Problem and Purpose Statements

Part 1 As you’ve learned, the problem and purpose statements help to explain the need for your research to your audience. For this portion of your research provide:

1. Problem Statement
   1. Provide a short overview of Mentally ill prison inmates and provide information why the situation is a problem requiring research for a solution. You should strengthen your problem statement by adding crime statistics such as UCR reports or statistics from peer reviewed resources.
   2. Your problem statement should be 200 words maximum.

1. Purpose Statement
   1. The purpose statement provides the reader with the necessary information why you believe this research is necessary and valuable for society.
   2. Choose and present your research method as either quantitative or qualitative.
   3. The purpose statement should include at least two peer-reviewed references and be 200 words maximum.

Part 2-

Based on the information presented in the problem statement, develop three questions that you want to answer in your research.

• Please ensure that the questions are not yes or no answer questions. (Example for yes or no questions: Is the number of girls in gangs on the rise? The answer could be yes or no.)

• Please provide a hypothesis for the questions.
  • Remember the null hypothesis is always negative and the alternative hypothesis is positive. For example:
    Null Hypothesis: There is no relationship between single parent homes and the rise of gang affiliation.
    Alternative Hypothesis: There is a relationship between single parent homes and the rise of gang affiliation.