School: Arts and Humanities

This unit information may be updated and amended immediately prior to semester. To ensure you have the correct outline, please check it again at the beginning of semester.

  • Unit Title

    Research Methods II
  • Unit Code

    CRI2110
  • Year

    2025
  • Enrolment Period

    1
  • Version

    2
  • Credit Points

    15
  • Full Year Unit

    N
  • Mode of Delivery

    On Campus
    Online
  • Unit Coordinator

    Dr Nikki RAJAKARUNA

Description

This second research skills unit introduces students to qualitative theory and methodology to examine issues in criminology and justice. Students will be exposed to methods used within the qualitative paradigm and prepare a report for an industry stakeholder within the criminal justice discipline. Students will develop an understanding of the importance of qualitative research in measuring, examining and understanding issues relevant to criminology and justice. This unit also explores fundamental theories of qualitative research, types of qualitative data and data collection methods, as well as methods of analysing qualitative data. Finally, it will allow students to round off their research knowledge by comparing qualitative and quantitative methods of inquiry. This unit will emphasise critical ethical considerations relevant to applied research in criminology and justice which often includes disadvantaged and vulnerable people, young offenders, Indigenous people and victims of crime.

Equivalent Rule

Unit was previously coded CRI2102

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this unit students should be able to:

  1. Synthesise existing research to identify gaps in knowledge that inform research questions.
  2. Apply principles of qualitative research methods in Criminology to research design.
  3. Apply principles of ethical behaviour in a research ethics application.
  4. Analyse and interpret research results and use them to recommend sustainable solution to dilemmas identified in the criminological project completed.
  5. Evaluate own performance in team and as an individual for time management and task completion.

Unit Content

  1. Critiquing the qualitative research process.
  2. Designing qualitative research.
  3. Ethics in qualitative research.
  4. Interpreting and applying qualitative data.
  5. Methods of analysing qualitative data.
  6. Qualitative data collection methods.
  7. The emergence and development of qualitative research methods in criminology and justice.
  8. The purpose of qualitative research in criminology and justice.
  9. Theories and paradigms of qualitative research.
  10. Types of qualitative data.
  11. Using a body of knowledge to develop research questions.

Learning Experience

ON-CAMPUS

Students will attend on campus classes as well as engage in learning activities through ECU's LMS

JoondalupMount LawleySouth West (Bunbury)
Semester 113 x 3 hour seminarNot OfferedNot Offered

For more information see the Semester Timetable

ONLINE

Students will engage in learning experiences via ECU’s LMS as well as additional ECU learning technologies

Additional Learning Experience Information

This unit is conducted in both the on-campus and online modes. On campus students will attend 3 hour weekly seminars. Online students will receive the unit content via the BlackBoard Learning Management System and online tutorials. Regular online access is essential. Additional time is required for reading prescribed text and for assignment research, preparation and submission.

Assessment

GS1 GRADING SCHEMA 1 Used for standard coursework units

Students please note: The marks and grades received by students on assessments may be subject to further moderation. All marks and grades are to be considered provisional until endorsed by the relevant School Progression Panel.

ON CAMPUS
TypeDescriptionValue
Literature ReviewLiterature Review30%
AssignmentInterview Process and Critique30%
ReportResearch Report40%
ONLINE
TypeDescriptionValue
Literature ReviewLiterature Review30%
AssignmentInterview Process and Critique30%
ReportResearch Report40%

Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth 2005)

For the purposes of considering a request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth 2005), inherent requirements for this subject are articulated in the Unit Description, Learning Outcomes and Assessment Requirements of this entry. The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the support for students with disabilities or medical conditions can be found at the Access and Inclusion website.

Assessment

Students please note: The marks and grades received by students on assessments may be subject to further moderation. Informal vivas may be conducted as part of an assessment task, where staff require further information to confirm the learning outcomes have been met. All marks and grades are to be considered provisional until endorsed by the relevant School Progression Panel.

Academic Integrity

Integrity is a core value at Edith Cowan University, and it is expected that ECU students complete their assessment tasks honestly and with acknowledgement of other people's work as well as any generative artificial intelligence tools that may have been used. This means that assessment tasks must be completed individually (unless it is an authorised group assessment task) and any sources used must be referenced.

Breaches of academic integrity can include:

Plagiarism

Copying the words, ideas or creative works of other people or generative artificial intelligence tools, without referencing in accordance with stated University requirements. Students need to seek approval from the Unit Coordinator within the first week of study if they intend to use some of their previous work in an assessment task (self-plagiarism).

Unauthorised collaboration (collusion)

Working with other students and submitting the same or substantially similar work or portions of work when an individual submission was required. This includes students knowingly providing others with copies of their own work to use in the same or similar assessment task(s).

Contract cheating

Organising a friend, a family member, another student or an external person or organisation (e.g. through an online website) to complete or substantially edit or refine part or all of an assessment task(s) on their behalf.

Cheating in an exam

Using or having access to unauthorised materials in an exam or test.

Serious outcomes may be imposed if a student is found to have committed one of these breaches, up to and including expulsion from the University for repeated or serious acts.

ECU's policies and more information about academic integrity can be found on the student academic integrity website.

All commencing ECU students are required to complete the Academic Integrity Module.

Assessment Extension

In some circumstances, Students may apply to their Unit Coordinator to extend the due date of their Assessment Task(s) in accordance with ECU's Assessment, Examination and Moderation Procedures - for more information visit https://askus2.ecu.edu.au/s/article/000001386.

Special Consideration

Students may apply for Special Consideration in respect of a final unit grade, where their achievement was affected by Exceptional Circumstances as set out in the Assessment, Examination and Moderation Procedures - for more information visit https://askus2.ecu.edu.au/s/article/000003318.

CRI2110|2|1