CUSE Spotlights
Tonisha Jones
“In criminal justice research, whether you’re a student or a faculty member, it’s always hoped that you’ll find some kind of policy implication,” says criminology professor Tonisha Jones. “Sometimes, the policy we have implemented isn’t actually helpful to victims, because they’re based on myths and misperceptions. A lot of what we do as researchers is working to improve what occurs in the field, taking what we learn and trying to make things better.”
In 2021, Jones mentored McNair student scholar Joie Carter, who studied public opinion on human trafficking among undergraduates.
“What's really cool about mentoring student researchers like Joie is that they get to collect their own data,” says Jones. “I told her it'll be a lot of work, and I have a dataset on hand if you prefer to just use data that's already collected, but I think doing your own study would be really beneficial for you. And she did— she had to get approval from the institutional review board, come up with her own surveys, build them, and work with institutional research to disseminate it to the student body. But now she has her own dataset, which is fantastic.”
Joie’s research concluded that the undergraduates she surveyed held a lot of misperceptions on how human trafficking world, and suggested re-education policies covering the subject. But creating a survey that accurately gauges a person’s innate misperceptions is difficult work.
“I just remember her saying, oh, this is taking so long!” says Jones. “And I said actually things are going fast, you’re doing very well. I and a department were reviewing her survey, and it was very much, hey— you need to make modifications here, this question is leading, this question isn't asking what you think it's asking, you need to add this. For a researcher, this is common practice, but for a student who hasn't done it before, it can be a little demoralizing. So it’s my job to make sure I'm providing a lot of encouragement, and normalizing that this is research, research is messy.”
In a field as interdisciplinary as criminal justice, the social issues studied by her students often impact multiple different fields. Jones always encourages her mentees to seek out feedback and critique from other faculty with expertise in those areas.
“That can be hard for any researcher, especially when you're so invested in your project that you take criticism personally,” says Jones. “But it's actually super helpful to have other people take a look at things because when you're so close to it, you're not recognizing where there might be issues. I see students focusing on the outcome over the process of getting there, of making mistakes, and learning from them. But that’s such a vital part of research. In your first research project especially, I would argue it’s just as important as the final outcome.”
Jones has greatly enjoyed mentoring undergraduate scholars through that process in the McNair Program and hopes the future brings even more opportunities for Grand Valley students to engage in supported, independent research.
“It allows students this intellectual outlet, builds their own intellectual independence, and it helps them produce something that they're really proud of,” says Jones. “All of which I think is just such a confidence builder for students. And it helps them connect everything they've learned throughout their academic career to this final outcome. It’s so gratifying to see them able to apply everything that they're learning— to go from wondering why their professors are telling them this stuff to ‘oh, I understand now that I’m doing it.’”
Interest Area(s)
Criminal Justice, Legal Studies
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