Question description
Research cannot occur in the isolated ivory tower of the academy. Research must be conducted in a public forum where it will be open to review and critique. One of the more popular topics for papers in this class is whether or not laws that reduce the restrictions on carrying concealed handguns affect the level of violent crimes. Answers predictably follow the political ideology of the researchers students with a liberal view of politics tend to find that handguns do not reduce violent crime while those with a conservative view find that handguns tend to reduce violent crime. After teaching this course for many years, one thing that interests me is how can different students investigating this question come up with different answers? Is there a true answer? In this forum, l want you to examine this problem. What are the sources of bias that cause this discrepancy? What can researchers do to avoid the bias and ensure validity and reliability? Please respond in 100 words.
