University of Florida CCJ 3701 Research Methods in Criminology Spring 2015

Transcription

1 1 University of Florida CCJ 3701 Research Methods in Criminology Spring 2015 Professor: Chris L.Gibson, Ph.D., Research Foundation Professor Office: Turlington 3330 Office Hours: Tuesday 8 am- 10am Phone: (352) clgibson@ufl.edu Lecture: Tuesday 11:45am 1:40pm (NEB 0202) Thursday 12:50pm 1:40pm (NEB 0202) Lab Instructor Instructor: Lindsay Leban, Graduate Student leban@ufl.edu Office: Turlington 3102 Office Hours: Tuesday 9:30-11:30am; Wednesday 12:45-2:45pm Instructor: Office: Office Hours: Damian Hoffman, Graduate Student dhoffman@ufl.edu Turlington 3363B Monday 3-4pm; Tuesday 2-3pm; Wednesday 12:45-2:45pm Lab Sections: Section 02GB (Leban) (Wednesday, 10:40am- 11:30am, Weil Hall 0408A) Section 1099 (Hoffman) (Wednesday, 10:40am- 11:30am, Weil Hall 0408E) Section 02GF (Leban) (Wednesday, 11:45am- 12:35pm, Weil Hall 0408A) Section 1100 (Hoffman) (Wednesday, 11:45am- 12:35pm, Weil Hall 0408E) Course Description Criminologists and criminal justice practitioners must understand how to use research methods and interpret findings from research studies. They must understand research designs and statistical methods required to test research questions, have competence in conducting searches for published research, and have awareness of the limitations of criminological studies. Criminal justice practitioners must be familiar with the research process even though many may never engage in actual research. A practitioner who is able to understand this process will be better equipped for criminal justice policy discussions on what works. This course focuses on the principles of research design, measurement, and data analysis techniques used by criminologists. During lectures students will learn various research designs and research terminology, as well as ethical practices involved in conducting research. In weekly labs students will have hands-on experiences with analyzing criminological data using a statistical software package SPSS. Course Objective 1. Become informed consumers of criminological research 2. Learn how to formulate a research question and apply research terminology 3. Perform basic and intermediate statistical analyses 4. Learn how to disseminate and report research findings

2 2 Material As outlined in the course schedule, students are required to read book chapters and articles posted electronically for each class period. A USB drive is required for storing data for lab sessions. Expectations What can you expect from me? 1. Be interested and passionate about the course and the material 2. Help you understand the applicability of research methods 3. Challenge you to think about an apply course/lab material 4. Assist in critically thinking about how to conduct research 5. Give you assistance when stumped or confused 6. Start and end class on time What will I expect from you? 1. Attend class and be on time 2. Be prepared for lecture 3. Finish reading assignments prior to class and take complete notes 4. Complete all assignments on time and hand them in as noted on syllabus 5. Know that it is a nationwide standard that, for success in most college courses, a student needs to put in 2 hours outside of class for each hour spent in class. (this will be especially important for research methods) Course Requirements and Policies If you miss a class, you are responsible for obtaining notes from another student. I will not post my lecture notes for this course. ATTENDANCE IS REQUIRED FOR ALL LABS. You earn 3 points for each lab attended. It is important that you do not miss labs because valuable information will be gained and data exercises are related directly to major assignments for this course. If you must miss a lab due to extremely extenuating circumstances, you MUST notify your lab instructor BEFORE the lab session by . You must attend your assigned lab section (you CAN NOT switch to another lab section). Policies Do not fall asleep, smoke, chew tobacco, read papers/books/newspapers, or do anything that is distracting to me or to others. Silence in response to questions is unacceptable. Makeup exams will be provided for students who have a university recognized excused absence such as: illnesses with a doctor s excuse, serious family emergency, and participation in official university activities (athletics). If you must miss an exam due to extremely extenuating circumstances, you must notify me before the exam by . All make-up exams will be scheduled on the same day as the final exam. Plagiarism will not be tolerated! Any student suspected of cheating will be failed on that particular assignment and referred to the University Honor Court. If you are unsure about what constitutes plagiarism, then you are strongly encouraged to refer to your Student

3 3 ( or discuss any concerns with the instructor. Upon entering class all cell phone, Ipods, Ipads, earphones, MP3 players, and any text messaging devices should be turned off. Failure to do so will result in me asking you to leave the class and return the following class period. Be respectful of your professor and peers. Impulsively shouting out ideas and opinions will not be tolerated. If you want to share an insight, idea, or have a question please raise your hand. The expression of ideas will not be censored; however, be prepared to defend your ideas. In addition, extend appropriate courtesy to each person in the class. Accommodations Students requesting classroom accommodations must first register with the Dean of Students Office. The Dean of Students Office will provide documentation to the student who must then provide this documentation to the Instructor when requesting accommodation. I am happy to accommodate anyone with documented specific needs. Grading Exams: 300 points (3 exams * 100) Major Lab Assignments: 250 points (5 assignments * 50) Research Experience: 30 points Lab Attendance: 40 points TOTAL POINTS: 620 points If you desire to convert your earned points into a percentage (as shown below) to determine your course standing you will need to take the number of earned points and divide by the total number of possible points. For example, if you earned a total of 600 points during the course your grade is 600 /620 =.967 (96.7 which is an A). If you desire to calculate your grade at anytime during the course you will take the number of earned points up to that point during the course and divide by the total number of point possible points at that particular point in the course. For example, if you have earned 150 points of 200 possible at that point in the course, then your grade at that particular time of the course is 150/200 =.75 (75 percent which is a C) Grade Percentage Grade Percentage A C A C B D B D B D C E 00-59

4 4 Exams: Exam questions will come from lecture notes and assigned readings. Moreover, the exams may consist of multiple choice, short answer, and true/false questions. The final exam is NOT comprehensive. Major Lab Assignments: Students are required to complete 5 major lab assignments worth 50 points per assignment. These are a major part of the course grade and taken together are designed to achieve the equivalent of a course paper that satisfies the Gordon Rule and the requirement of a data analysis project or research paper. The difference is that you will do this in small chunks that make the task of writing a major research paper less overwhelming and more manageable. Taken together, the overarching goal of these assignments is to test a criminological hypothesis using data provided by Dr. Gibson. You will have two weeks to complete each assignment once handed out. These assignments will go hand and hand with materials covered in labs and lecture so it is VERY IMPORTANT that you understand materials covered in both. A more detailed document describing these assignments will be provided soon. Research Experience: Research Experience Units 6 units required Most of what we have learned about human behavior comes from systematic empirical research. It is important that you have some first-hand exposure to this type of research during your Criminology and Law classes through the Research Experience component of your grade. Research Experience Units are designed so that you will receive 1 Research Experience Unit through the SONA system for each half hour you spend gaining research experience. For this course, you need to earn 6 Units (which roughly equates to 3 hours) total to earn full credit. If you are taking more than one Criminology and Law class that requires research participation, you MAY NOT overlap units. For example, if you are enrolled in both Law and Society and Advance Principles of Criminal Justice, you must complete the required units of research for Law and Society in addition to the required units of research for Advance Principles of Criminal Justice. You have two options for obtaining Research Experience Units: volunteering as a participant in departmental research or completing alternative assignments. You can complete any combination of research participation or alternative assignments to earn the units required by your class. You can access additional information about Research Experience Units at: A video describing how to obtain Research Experience Units and your requirement can also be found at: Option 1: Volunteer as a participant in departmental research. The last opportunity to participate in departmental research is April 22 nd, 2015 at 5pm. Only studies that have been approved by the Criminology and Law program can be used to meet this requirement. Participating in departmental research may consist of online or in-person participation. You can sign-up for departmental research studies at: Option 2: Complete alternative assignments. The last opportunity to submit an alternative assignment is March 27 th, 2015 at 5pm. Similar to assignments for your classes, resubmissions of assignments not receiving full credits will not be allowed. Please be sure to follow the guidelines to receive full credit. Generally alternative assignments consist of reading a research article and writing a response to questions about the article. You can find information

5 5 about this semester s alternative assignments at: If you have questions about the Research Experience Units in general, please the Research Experience coordinator at clsparticipantpool@gmail.com. If you have questions about a specific Research Experience Unit opportunity, please the specific researcher listed for that opportunity within the SONA system. DO NOT contact your instructor because the Research Experience Units are NOT maintained by him/her. Your instructor will know how many Units you have completed within two days of the end of classes for the semester once all of the research is over and researchers have entered credits. Tentative Course Outline: This is a tentative schedule and is subject to change depending on how the class progresses. Week 1 Introduction 01/06 Introducing criminological research 01/08 Introducing criminological research Week 2 Criminological Research Process 01/13 Bachman and Schutt (2013) The process and problems of criminological research. Fundamentals of Research in Criminology and Criminal Justice. Pages Kuhn, T. Chapter 2: The route to normal science ( pp ) 01/15 Bachman and Schutt (2013) The process and problems of criminological research. Fundamentals of Research in Criminology and Criminal Justice. Pages Kuhn, T. Chapter 3: The nature of normal science ( pp ) Week 3 Conceptualization and Measurement 01/20 Bachman and Schutt (2011) Conceptualization and Measurement. The Practice of Research in Criminology and Criminal Justice. Pages Ellis, Hartley, & Walsh (2010). Measuring Crime and Criminality. Research Methods in Criminology and Criminal Justice. Pages /22 Bachman and Schutt (2011) Conceptualization and Measurement. The Practice of Research in Criminology and Criminal Justice. Pages Ellis, Hartley, & Walsh (2010). Measuring Crime and Criminality. Research Methods in Criminology and Criminal Justice. Pages Week 4 Sampling: Probability and Non-Probability Sampling 01/27 Bachman and Schutt (2011) Sampling. The Practice of Research in Criminology and Criminal Justice. Pages /29 Bachman and Schutt (2011) Sampling. The Practice of Research in Criminology and Criminal Justice. Pages

6 6 Week 5 EXAM WEEK # 1 02/03 Wrapping up and Review 02/05 Exam # 1 Week 6 Ethics and Research 02/10 Bachman and Schutt (2013) Research Ethics and Philosophy. Fundamentals of Research in Criminology and Criminal Justice. Pages /12 Bachman and Schutt (2013) Research Ethics and Philosophy. Fundamentals of Research in Criminology and Criminal Justice. Pages Week 7 Causation and Experimental Design 02/17 Bachman and Schutt (2013) Causation and Research Design. The Practice of Research in Criminology and Criminal Justice. Pages /19 Bachman and Schutt (2013) Causation and Research Design. The Practice of Research in Criminology and Criminal Justice. Pages Week 8 Survey Research 02/24 Ellis, Hartley, & Walsh (2010). The human side of sampling and self-reports. Research Methods in Criminology and Criminal Justice. Pages Ellis, Hartley, & Walsh (2010). Data based on self-reports: Guidelines for constructing questionnaires. Research Methods in Criminology and Criminal Justice. Pages /26 Ellis, Hartley, & Walsh (2010). The human side of sampling and self-reports. Research Methods in Criminology and Criminal Justice. Pages Ellis, Hartley, & Walsh (2010). Data based on self-reports: Guidelines for constructing questionnaires. Research Methods in Criminology and Criminal Justice. Pages Week 9 SPRING BREAK!!! 03/03 NO CLASS 03/05 NO CLASS Week 10 EXAM WEEK # 2 03/10 Wrapping up and Review 03/12 Exam # 2 Week 11 Univariate Statistics and Significance Testing 03/17 Ellis, Hartley, & Walsh (2010). Univariate statistics and the concept of statistical significance. Research Methods in Criminology and Criminal Justice. Pages /19 Ellis, Hartley, & Walsh (2010). Univariate statistics and the concept of statistical significance. Research Methods in Criminology and Criminal Justice. Pages

7 7 Week 12 Bivariate Correlation 11/24 Ellis, Hartley, & Walsh (2010). Bivariate correlation and multivariate statistics. Research Methods in Criminology and Criminal Justice. 11/26 Ellis, Hartley, & Walsh (2010). Bivariate correlation and multivariate statistics. Research Methods in Criminology and Criminal Justice. Week 13 Bivariate Linear Regression 03/31 Ellis, Hartley, & Walsh (2010). Bivariate correlation and multivariate statistics. Research Methods in Criminology and Criminal Justice. 04/02 Ellis, Hartley, & Walsh (2010). Bivariate correlation and multivariate statistics. Research Methods in Criminology and Criminal Justice. Week 14 Multivariate Linear Regression 04/07 Ellis, Hartley, & Walsh (2010). Bivariate correlation and multivariate statistics. Research Methods in Criminology and Criminal Justice 04/09 Ellison, C., and Musick, M. (1993). Southern intolerance: A fundamentalist effect? Social Forces, 72, Week 15 Multivariate Linear Regression 04/14 Ellison, C., and Musick, M. (1993). Southern intolerance: A fundamentalist effect? Social Forces, 72, /16 Wrapping up Week 16 EXAM WEEK #3 04/21 Exam 3

8 8