CJ 600:
Research Methods in Criminal Justice
Fall 2008 (draft)
Jon'a Meyer, Ph.D., 405 Cooper
#207, (856) 225-6207 Office Hours: Th 1:30-3:00,
T 5-6 & by appointment
Course description:
This course will discuss the
quantitative and qualitative methods of research that are commonly used in
criminal justice and other social sciences. You will learn about survey research,
experiments, observational/field work, and interview studies. We will cover
methods of inquiry, causality, sampling, research instrument design, data
collection, coding, ethics, and statistics (briefly).
Required texts:
Maxfield, M.G. and Babbie,
E. (2006). Basics of Research Methods
for Criminal Justice and Criminology. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. --OR--
Maxfield, M.G. and Babbie, E. (2005). Research
Methods for Criminal Justice and Criminology (4th ed). Belmont, CA:
Wadsworth. If you have not taken methods
in a while, I recommend the second book as it has more examples and explanation
in it.
Warren, C.A.B. and Karner,
T.X. (2005). Discovering Qualitative Methods: Field Research, Interviews,
and Analysis. Los Angeles: Roxbury.
Various PDF readings available
on the class Sakai page in the readings subdirectory.
You will also be responsible for reading materials tied to the class
project.
Optional texts:
Vogt, W.P. (1998). Dictionary
of Statistics and Methodology. Newbury Park: Sage. (A truly snazzy resource!)
Various PDF readings available
on the class Sakai page under "optional readings" in
the readings subdirectory
Student evaluation:
Grades will be based on the
following:
-pass Human Subjects Certification Program test (3pts)
-pass class citation test (2 pts)
-come to class with reading questions & and participate
in discussion and groupwork (10 pts) -take-home midterm (25 pts)
-in-class final (25 pts)
-paper (35 pts)
Paper:
This is not your average class,
so there isn't a "paper" in the typical sense of the word. Instead,
you will write a research proposal for a project related
to your (or a classmate's) worksite or on an assigned topic. While you will work
on the project as a team, your final writeup must be your own work.
Through this course, you will learn how to do research in addition to
learning the pitfalls and triumphs researchers encounter during the "process
of finding out." Directions for the paper are described more fully
on Sakai
Class Sakai page:
We have a Sakai page for the
course that contains copies of class readings. We will not read all of them;
some are included for your reference in the future (including a number
of resources on statistics). Everyone will be auto-enrolled via the
roster upload process (all registered students will be enrolled within
one business day of enrolling). If you do NOT see the course
in your Sakai Portal," let me know. To access the course, go to: https://sakai.rutgers.edu/portal/
-login to Sakai (use your NETID
& password [i.e., your university email ID/name and your email password]).
-click on the appropriate
tab to access the course.
Certification test
in human subjects protocol test:
All researchers at Rutgers,
including graduate students, must pass a certification test in human
subjects protocols before engaging in actual research, including drafting proposals that are
ethically sound.
Directions for taking this class are on Sakai.
Class citation program:
Based on questions from prior
students, I have created an online course that covers proper citation
protocols. Proper citation is very important in research because it
allows our readers to know what we are adding to the literature and
what we learned from prior research. Directions for taking this class
are on Sakai.
ASST:
For convenience, deadlines
appear in the reading questions. See class contract for class policies,
including information on academic integrity.
