Module Information
Course Delivery
Assessment
Due to Covid-19 students should refer to the module Blackboard pages for assessment details
| Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
|---|---|---|
| Semester Assessment | Assignment 1 (1,500 words) | 50% |
| Semester Assessment | Assignment 2 (1,500 words) | 50% |
| Supplementary Assessment | Assignment 1 (1,500 words) | 50% |
| Supplementary Assessment | Assignment 2 (1,500 words) | 50% |
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
1. Understand how to write and reference in an academically robust way.
2. Understand the basics of research development and design.
3. Conduct a qualitative interview.
4. Construct and use a basic survey questionnaire.
5. Have a developing understanding of the advantages and limitations of quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods designs.
6. Have a developing understanding of how to critically assess empirical criminological research studies.
Brief description
There are opportunities for students to actively engage in the research process, developing observation skills and undertaking one-to-one interviewing and surveying.
Content
Academic writing and referencing
Research design
Research ethics
Questionnaire design
Qualitative interviewing
Basic qualitative analysis methodologies
Module Skills
| Skills Type | Skills details |
|---|---|
| Application of Number | The use of numbers is inherent in the process of analyzing data. |
| Communication | Students will be taught how to write to a high academic standard, and how to apply Harvard referencing to their work, which will enable them to develop skills needed to produce written publications. |
| Improving own Learning and Performance | Students will need to be able to cope with quite different assignment styles to that with which they might be familiar, so they will need to engage with this at an early stage, be willing to ask for further guidance where they need it, and produce work of a high quality both in the middle of the semester and at the end. |
| Information Technology | Students will be required to access materials on Blackboard, but also to utilize an online survey programme to complete their second assignment. |
| Personal Development and Career planning | This module is very rooted in the real world, and how research can be conducted with real people. Both of the assignments will require them to run a research activity with someone outside of the course, and reflect on how well the tools worked with real people in society. Students are required to reflect on their own designs of both interview and survey, which requires a good level of personal reflection on own development and learning. |
| Problem solving | The whole ethos of the module revolves around problem solving. It is what social science research is centrally about and therefore the module will be heavily concerned with encouraging and nurturing this skill. |
| Research skills | Students will be required to design and conduct their own interview and survey, and then critically analyse how well their design worked in reality. |
| Subject Specific Skills | Students will develop skills which will help them in designing and conducting a research project, should they decide to undertake an empirically-based dissertation in their third year. |
| Team work | Both of the assignments will require the students to work with another to produce a) an interview schedule and b) a survey questionnaire (although the assignments will be written up individually). The seminars and workshops will also require students to work with each other throughout in a very practical way. |
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 4