Wolff, Piquero, Bilchik, Jackowski, Greenwalds, & Epps, 2015). The type of quantitative research that was conducted in this study was non- experimental. There was no random assignment and the researcher did not attempt to control or manipulate the variables or subjects.

Describe the variables investigated in the research and how they were measured.

The variables investigated in the research include adverse childhood experiences (or the ACE score), child welfare status, youth recidivism, race, ethnicity and gender; measured through a combination of standard multivariate logistic regression analysis and structural equation modeling to assess the relationship among these three variables (Baglivia et al., 2015).

Describe what is meant by scientific merit and discuss ways in which it could have been improved in the article.

The term scientific merit is used to describe the degree of quality of a research study and encompasses the dimensions of advancing the current knowledge base, contributing to theory and meeting the hallmarks of good research (Chen, Contreras, Roberts, Austin, Ashmore, Amend, & Campbell, 2017). If the scientific merit of a research study is high, this is equated to the research making valuable, meaningful, and valid contributions to a scientific discipline.

This study was ethically sound and the research question aligned with the selection of the design, method, instruments and data analysis (Chen et al., 2017).

The scientific merit could have been improved in this study by selecting a topic that had not been studied before. The topic of child hood trauma, maltreatment and delinquency has been well documented. This article served to extend the knowledge base by also examining the relationship to race, ethnicity and gender. It would be beneficial for future studies to focus on such topics as timing of maltreatment and differences in outcomes across specific ages.