Introduction

The cover of this book features an open penknife with an impressive range of attachments, set against a bright yellow background. So why did we pick this as the image to capture what we think Criminology Skills is all about? Without turning this into a media studies lesson, the cover says several things to us. First, by its very nature, much crime is hidden. Criminals tend not to want their activities to be made public. Criminology aims to bring criminality into the light: to explore issues such as why people start to offend, the causes and consequences of crime, methods of crime prevention, public perceptions and reactions to crime, measuring and quantifying crime, how the criminal justice system, the police, the courts, the probation and prison service, should deal with offenders, and methods that the state uses, especially the criminal law, in response to crime. Secondly, a penknife is quite capable of causing harm: stabbing or merely cutting someone with a knife could give rise to criminal liability for a range of different offences. Simply waving it at someone could be criminal. What about possession of the penknife in a public place? Or selling one to someone under the age of 16? Is it an offensive weapon or a weapon of offence? These have distinct meanings in the criminal law of England and Wales. Knife crime is a topic that is always of concern in the media. Thirdly, and perhaps, most importantly, a penknife contains a whole selection of different tools that can be used in different situations to make life easier. Several years ago, one of us was asked the question: ‘Why do you make such a fuss about skills? These students are at university. They ought to know how to study by now.’ Our answer is that, yes, perhaps students ...

9. Essay writing

This chapter, which focuses on essay writing, explores the ways source material can be used in coursework. It offers practical advice on interpreting the question, together with guidance on planning, researching, and constructing an essay. It explains how to conduct effective research to find relevant information and to use that information to produce a focused and well-supported essay. It also gives practical advice on producing a well-structured response with a strong introduction and conclusion that demonstrates the required skills and knowledge.

16. Dissertations and research reports

Many criminology students will be required to produce a dissertation or research report in their final year. This chapter distinguishes between these two pieces of work and offers practical advice on the requirements of each. It addresses skills such as selecting a workable research question and developing an effective relationship with supervisors, and also provides guidance on how to organize workload and create a suitable structure for a dissertation or report.

8. Referencing and avoiding plagiarism

This chapter focuses on referencing and avoiding plagiarism. It explains the meaning of plagiarism in detail and introduces the Harvard style of referencing. It explains when references must be provided in order to avoid inadvertent plagiarism. The chapter discusses referencing printed materials, government publications, legal sources, audio-visual sources, and electronic sources consistently and thoroughly using Harvard (name-date) referencing.

4. Media and web sources

This chapter focuses on media and web sources of information about crime and criminology. It first considers the different media sources—newspapers, broadcast media, and fiction—and explains their relevance to the study of criminology. The chapter provides detailed information on identifying and locating relevant source materials in the media, and outlines the different types of online information such as official publications, reports from criminology organizations, and interest groups, as well as blogs and forums. It discusses how to assess the usefulness, relevance, and reliability of materials.

2. Books, journals, and articles

This chapter first explains the nature of different books, journals, and articles encountered in the study of criminology. It introduces textbooks, edited collections, books of key readings, monographs, and dictionaries, together with journals as a key source of latest developments, research findings, criticism, and commentary. It moves on to consider how to find books and articles specified on a reading list. It then considers more generally how to find materials on a particular topic by developing a search strategy and using databases to locate relevant literature.

13. Gathering data

This chapter discusses the main approaches used by criminologists to gather data. It explains different methods of gathering data, such as interviews, focus groups, questionnaires, and observation, and how each of these methods can be used in criminological research. It also explains the strengths and weaknesses of each method. Discussion on selecting a sample for research, the different methods of sampling, and how to select the right sampling methods for a particular research study are also included.

3. Statistics and official publications

A number of government and other official agencies collect statistics that provide insight into the extent of criminal behaviour, and produce reports that explore issues such as the impact of crime; policy considerations concerning responses to crime; and evaluations of the work of the various agencies involved in the criminal justice system, such as the police, the courts, prisons, and the probation service. This chapter describes the various types of statistics and reports available, explains how they can be used in the study of criminology, and details where they can be found.

14. Quantitative analysis

Quantitative analysis is a significant feature of criminological research. This chapter discusses quantitative methods of analysis in which statistical tests are used to describe data and to draw inferences from the data. It covers the nature of quantitative data; types of variable; univariate analysis; bivariate analysis; statistical significance; and multivariate analysis. It also includes examples of using SPSS to generate statistics and perform tests on data.

12. Research ethics

This chapter discusses the importance of research ethics in criminology, with emphasis on ethical issues arising from research using human participants. It first considers the value of ethical approaches to research and moves on to address the particular issues raised by criminological research. It draws on the British Society of Criminology Statement of Ethics to explore the core ethical principles of confidentiality, anonymity, consent, and the avoidance of harm. The final section offers guidance on identifying and addressing ethical issues raised by one’s own research, along with suggestions on points to consider when formulating an application for approval for a Research Ethics Committee.