CSS 303: Research Methods in Criminology and Security Studies

Learning Outcomes

At the end of the course, the students should be able to:

1. identify the principles of scientific methods;
2. discuss research methods in criminology and security studies;
3. explain dominant social research methods in criminology and security studies including qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods;
4. discuss appropriate methods and instruments of data collection and analysis; and
5. conduct and assess small scale research in criminology and security studies.

Course Contents

Sources of scientific and non-scientific knowledge. Positivist, interpretivist, and constructionist approaches to reality. Concept of research, types of research. Research process. Roles of theory, concept and variable in research. Research problem formulation. Research aim, questions and objectives. Nature and purpose of literature review. Research designs (experimental, quasi-experimental, cross sectional survey, panel and longitudinal; case study; mixed-designs) quantitative data collection methods (survey, questionnaire, interviews, secondary data. Data collection and analysis (ethnography, focus group discussion, observation, in-depth interview). Population, sample and sampling. data collection methods and tools. Construction of questionnaire and interview guides. Qualitative and quantitative analysis. Ethical issues in research. Report writing and presentation; reference styles.