Doing research that makes a difference

[sanantone]

About a year and a half ago, I needed to do a project for a leadership course. As many should know by now, I hate leadership courses, but it's done and I made it out alive. Anyway, I chose to do some consulting for a communications department of a law enforcement agency. Emergency dispatching is not a very well-researched field despite the high stress and importance of the job to public safety. I knew of a department that had a high turnover rate; most communications departments have high turnover rates. I already knew that the department's salary was not competitive despite the county saying that it was. Their salary was competitive with agencies in cities with a tenth of the unincorporated county population. This department also dispatches for several small cities and a federal agency in the area. I also found nearby counties and cities that were much smaller and paid more. Their salary needed to be closer to the large city in its area not just because the size was more comparable, but also because they were mostly losing their dispatchers to them.

A few months after interviewing and surveying their employees and giving management the results, the pay went up about $140 per month. Several months later, the salary went up about another $110 per month. Again, several months later, the salary went up about $330 per month. In total, they saw a monthly raise of about $580. That's almost $7,000 per year, and they're now on par with the large city nearby.

I can put this on my CV, and it will look somewhat impressive to hiring committees at colleges and universities, but what they really care about is publishing in academic journals. They don't even put a lot of weight on applied research published in professional magazines. The issue I see with this is that criminal justice is supposed to be an applied field, but professors are forced to do mostly theoretical research in order to attain tenure and to even be hired for non-tenure track positions. Some theoretical research is important, but the same theories have been tested thousands of times in various ways for decades. Hardly anyone is doing anything new or trying to solve current problems. Also, most journals have a preference for quantitative research that uses complex statistical models. They drool over people who are using the newest, coolest techniques. It really comes down to mathematical showboating being more important than actually making a difference or a significant contribution to the field.