Course Outline CRIM2001 PDF

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CRIM2001

Doing Criminology: Research and Practice in Crime and Criminal Justice

COURSE DESCRIPTION Evidence-based policy development has emerged as key foundation of private enterprise and public service. Whether you're a policy officer, program manager or senior executive, understanding research and the research process is critical to innovation and improvement. In this course, students will gain an insight into how criminologists undertake research on policy related crime and punishment issues in Australia. They will develop an understanding of the key methodological techniques and principles that criminologists use to study crime. This course is weighted towards understanding research design and the application of quantitative and qualitative research methods which is a powerful way to explore substantiative research questions in social policy and criminology. Skills in research design, quantitative research and data analysis are highly sought after by employers in both the public and private sectors.

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SECOND SEMESTER http://programsandcourses.anu.edu.au/course/CRIM2001

COURSE OVERVIEW Learning Outcomes Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to: 1. Understand the basic principles and practices that underpin social science research. 2. Understand the problems that arise in real world research on criminal justice topics. 3. Think critically about data and the methodologies used to collate and analyse data. 4. Source data and interpret information appropriately. 5. Communicate effectively both orally and in written form. 6. Achieve outcomes working within strict time constraints.

Assessment Summary Assessment Task

Value

Due Date

Methodological critique Word limit - 1200 words

20%

11:59pm – August 21

Ethics application (written) Word limit - 1200 words

20%

11:59pm – September 18

Ethics application (oral defence) 10 mins

10%

Week of September 18

Take-home Exam Word limit - 2500 words

40%

11:59pm – November 6

Participation

5%

ongoing

Online Contribution 5 x written reflections on Wattle

5%

ongoing

Students will have an opportunity to discuss the assessment items during the first week of teaching. Any issues relating to the assessment should be raised at this time.

Feedback Feedback from staff Students will be given feedback in the following forms in this course:  

Verbal feedback will be given through comments during discussion and group work; and Written feedback will be provided through comments on assignments or via email for presentation and participation.

Feedback from students ANU is committed to the demonstration of educational excellence and regularly seeks feedback from students. One of the key formal ways students have to provide feedback is through Student Experience of Learning Support (SELS) surveys. The feedback given in these surveys is anonymous 2 | T H E A U S T R A L I A N N AT I O N A L U N I V E R S I T Y

and provides the Colleges, University Education Committee and Academic Board with opportunities to recognise excellent teaching, and opportunities for improvement. For more information on student surveys at ANU and reports on the feedback provided on ANU courses, go to http://unistats.anu.edu.au/surveys/selt/students/ and http://unistats.anu.edu.au/surveys/selt/results/learning/

Policies ANU has educational policies, procedures and guidelines, which are designed to ensure that staff and students are aware of the University’s academic standards, and implement them. You can find the University’s education policies and an explanatory glossary at: http://policies.anu.edu.au/ Students are expected to have read the Code of Practice for Student Academic Integrity before the commencement of their course. Other key policies include:      

Academic Progress Assessment of Student Learning Assessment Review and Appeals Course Assessment: Consultation and Finalisation Student Feedback on Teaching and Learning Insert College policies on extensions, late submissions, etc as appropriate

CASS has a number of College-specific policies, which can be found on the College intranet: ANU homepage > College of Arts and Social Sciences homepage > CASS Intranet > Education.

Required Resources None.

Field trips None

Additional course costs None.

Examination material or equipment None.

Recommended Resources There are no prescribed texts for this course. Set readings will be provided via Wattle. If students wish to access a book to aid study, recommended texts include: 

Maxfield, M., and Babbie, E. (2008) Research methods for criminal justice and criminology, 5th ed. ed. Wadsworth Pub. Co, Belmont, CA.



Maxfield, M., and Babbie, E. (2011) Research methods for criminal justice and criminology, 6th ed. ed. Wadsworth Pub. Co, Belmont, CA.

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INDICITIVE COURSE SCHEDULE The following table presents an indicative schedule of this 13-week course. The course is delivered in a blended mode. This means that you will be engaged in both online and in-class activities. The components and scheduling of the course are subject to change depending on the availability of guest lecturers.

Week

Lecture

1 (24/7)

Course Introduction

2 (31/7)

Foundations: Conceptualisation and Measurement

3 (7/8)

Foundations: Sampling

4 (14/8)

Foundations: Causality and Design

5 (21/8)

Research Ethics: Key Principles

6 (28/8)

Research Ethics: Practical Issues Mid-Semester Break

8 (18/9)

Research Ethics: Mock HREC

9 (25/9)

Criminology in Practice – Evaluation Research

10 (2/10)

Criminology in Practice – Experimental Research

11 (9/10)

Criminology in Practice – Guest Lecture

12 (16/10)

Criminology in Practice – Observational and Qualitative

13 (23/10)

Practical + Take-home Exam

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Mode of delivery This course is delivered in a blended mode. This means that you will undertake a mixture of both online and in-class activities. For those weeks in which lecture materials are provided, these will be available for you to watch and listen to via Wattle. Lectorials will be two hours in length. Lectorials are relatively informal and provide a friendly environment in which students can test out their views, ideas and practice their research skills with peers. There will also be additional reading / websites provided throughout the course if you wish to explore the subject area in more depth. Students are reminded that the total workload for this course is 130 hours. It is therefore expected that students will undertake no less than 90 hours (7 hours per week) of self-study, including the preparation of assessment items.

Guest Lectures TBA

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Assessment Task

Value

Tutorial participation

10%

Field report and tutorial presentation Word limit - 1000 words; 10 mins

Due Date

30%

Minor Essay Word limit - 1500 words

30%

Examination 2 hours

30%

Assessment Guidelines and Policies Assignment submission Online Submission: Assignments are submitted using the course Wattle site. Submitted assignments must include the cover sheet provided on Wattle. Please keep a copy of the assignment for your records.

Research Quality Assurance: The lecturer may ask to speak with you regarding the research you compiled for your essay (the process by which you gathered and analysed your research materials). These meetings are usually designed to help students improve their research skills and ensure their approach to research is of a university standard. To this end, please keep all the notes, plans, drafts and research that you use for this essay as you may be asked to produce these as evidence of your work.

Extensions and penalties: As per the policy for late submission of assessment approved by the ANU Academic Board on 12 December 2014, assessment items submitted without an approved extension will attract a penalty of five (5) percent of the possible marks available for that assessment per working day or part thereof. Should a student require an extension, the following rules apply: 1. Applications for an extension are to be submitted in writing (by Wattle) to the Course Convener. 2. All applications for an extension must be submitted on or before the assessment due date as indicated in the course outline. The only exception is where the student could not reasonably be expected to have made the application due to an unexpected illness or other unanticipated misadventure. Applications made after the due date will be referred to the CASS Associate Dean (Student Experience) for authorisation. 3. Extensions will be granted only for medical conditions, bereavement, or other compelling reasons on the advice of the Disability Services Centre. 4. Extensions requested on medical grounds require documentation with a medical certificate. The certificate must comply with the requirements as set out by the Australian Medical Association. Specifically, the certificate must include: (1) Name and address of the doctor issuing the certificate; (1) Name of the patient; (2) Date on which the examination took place; (3) Date on which the certificate was issued; (4) Date(s) on which the patient is or was unfit for attendance. 5. In the case of extensions requested on medical grounds, the dates and number of ‘unfit’ days indicated on the medical certificate will determine the appropriate length of the extension. Where a date range is not provided on the medical certificate, only the date of issue will be accepted as the single date on which the applicant was unfit for attendance. It is College

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policy that the requested extension ends on the last date of illness as indicated on the medical certificate. 6. Where the application for an extension is made via email, an electronic copy of the medical certificate must be provided. Approval via email is tentative until such time as the original (hard copy) medical certificate has been sighted by the Course Convenor. Failure to supply the original medical certificate will void the extension and result in the deduction of late penalties. 7. Extensions will normally not be granted because of conflicts with other study commitments, work commitments, holidays, family gatherings, competing assessment deadlines, sporting commitments or commitments to student organisations. Approval of an extension under these circumstances is at the Course Convenors discretion. 8. Extensions requested in connection to an existing Education Access Plan must be made at least seven (7) days prior to the assessment due date. 9. All applications for an extension made within three (3) days of the due date must be accompanied with evidence of progress on the relevant assessment, or a statement/ explanation for its absence. For essay’s and other written assessments this should be in the form of a draft or essay plan, etc. 10. Even when an extension has been granted, assignments will normally not be accepted beyond the date when the assessment on that question/topic has been returned to other students enrolled in the course. If a student is unable to submit their assessment by that time, an alternative assessment may be set by the Course Convenor. 11. Applications to extend an extension beyond the original approval (ie. a second extension) must be accompanied by relevant documentation. Second extension requests must be forwarded by the Course Convenor to the Associate Dean (Student Experience) for authorisation.

Assessment format: Your assessments must NOT contain a title page or any other markings which indicate your name. By virtue of the use of Turnitin, student assessment items are graded anonymously and are automatically linked to your student identification number. The following guidelines are provided for the submission of each written assessment:  

 

Assessments must be word processed. Other than titles and headings, the text font should be 12 pt. Assignments should have no less than a 2cm margin, both left and right. One and a half line spacing should be used. Single line spacing is used for quotes when these are separated and indented. Double line spacing should be used between paragraphs. Each page of the assignment should be numbered. Students are required to use the Harvard style referencing system for all assessment items.

Returning assignments: Assessment items and comments will be returned to students via Turnitin on Wattle on or before the dates specified above.

Resubmission of assignments: Unless otherwise approved under exceptional circumstances, assessment items cannot be resubmitted.

Referencing requirements: Students are required to use the Harvard style referencing system for all assessment items. A detailed description of this style can be found at: https://academicskills.anu.edu.au/node/80

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