Making Sense of Criminological Data

CRIM14442 Making Sense of Criminological Data 20 Semester 2 Undergraduate Level 1 Nico Trajtenberg Unit coordinator 1 FHEQ level (Framework for Higher Education Qualifications) ' First part HE study/Bachelors ' European Credit Transfer & Accumulation System Rating : 10.0 Data - including crime data - is everywhere today and affects all aspects of everyday life.  This being the case, it is important that we possess the ability to make sense of these  data, and to use them to draw meaningful conclusions about the world around us. This  course is designed to get you working with real-world data related to crime and criminal  justice, and gives you new skills and confidence in manipulating, visualising and  interpreting it.Indicative content: (1) Data sets & variables; (2) Describing & visualising  single variables; (3) Making comparisons - the basics; (4) Concepts, operationalisation,  measurement; (5) Making comparison - research design; (6) Data visualisation; (7)  Looking at trends (8) Qualitative methods 1; (9) Qualitative methods 2; (10) Course review  & project support.    Data - including crime data - is everywhere today and affects all aspects of everyday life.  This being the case, it is important that we possess the ability to make sense of these  data, and to use them to draw meaningful conclusions about the world around us. This  course is designed to get you working with real-world data related to crime and criminal  justice, and gives you new skills and confidence in manipulating, visualising and  interpreting it.Indicative content: (1) Data sets & variables; (2) Describing & visualising  single variables; (3) Making comparisons - the basics; (4) Concepts, operationalisation,  measurement; (5) Making comparison - research design; (6) Data visualisation; (7)  Looking at trends (8) Qualitative methods 1; (9) Qualitative methods 2; (10) Course review  & project support.    The unit aims to (1) introduce students to quantitative and qualitative sources of  information on issues of relevance to criminology, social policy, and other social science disciplines; (2) introduce students to the principles underlying statistical and qualitative analysis; (3) develop students' basic skills in producing, interpreting, writing up, and  visualising the results of data analysis; (4) equip students with basic skills using software for data analysis ; (5) provide students with the skills necessary to critically evaluate both academic and media accounts of statistical and qualitative research.    On completion of the course, the student will be able to (1) identify some key data sources in criminology and other areas of social policy; (2) demonstrate a critical awareness of key data quality issues and how they are linked to research design decisions; (3) produce, read, and interpret quantitative information in the form of tables and graphs; (4)  understand basic exploratory data analysis and principles of good data visualisation; (5) understand the different levels at which social and personal characteristics (variables) are measures and how resulting data are distributed; (6) Become aware of the range of  existing qualitative data and basic approaches to their analysis.    Other (i) analyse, critique and (re-)formulate a problem or issue; (ii) rapidly and thoroughly review/rate argument and evidence from targeted bibliographic searches; (iii) plan, structure and present arguments in a variety of written formats and to a strict word limit, (iv) express ideas verbally and organise work effectively in small teams for a variety of written and oral tasks; (v) obtain, manipulate and (re-)present different forms of data; (vi) manage time effectively; (vii) reflect on and improve performance through feedback. Teaching and learning across course units consists of: (1) preparatory work to be  completed prior to teaching sessions, including readings, pre-recorded subject material and online activities; (2) a weekly whole-class lecture or workshop; (3) a tutorial; and (4) one-to-one support via subject specific office hours.    0 Other 20% 2 Written assignment (inc essay) 80% The course is assessed by means of weekly homework submissions (20%) and a 2500- word project report (worth 80%) .    <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;margin:.05pt 53.15pt 0cm 2.0cm;mso-layout-grid-align:none;mso-line-height-rule:exactly;mso-pagination:none;text-align:justify;text-autospace:none;text-justify:inter-ideograph;">Formative feedback (both individual and collective) will be given on tasks and contribution in class. Summative feedback will be given on both assessed components via Blackboard (Grademark).  Y Blastland, Michael, and Andrew W. Dilnot (2008) The tiger that isn't: seeing through a world of numbers. London: Profile books.  Practical classes & workshops 20 Seminars 10 70 Across their course units each semester, full-time students are expected to devote a  'working week' of around 30-35 hours to study. Accordingly each course unit demands  around 10-11 hours of study per week consisting of (i) 3 timetabled teacher-led hours, (ii) 7-8 independent study hours devoted to preparation, required and further reading, and  note taking.