Course structure
Core modules
Analysing Data
You gain a thorough grounding in quantitative and qualitative data analysis techniques. You will be introduced to the UK Data Service and explore the range of data available. The module will focus on quantitative analysis using SPSS as a tool to conduct exploratory and inferential statistical analysis. You will learn key assumptions associated with making appropriate analysis decisions, and will also be introduced to key qualitative data analysis techniques and relevant software. This module will also consider visualising and representing data and developing interpretations of findings.
Criminological Theory
If you are unfamiliar with criminology, you can explore the historical ideas to explain crime and deviance. You take a socio-historical perspective, charting the development of criminological science from pre-modern assumptions based on religious ideas, through the first real attempts to produce rational explanations for criminal offending, into the 20th-century and through to the rise of postmodernism. You use a political-economic framework that examines the different theories with the defining ideas of their respective time periods.
Foundations of Social Research
This module will introduce you to the relationship between philosophy, theory and social research.You will examine major debates in epistemology and consider how this relates to decisions research design and analysis. You will also learn how to conceptualise and design social research, paying particular attention to the rationale for using research methodologies. You will learn how to define and formulate research problems and questions. Issues such as decisions around sampling strategy, sampling error and implications for research findings will also be considered. You will also examine concepts used to evaluate social research and understand competing arguments for how these are defined. Throughout the module, you consider debates in relation to ethics, politics and risk in social research whilst addressing the balance of theory and practice.
Methods of Data Collection
This module aims to give you a thorough grounding in both quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection. Embedded in relation to theory, practice and ethics, you will examine core research methods used in social research in addition to new and developing techniques for collecting data. You also examine the advantages and disadvantages of different research methods and consider this in relation to identifying the most suitable method of data collection for different types of research questions.
Studies in Criminology and Social Policy
You examine methodological and empirically innovative or significant research methods and studies in criminology and social policy. You explore a broad range of research design and methods to expand your understanding and awareness of approaches to social research. You contextualise theory and method to research studies in criminology and social policy.
and one optional modules
Contemporary Criminological Theory
The principal aim of this module is to introduce you to explanations of crime suited to the current times in which we live. It will build on the criticisms levelled at 20th-century theoretical frameworks and move forward to familiarise you with the latest 21st-century frameworks currently in use and/or under development. The module will place these emerging frameworks in the contexts of today's mutating crime and criminal markets alongside current transformations in contemporary political economy, culture, social theory, psychoanalysis and philosophy.
Drug Use in Contemporary Society
This module focuses upon sociological and criminological knowledge regarding drug use and drug users in contemporary society. It also covers historical and cross-cultural analysis of drug use, drug markets and drug and alcohol issues. Module content will adjust to keep pace with changes in the field of drug use, research, and legislation and will make use of research informed teaching in this field. The module will be of use both to those studying for purely academic purposes and those working in the drugs/alcohol field.
Policing and Security
You examine policing within the wider issue of security in modern society. You look at extant sociology of the police and on other theoretical bodies of knowledge from fields such as political economy, political sociology, state theory and organisational theory to interrogate the development, role and practices of the public police and its relationship with private policing. You should have some knowledge of extant police sociology. You investigate UK and national themes such as the position of the police within the contemporary security industrial complex, militarisation, surveillance and dataveillance, transnationalisation. You develop a robust theoretical understanding of police and policing and engage extensively and intensively with a diverse body of literature, concepts and theories.
Victims and Offenders
You explore a variety of crimes from the perspective of victims and offenders, including violence against women in international, national and local policy agendas. You cover domestic violence, honour crimes, sexual violence, sexual harassment, trafficking in women and exploitation in the sex industry, female genital mutilation, stalking and homicide. You also explore crimes against older people, critically analysing perceptions of older people and their involvement in crime, as offenders and victims. You focus on violent and serious crime, developing discussions around the debates focused on victims and offenders. You focus on criminal justice and policy initiatives, crime prevention strategies and community responses to the 'problem of crime' to develop an understanding of theoretical perspectives, implications for policy and the influence of community responses to arrange of crimes.
