Quantitative Research Methods in Criminology

How do you find and interpret the latest violent crime rate data? What factors put Australians at risk of becoming victims of a crime? What factors influence Australians' perception of the police force? How do you decipher the ?Results? and ?Discussion? sections of journal articles or government reports? How do you design a simple survey questionnaire that could tell you things that the existing data cannot? This course will teach students to use the tools of quantitative research methods to answer these and other questions. The focus will be on the logic of quantitative reasoning and its application to practical problems in criminological research. This course will focus on survey research and statistical techniques to analyse data collected in surveys. It will also spend time looking at other sources of quantitative data, including data compiled by various Australian government agencies. By the end of the course, students will be able to read, understand, and critically evaluate several types of quantitative data presented in research reports, books and journals. Please note that mathematical proofs, complex calculations, abstract probability theory, and the like will not be discussed.