To: East Brookfield Research Center

From: Jenna McAssey (Nichols College)

Subject: Interpreted Memo regarding data received from East
Brookfield Research Center.

As a researcher from Nichols College (Located in

Dudley, Massachusetts) I received data from the research
department at located in East Brookfield. This research involved
forty-three individuals regarding personal data collection. Upon
receiving the data as a researcher, my group and I gathered it
and then organized it into the SPSS database using a set of
coding. The SPSS database stand for the Statistical Package for
the Social Sciences, and is a database that allows for research to
be properly organized and put together by a group of codings.
This makes it easier to interpret, and allows the researcher to be
able to present and perceive the data in a more organized
manner. Upon interpreting the data, I was able to examine the
individuals age, gender, marital status, employment, insurance,
education, disability, charges, and specific reasons upon it being
necessary for the individual to partake in a drug program. I
collectively organized the data so it would be easily visible to
understand upon looking at the results. In the presentation of
this memo not only suggestions are given but also factual data
backed results from our findings are pointed out. Results such as
correlations, the correlations (if any) found between specific
variable. There were many issues deemed attention while
examining the data that are clearly visible in the presentation of
research and suggestions given in this following memo.

The first section categorized was the age section of the

research. The age groups were people in their twenties, thirties,
forties, fifties, sixties and no comment. This allowed us to see
the age range where people were arrested the most. Over
twenty-six people participating in the research were in their
twenties. The ages of our clients range from ages twenty to
sixty-five. The mean age for our research client was about thirty-
one years old. As shown, most of our clients were much younger.
This is something that can arise as an issue when trying to
receive clear results of the surrounding areas. This is an issue
because based on statistical data, around the area of East
Brookfield there are people of all ages who do have drug
problems and a drug of choice.

The second section of data organized was the gender

portion. Forty-three people willingly participated in this study.
We used a set of codes to help up understand the dates. We
allowed the number two to represent a male and used number
one to represent a female. From the coding we learned that
thirty-one of the participants were male and only nine were
female. We received one recipient who choose not to disclose
their gender. With a ratio of seventy-four to twenty-six percent
there is a large gap between the genders. It came to close
attention that a majority of the people who were in the research
were men. This right there is also where a problem occurs. When
a group of people are chosen to participate in a study there
should be a chosen number of participants so it is equal for
result wise. In this data given to us, we are now basically giving
the results of men, which makes this data basically not helpful in
regards to women.

The third section of data organized was the Race

section. Ninety-five percent of those who participated were
caucasian, leaving three participants left. Two of these
individuals were of Latino heritage and we were not given any
data regarding the race of the last individual. This is where the
biggest problem was noticed. It came to my attention that the
majority of the people participation in the drug court were white.
This is not a coincidence considering that the towns surrounding
East Brookfield are quite interracial, based on my personal
research. By choosing participants of the same race, it is giving
false results and is not accurate by any means. When choosing
individuals to participate in a drug court, everyone should have
an equal and fair chance. It is only ethically correct that there is
a system in place to prevent people from being unethical while
choosing participants.

The fourth section of data organized was based on

marital status. Of the forty-three participants who answered on
the subject of their marital status, nine percent responded that
they are married, twenty-three percent reported being single,
and the remaining sixty-seven percent did not answer on the
subject. The biggest problem with this section of the data is the
accuracy. Considering more than half of the participants did not
answer to the question the data from this section that is being
reported and interpreted will not be based on a large amount of
data. Whether it was because data was forgotten or just not
answered, more information needs to be provided. I also suggest
that along with this question not just the marital status should
be asked but also maybe the relationship status and pre-marital
status. This would be important data to know considering some
people could have been in long term relationships and just not
married, some people could have been divorced, or some people
could be in current relationships, and in some cases these
effects people choices.

The fifth section of data organized was based on the

individuals employment status. Of the forty-three people that
answered the question about employment, only eleven percent
of these people were actually employed. Twenty percent of these
forty-three people said they were unemployed and sixty-nine
percent choose not to answer. Although this is a large portion of
people who chose not to answer, the reason behind it could be
because they were not proud of where they stand or just chose
to not disclose their work. This does come up as a little bit of an
issue because knowing if someone is employed or not does show
a huge part in how their life is going. Maybe when gathering the
information is could be put as an high importance that their
employment status is known. Also the other issue could be that
the data was given, but whomever imputed it into the document
from the research center looked it over and it was not correctly
entered. This again, is a red flag and does come up as an issue.
It is at high importance that all data is carefully gathered and
accounted for and if this is an issue then new employees and
members should be put in place to make sure that it is done
correctly. Again, it is very hard to create clear and accurate
results without clear and accurate data.

The sixth section of data organized was based on whether the individuals
were medically insured or not. In terms of being medically insured, out of the forty-
three people who were asked, twenty-five percent responded that they were covered,
two percent (or one person) said they were not insured, and the remaining seventy-
four percent did not give a response nor an answer. This was another section that is
again very difficult to analyze considering an insufficient amount of data was given.
Once again, the only way to receive accurate results are to be given a full amount of
data. If an individual does not disclose a correct amount of data, their entry should not
be submitted into a system of testing of accurate results. Also on the other hand, as a
researcher myself it is to my hope that I am personally receiving all the data that was
accounted for at the research center, and it has not been hand selected or picked
through as to what is given to me.

The seventh section of data organized was based on education. Six of the
participants completed some of high school, two people graduated or have their GED
and the rest of the participants did not have a response. We also did not receive any
information about why they did not complete their education. Participating in the
drug court in order to get clean may have been a reason several clients did not
complete their education, but there could be many other reasons. For this section, we
once again received very little information on the participant.
 The eighth section of data organized was based on whether the
individual had a disability or not. On the topic of disability, thirteen percent confirmed
that they suffer from a disability, whether mental or otherwise. Sixteen percent of the
forty-three responded that they do not suffer from disability, while the remaining
seventy-nine percent left no response to the question. This was another section where
so little no responses were received. For this section specifically it is so important
that this question gets answered, because it is extremely important to be aware of if the
participant does have a mental disability. We could assume that their no response
was because they do not have one, and at the same time we could also assume it is
because they do not want to disclose that matter.

The ninth portion of the data was the drug portion. While decoding the drug
portion of the data given to us by the East Brookfield Research Department our results
were very vague. Thirty-two of the participants did not specify any type of drug choice
in their data. As a result of not being able to see over half of the participants drug
choices, this makes it hard to give a true examination of the data. Out of the data we
were able to examine, opioids were the drug of choice for three people, following with
crack and THC each used by one person. Three of the participants did not have a drug
of choice. In conclusion, as a result of not receiving complete data it is hard to truly be
able to prove and show what the most commonly used drug is or what other statistics
are. If one wanted to present an accurate showing of data, there would need to be
information from not only every single participant, but at least most.

The tenth section of the data was based on charges brought upon each
participant. While decoding the charge portion of the data given to us by East
Brookfield Research Department our results were also very vague. twenty-eight
participants (more than half) did not have a comment as to what their chargers were,
if any at all. This makes it difficult for one to examine the data because the information
may not be completely accurate. As of what we have of data from the participants, we
concluded information regarding charges of REC, RIS, OUI, Larc, DISI, Possession,
ABBW, and A & B. The highest number of participants (4 participants charged) were
charged with A & B which is assault and battery. The next highest number of
participants with specific charges was for Larceny (2 participants charged) and
Possession of a illegal substance (2 participants charged.) The lowest amount of person
(1 participant) there were charges for Violation of Parole, Operation of a vehicle under
the influence, not paying taxes, ABBW, DISI, RIS, and REC each having one
participant charged with each of them. While examining this data it was brought to
our attention (even after research) that four of these charges are not found and we
were unable to determine what they are. This could have happened by fault in the
illustrator of the data entering the information wrong. This mistake is a very large
mistake to make considering the use of this data is very valuable especially since there
is not a lot of it. By this error, a large part of this specific data cannot be used because
it is not accurate. It is in our suggestion that the data for not only this section but all
sections is not only looked over but also carefully imputed for accurate results. There
are different types of crimes within crimes and giving a general description of the
outer layer of what happened is once again not accurate. For someone looking at this
data who is not a researcher, will not be able to understand abbreviations. There by no
means should be abbreviations on the research unless given a key as to what they
mean.

The eleventh and last section of our data was based off of where the residents
resided. All of the participants are from the East Brookfield Drug Court area. Four
percent were from Southbridge, twenty-seven percent were East Brookfield, fifty-five
percent were from other places and eleven percent did not answer. Some of the people
in the drug court are required to go into the drug court more than one day a week for
testing. Some of these clients did drive a pretty lengthy of a distance to attend drug
court, but it was conveyed that East Brookfield was a good drug court which can
explain the distance.

Going through the stages of inputting the dataset we had been given, I noticed
there were a lot of missing variables. This really put a restriction on the accurateness
of what I am able to report in this memo. Meaning the variables changed from whole
chunks of sections being blank, to a case where all of the information of one
participant was just a blank line across the board; nothing about this persons race,
age, or even their gender. Issues like these complicated my ability to be able to report
back clear and accurate data. This should be the number one priority before giving
someone research. There is no point in trying to interpret inaccurate data because in
the end it will be meaningless without the accurate information to begin with. Showing
that this program is resourceful and working should be priority.

Correlations:

-Where they live- drug of choice