Research Article Critique Essays - Atlantic Hurricane Season

Research Article Critique George Hinton SOC 333: Research Methods Risa Garelick 5/25/17 In 2011, examining the matters of homeland security and emergency management, authors B.R. Lindsey and T. Settles wrote an article titled Crime in Post-Katrina Houston: The Effects of Moral Panic on Emergency Planning. Nearly 12 years ago in 2005, Hurricane Katrina killed thousands of people and destroyed all in its path as it ripped through the Gulf Coast States from Morgan City, Louisiana, to Biloxi, Mississippi, to Mobile, Alabama (www.foxnews.com). Among the death toll, the Louisiana Department of Health reported 1,464 deaths from Katrina as the majority of deaths came from the New Orleans Metropolitan area (www.foxnews.com). The Mississippi Department of Health reported 238 deaths and the states of Alabama, Georgia, and Florida suffered fatalities on a smaller scale; approximately 770,000 were displaced (www.foxnews.com). The United States reeled from its most devastating urban disaster mericans will long remember 2005 as the year Hurricane Katrina ripped through the Gulf Coast states, killing thousands and destroying everything in its path. Two weeks after Hurricane Katrina and the levee failures on the Mississippi Delta, as the United States was reeling from its most devastating urban disaster in recent history recent history (Herring, C. and Rosenman, E. 2016). Millions of people from New Orleans, Louisiana who were displaced looked to Houston, Texas for shelter. In their article, Settles and Lindsey sought to uncover the factual truths concerning the issues relative to the displaced Katrina people, also referred to as evacuees. Qualitative and quantitative research methods were employed by the two as they implemented mixed method procedure. Initially, the city of Houston, by and large, seemed to welcome those from Katrina with open arms with donations of food, water, shelter, clothing and other necessities in effort to make the evacuees feel as if they found home in their new city. However, when the crime rate rose in Houston, it was attributed to these evacuees. Hence, the people of Houston wanted the citizens of Katrina to leave. Police reports were obtained for use as quantitative data. Comparisons were made concerning the criminal activity before the Katrina evacuees arrived in Houston and after they had been there. Data reflected crimes had become more of a problem since the evacuees arrived. The major crimes included in the reports were "murder, rape, aggravated assault, burglary, burglary of motor vehicles, auto theft, and robbery" (Settles, T. Despite the fact major criminal activity was already occurring in Houston, the Katrina evacuees were blamed for the increase of crime in town. Since the mixed method approach was implemented here, qualitative data was also used in effort to obtain information which would reflect more than percentages and numbers. Mass confusion arose from the matter of who bore responsibility for the evacuees' housing reimbursement and safety of the community they were to live. By way of qualitative research, interviews were conducted with the New Orleans people and media. After cross-examinations occurred, the researchers determined the accounts given did not match each other. The mixed method data approach thus came into play. Research revealed that billions of dollars had been issued by the government to aid the Hurricane Katrina victims, but the victims received none of that money. FEMA, otherwise known as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, was supposed to reimburse the city for the market value of rented apartments. While FEMA paid the money, the hands of the evacuees were tied in terms of them trying to find apartments within the limited range specified; residents could not exceed the value nor could they afford to cover the costs out of pocket. Thus, they had to search for residence in lower income communities with higher crime volume. FEMA neglected to disclose information concerning the evacuees who rented these apartments, and they also failed to complete searches of local, state and national databases to see whether or not any evacuees were wanted for crimes committed back in Louisiana. The processed data came from information pre and post Katrina. The aim of the hypothesis was to identify exactly what occurred pre and post Katrina in Houston to see whether or not the criminal activity stemmed from the natives of Katrina. The qualitative research entailed interviews of Katrina evacuees by the researchers; over 450 newspaper articles were also reexamined. After all was said and done in terms of the research conducted, the documentation and the numbers did not match. By way of the quantitative data approach, researchers discovered crime did increase when Katrina evacuees moved to Houston. However, the increase was not substantial enough to prove it was the direct result of the evacuees being