With your semester-long, empirical research paper, you have the opportunity to spend more time on an issue that you want to learn more about. For this paper, students need to choose a topic that is related to one of the issues that we covered this semester. Your paper will not simply be “about something.” Throughout the semester, we have already covered those basics. Instead, your paper needs to examine the empirical evidence and answer a question that is related to a cause-and-effect relationship (e.g., why something occurs; how two variables are related; the impact of the Internet or something on one of these crimes; etc.) or the effectiveness of a certain practice, policy, procedure, or law in addressing one of these types of cybercrimes.
The final paper needs to follow the following guidelines:
An empirical research article is an article which reports research based on actual observations or experiments. The research may use quantitative research methods, which generate numerical data and seek to establish causal relationships between two or more variables. Empirical research articles may also use qualitative research methods, which objectively and critically analyze behaviors, beliefs, feelings, or values with few or no numerical data available for analysis.
How can I tell if an article is empirical?