Part I: Suppose you were awarded a research grant to survey inmates currently incarcerated in state prison systems about their physical and mental health care needs. Given that there are more than 1.3 million people incarcerated in U.S. prisons, it would not be feasible to survey each inmate. What type of sampling would be the most effective (least selection bias) and efficient (most timely) to use for this research scenario? Explain the rationale for your response, providing examples and support from this week’s readings.
Part II: This week you will consider some of the political, procedural, and ethical challenges that researchers must often face. Recent protests around the nation have called into question the use of force by public safety officials, with particular concern over the impact on minority community members. Since 2000, the Fatal Encounters Project has collected data on 26,218 records of people killed during police interactions. Reflecting on what you learned from the “Delicate Balancing Act” reading this week, describe how you might navigate political, gatekeeper, and ethical challenges in researching the relationship between race and police killings. Describe the research design and sampling strategy you would use to conduct a study on this issue that would be generalizable to other areas of the country.

Respond Kindly to Student #1
Megan Tschirhart-bell
Part One
To complete a survey with as little bias as possible the use of probability sampling would be encouraged. Probability sampling allows for an equal opportunity for selection and reduces conscious or unconscious bias (Maxfield & Babbie, 2018). Specifically utilizing a stratified sample and possibly combining with it a systematic random sampling should assist in conducting a more cost-effective and timely sampling. Stratified sampling consists of dividing a large group, in this case, the 1.3 million incarcerated individuals, into smaller groups called strata and then conducting a simple random sampling from each group (Ayiro, 2012). From there using a systematic random sampling of each of the strata, or prisons in this case, can effectively reduce the sample size to a more manageable range (Trochim, 2020). By breaking the number of inmates into groups, rather than attempting to take a sampling of the collective and surveying a systematic random sampling of those groups it has the possibility of yielding results that represent the inmate population.
Part Two
In negotiating between race and police killings to conduct research would involve a great deal of balance between ethical and pollical challenges. It would be necessary for the researcher to be prepared to interact with gatekeepers as there would be those on either side of the dilemma with an affinity for protecting their community. The information and research that was reported by McAreavey (2013) presented the potential for the ethical challenge that would be encountered in negotiating with gatekeepers. Having to negotiate and gain their trust in an essence to be granted access to specific information could bring a significant number of biases to the findings. To conduct a research study on the relationship between race and police killings a necessary evil to have access to the information to be able to report accurately. Accuracy and fair reporting are extremely important when researching this magnitude, due to dilemmas involving minority communities being derived from mainstream ideas and are often broadcasted heavily (McAreavey, 2013). To accomplish this research study the engagement of the gatekeepers to assist in obtaining information should be considered as they are respected members of their community and often regulate the information shared with researchers (McAreavey, 2013). Perhaps by obtaining their consent and asking if they would assist in either surveying their community on your behalf or accompanying you while conducting the research. The method of sampling in this situation would be to utilize snowball sampling by beginning with the gatekeeper as the primary and then building on their recommendations and references (Trochim, 2020). As more and more connections are established and the proverbial snowball builds the thought is that the area being represented will grow and possibly establish trends that are similar to other areas of the country.
References
Ayiro, L. P. (2012). A functional approach to educational research methods and statistics: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. Edwin Mellen Press.

Maxfield, M. G., & Babbie, E. R. (2018). Research methods for criminal justice and criminology. Cengage Learning.

McAreavey, R., & Das, C. (2013). A delicate balancing act: Negotiating with gatekeepers for ethical research when researching minority communities. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 12, 113–131. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/160940691301200102
Trochim, W. (2020). The research methods knowledge base. Conjoint.ly.com https://conjointly.com/kb/
Respond Kindly to Student #2
Samer Silva
If I was awarded a research grant and was to initiate a survey of more than 1.3 million incarcerated individuals I would use stratified sampling. Stratified sampling has advantages such as producing smaller error of estimation that a simple random sampling would produce and also has low costs per observation as convenient groupings are made ( Penn State, n.d.). For example, by stratifying the pooling there is an unbiased estimator which increases effectiveness and saves time by not being time consuming such as simple random sampling or other methods that may not line up with the low selection bias as stratified sampling.
Regarding this week’s readings, navigating political, gatekeeper, and ethical challenges within researching relationships between race and police killings I can break down a research design and sampling strategy to conduct a study on this particular issue. Before I get into the research design and sampling strategy however, it is important to understand the article that was highlighted and how phronesis allows researchers to make ethical decisions that are deemed as critical on specific characteristics of research sites and subjects (McAreavey & Das, 2013). This helps with navigating the ethical challenges among others within research guidelines and the relationships they hold. The research design and sampling strategy that I would use to conduct a study on this issue would be a correlational research design to see how strong the variables are related, race and police killings in this scenario and a systematic random sampling strategy as it can be free from bias and has a system to it which ensures more effectiveness over simple random sampling. For example, I would conduct my sampling and create a mean average for individuals that have been affected or know of someone who has been affected with a relationship between race and police killings with a correlational research design so the independent variable (race) and dependent variable (police killings) could be compared and contrasted. This would be generalizable to other areas of the country as it would not be entirely specific on the demographics of the study and rather a random but more concise study.
References:
Penn State. (n.d.). 6.1 – how to use Stratified sampling: Stat 506. Retrieved October 20, 2021, from https://online.stat.psu.edu/stat506/lesson/6/6.1
McAreavey, R., & Das, C. (2013). A Delicate Balancing Act: Negotiating with Gatekeepers for Ethical Research When Researching Minority Communities. Retrieved October 21, 2021, from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/160940691301200102

Respond Kindly to Student #3
Jeffery Bailey

Hello All
While going over the assigned reading and considering the specifics of this scenario I would use the stratified sampling technique, this technique is a common sampling technique used by researchers when trying to draw conclusions from different sub-groups or strata. The strata or sub-groups should be different, and the data should not overlap. While using stratified sampling, the researcher should use simple probability sampling. The population is divided into various subgroups such as age, gender, nationality, job profile, educational level, etc. Stratified sampling is used when the researcher wants to understand the existing relationship between two groups.
When researching and trying to calculate the type of data I will have to first decide the amount of data to be collected which should be specified in a positive and confident manner. It should be based on anticipated numbers and should avoid any sense of uncertainty or vagueness in the way the details are presented using the stratified approach, using the sample calculator I would decide how many of the inmates that I have to sample so that my survey findings will represent the masses. This would fall under the topic in our text readings of deciding who or what will be included.
The people or things to be included in the research need to be identified with a good degree of precision. This is another key component of the information that readers will need in order to evaluate the overall value of the proposed research. First, it calls upon the researcher to be clear about the research population. The Methods section of the proposal should pinpoint exactly which people or things are the objects of the research (Denscomb, 2019). Given the large number of inmates that we have incarcerated in the United States, I would have to break the people to be surveyed into smaller manageable groups, then I would have sample questions or (surveys) that will eliminate and disqualify persons that may be time-wasters. Or people who are not relevant to my research.
Part II
Gatekeepers control access to a particular community or institution and as a result researchers are reliant on their input. It is generally recognized that gatekeepers play an important role in social research particularly for researching communities that do not trust mainstream research and are seldom heard from or for research involving sensitive subjects. They have the power to deny access to the researcher and they may also influence whether individuals opt-in or out of a process. By negotiating directly with prospective research participants, gatekeepers can speed up the recruitment process by acting as cultural mediators or brokers they can help the researcher become more culturally competent. Gatekeepers can act as guarantors of the researcher’s legitimacy within the community and, ultimately, they may save the researcher time and resources (Denscomb, 2019). In dealing with a research project such as this with political and ethical challenges I would first talk with the gatekeeper to get a feel for the support of this research. As stated the gatekeeper has a lot of pull and influence in how successful and valid your research will be. Using phronesis in this type of research will go a long way in getting the cooperation of minorities. The type of research I would use in this case is “ Simple Random Sampling” to ensure the gatekeeper that I will use the formula of n=N=NCn to ensure that everyone will have an equal chance of being selected for my survey, a chief concern when dealing politically, ethnically or with minorities transparency is paramount. from my survey pool I would use Stratified Random Sampling, to break my subjects up into varying groups all the while working closely with the gatekeeper to ensure a credible research effort.

Denscomb. (2019). Research Proposals 2nd Edition. London England: Open International Publishing.