Research Memo Following Survey Results

Hypothesis:

My purpose of this survey about Casey Anthony V.S Florida state trial was to see how the population though about the trial and the verdict. This survey was based strictly on opinionated responses, and I have come to realize many people share the same opinions on the trial. For instance, I had asked in my survey “Do you agree that Casey Anthony was wrongly acquitted of all charges against her in did in fact have something to do with the murder of her young child?”. I personally believe that Casey Anthony was wrongly acquitted of the charges proposed against her. Due to prior research of my topic, I also believe many people will agree with me. Another question that was asked in my survey was “If you had the opportunity to be in the jury for this trial, what would your verdict be?”.  As already stated before, I am a firm believer Casey murdered her young daughter. Therefore, I would have voted her guilty because of the evidence produced against her. Once again, I believe many people agree with me on this subject and questionnaire.

Context:

My target audience for my research was parents from the ages of 16 and up. This was my age group because parents would have more emotion towards a case about a child being murdered rather than a person who does not have children. Using fathers and mothers as my audience would put more of an emotional pull on the results of my survey. During my pilot testing I realized I should have used more of a direct question approach and maybe even more emotional questions on the Casey Anthony trial results. The results I received are reliable because it comes from someone’s opinion rather than actual facts. My results on my survey were not statistic, they were opinion based and many people have different views on the case. As a researcher I believe my questions were skewed because on the opinion my respondent could or would have had.

Data/Analysis:

Demographic	Trend	Meaning
Caucasian                           11               Hispanic                              0 African American              3 Other                                   2	98% of people said yes 3% said no Question: Are you aware of the Casey Anthony V.S the state of Florida trial?	My goal for this question was to get a feel of how many people actually knew any details of the case or knew about the case at all.
16 people.           40% 6 people.             15% 2 people.             5% 3 people.             8% 13 people.           33%	40% of people had children between the ages of 0-1. 15% of people had children between the ages of 2 and 3. 5% of people had children between the ages of 4 and 5. 8% of people had children between the ages of 5+. None                    13           33% Question: What is the age of your child? Please choose one.	I had asked this question to see how many of my respondents did or do not have children. The reason for this was to say, once again, the emotional impact on their opinion. If you are a parent, typically you would be more influenced and involved by harmed children cases like Casey Anthony V.S Florida State.
Caucasian                           11               Hispanic                              0 African American              3 Other                                   2	Agree         60% Disagree    19% Not sure    21% Question: Do you agree that Casey Anthony was wrongly acquitted of all charges against her in did in fact have something to do with the murder of her young child?	When I had asked this question I used a more direct approach to get the answer I had wanted. I interpreted my personal opinion on the matter so I can manipulate the results of my survey that agreed with my opinion. I was hoping respondents would see my side of the story, rather than a more unbiased question.

Conclusion:

My surveys helped me in my research by allowing me to get an understanding and look at how people feel about this trial. With knowing what my respondents feel and/or react to my questionnaire I can have a better knowledge of what topic I should research more referring to this case. Referring back to my hypothesis of how I believe Casey Anthony did in fact murder her child and respondents of my survey would agree, my hypothesis was proven to be correct. Sixty percent of people who took my survey believed she did have something to do with Caylee’s death. Something I did not expect in my survey was that twenty percent of respondents believed Caylee received all of the justice she could get in the not guilty verdict of Casey Anthony. When conjuring the question “On a scale of one to five (five being highest), how much justice do you believe Caylee Anthony received in the trial outcome?” I would have thought more to all respondents would agree that she did not receive any justice and would have voted one on the poll. In conclusion, I am very impressed with the results of my survey. I feel this way because majority of the results agreed with my opinion on the trial and the verdict. It is nice to see that other people agree with me too.

Follow Up:

Starting on my secondary research I want to mainly focus on is why more people believe Casey murdered Caylee than not. It intrigues me to know if their opinion is strictly on what their head and heart feels, or if it has to do with the evidence presented against Casey in the trial. A question I would really like to focus on is if the opportunity came around for society to have their chance to put their opinions on the verdict, would it change? My results showed that society would have voted differently if were given the chance, and the outcome would have been guilty. This is something I will really focus on in my next trials of research from the public’s opinion.