COMPONENT 4
Word limit: 1,500 words
Background
The London ‘Night Tube’ is an extension of the operating hours of the London Underground system to provide night-time Tube services on Friday and Saturday nights.
Transport for London [TfL] (who are responsible for the London Underground network) and British Transport Police [BTP] (who are responsible for policing of the London Underground network, its stations and all other rail stations) would like a study to be conducted to answer the following research question:
Research question: “Does the implementation of the Night Tube have any negative effects on crime?”
To answer this research question, TfL will allow reasonable and justified access to any of their stations as long as it does not affect the running of those stations whilst BTP will provide reasonable and justified access to the crime and anti-social behaviour data they collect. The project, which they will fund (along with 1 full-time research associate) will begin February 2018 but must be complete within 6 months (beginning of August 2017) before further ‘Night Tube’ services on other London Underground lines are potentially announced.
TfL and BTP invite you to submit a research proposal for this project which must consist of the following parts:
4.1 Research Hypothesis (10 marks)
The presentation of a research hypothesis (formulation, justification, motivation).
Several hypotheses would likely need to be tested to fully answer this research question. For this assessment, you are being asked to specify just one of them; this should be the most important one. The hypothesis should be sufficiently broad to give a good idea of what you would do to answer the question, and sufficiently narrow to be tested. Briefly mention what else would need to be tested during the project to answer the above research question.
4.2 Research Design (20 marks)
Specification of the following elements: design components, data or data collection method(s), and data analysis method(s) that would be adopted to provide the sought evidence, along with a justification for your design choices. In this section we would expect to see your null and alternative statistical hypotheses and a description of what would constitute evidence to test the hypothesis.
You may want to use the APA framework to structure your answer (e.g., participants, materials & procedure, etc.). It should be possible for the reader to read the details of the design without having to read the justifications, for example.
4.3 Limitations (10 marks)
Evaluation and discussion of the design’s limitations.
Use your hypothesis (not the research question) as a reference point to answer this part. In other words, you do not need to explain again what else would need to be tested that your hypothesis does not cover to answer the research question.
Marks will be deducted if you present a constraint as a limitation.
Website: https://tfl.gov.uk/campaign/tube-improvements/what-we-are-doing/night-tube
Project constraints:
· The study must not last longer than 6 months.
· TfL and BTP will cover reasonable travel and research costs up to £1,000.
· TfL and BTP will only ‘advertise’ the study after it has been completed.
· You may be able to obtain other datasets (e.g. the Metropolitan Police crime and anti-social behaviour data) but this may take more than six months.
Format: You must separate your answers and organise them in the same order as in the problem sheet. In this way it will be easier for the external examiner to review your answers, and easier for you to match them to the marking scheme. When reading a paragraph in your copy, it should be evident for the external examiner to know which question and sub-question it refers to.
MARKING CRITERIA
In addition to the criteria set out above, the following criteria will be taken into account when grading your exam paper:
· Presentation, structure and quality of writing
· Relevance, accuracy and pertinence of the answers (including correct use of technical terms)
· Appropriate references to, and understanding of, the relevant literature, including appropriate referencing style
· Evidence of having gone beyond the course materials (required readings and lecture notes)
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