Doing Criminology: Research and Practice in Crime and Criminal Justice

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. Through a series of online and in-class exercises students will develop an understanding and the practical skills necessary to critique criminological research and implement a variety of methodological techniques. This course is weighted towards understanding criminological research design, methods and evidence. An expert opinion or an appeal to “common sense” are often used for the basis of certain believes and behaviours. Experience in policymaking, however, implies that we must rely on evidence derived from robust research for effective and defensible decision-making. Skills in understanding and using research evidence are powerful for the exploration of substantiative research questions in social policy and criminology. Such skills are also highly sought after by employers in both the public and private sectors.