Overview
This research capstone unit enables you to apply the theories, content knowledge and skills you have learned to researching a problem of concern to a regulatory agency, criminal justice agency, government or other organisation involved in the prevention or regulation of criminal activity. You will develop a practical research project that will be conducted during a single term and be responsible for each of the methodological stages including developing a research question, understanding the ethical context, planning, project management, conduct of research, delivery and dissemination. You will keep a portfolio of key documents and reflect on skills and capabilities necessary for professional research practice in the field of criminology.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
Enrolment in CL55 or CL75 and 72 cp of completed units.
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).
Offerings For Term 2 - 2023
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Class Timetable
Assessment Overview
Assessment Grading
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of 'pass' in order to pass the unit. If any 'pass/fail' tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully ('pass' grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the 'assessment task' section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%). Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades.
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - Domestic Students
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - International Students
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Student Feedback - Compliments and Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Feedback from Student evaluations, in class feedback and via email.
Students were very satisfied with the learning support received during the unit
The unit modules contain learning resources and challenge tasks. These will be developed into a third iteration which will include additional information and learning resources in order to maintain currency and a contemporary unit, as well as adapt for each cohort interest and skill needs. The UC will continue to be available via Zoom and email for additional tutorials/meetings. Additional video recordings and scaffolded assesment guides will continue to be evaluated and utilised in each unit.
Feedback from Student evaluations, in class feedback and via email.
Students found the Unit content engaging and interesting
The contemporary methodological topics will be reviewed and updated where necessary to maintain the engaging content of the Unit.
Feedback from Student evaluations, in class feedback and via email.
Students found the student-directed study sessions useful
These sessions are guided but students learn to direct sessions themselves in order to build research management skills and prepare students for employment in line with the aims of a Capstone unit.
- Analyse a complex criminology problem by developing and implementing appropriate research methodologies
- Design a research proposal
- Consolidate information pertaining to the research topic through a critical review of leading authorities, a literature analysis and the management of this information in a research data platform
- Work responsibly on a criminology research project and account for your own learning practices
- Engage in peer review and feedback processes within a discipline research community.
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Literature Review or Systematic Review - 30% | |||||
| 2 - Report - 70% | |||||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Communication | |||||
| 2 - Problem Solving | |||||
| 3 - Critical Thinking | |||||
| 4 - Information Literacy | |||||
| 5 - Team Work | |||||
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | |||||
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | |||||
| 8 - Ethical practice | |||||
| 9 - Social Innovation | |||||
| 10 - First Nations Knowledges | |||||
| 11 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | |||||
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | |
| 1 - Literature Review or Systematic Review - 30% | |||||||||||
| 2 - Report - 70% | |||||||||||
Textbooks
There are no required textbooks.
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
- Zoom (both microphone and webcam capability)
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing style: American Psychological Association 7th Edition (APA 7th edition)
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
e.walter@cqu.edu.au
s.beattie@cqu.edu.au
Week 1
Begin Date: 10 Jul 2023Module/Topic
Introduction and outline
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 2
Begin Date: 17 Jul 2023Module/Topic
Assessment information workshop (Literature Review)
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 3
Begin Date: 24 Jul 2023Module/Topic
Self directed study
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 4
Begin Date: 31 Jul 2023Module/Topic
Drop-in Workshop
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 5
Begin Date: 07 Aug 2023Module/Topic
Assessment information workshop (Research Proposal and Accessible Summary)
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Vacation Week
Begin Date: 14 Aug 2023Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 6
Begin Date: 21 Aug 2023Module/Topic
Self directed study
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Literature Review Due
Research Proposal: Literature Review Due: Week 6 Friday (25 Aug 2023) 5:00 pm AEST
Week 7
Begin Date: 28 Aug 2023Module/Topic
Assessment information workshop (Video Presentation)
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 8
Begin Date: 04 Sep 2023Module/Topic
Drop-in Workshop
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 9
Begin Date: 11 Sep 2023Module/Topic
Self directed study
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 10
Begin Date: 18 Sep 2023Module/Topic
Self directed study
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Methodology Due
Accessible Summary Due
Week 11
Begin Date: 25 Sep 2023Module/Topic
Drop-in Workshop
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 12
Begin Date: 02 Oct 2023Module/Topic
Video Presentations and peer discussion
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Video Presentation Due
Research Proposal: Section and Presentation tasks Due: Week 12 Friday (6 Oct 2023) 5:00 pm AEST
Review/Exam Week
Begin Date: 09 Oct 2023Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Exam Week
Begin Date: 16 Oct 2023Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
1 Literature Review or Systematic Review
A research proposal is the first stage in a research study. Proposals are written for a variety of audiences, usually as an application for funding and also for industry to demonstrate potential to solve a problem or address an issue they have encountered. This research proposal will be intended for a:
· regulatory agency,
· criminal justice agency,
· government department,
· non-governmental organisation (NGO),
· other organisation
You can choose any organisation; however, it must be involved in the prevention or regulation of criminal activity, have a special interest in activities currently classified as criminalised, or to support victims of crime.
You will then select a research topic from those provided in the live class and found on moodle after class.
A suggested structure and additional information is found on moodle.
Week 6 Friday (25 Aug 2023) 5:00 pm AEST
via Turnitin on Moodle
Week 8 Friday (8 Sept 2023)
via moodle
- Literature Review (searching technique)
- Critical evaluation
- Background
- Structure and development of argument
- Formatting, grammar and spelling.
- Analyse a complex criminology problem by developing and implementing appropriate research methodologies
- Design a research proposal
- Consolidate information pertaining to the research topic through a critical review of leading authorities, a literature analysis and the management of this information in a research data platform
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Information Technology Competence
- Social Innovation
2 Report
This assessment is broken down into three parts.
Part One: Research Proposal: Methodology 30%
Part Two: Research Proposal: Accessible Summary 20%
Part Three: Research Proposal: Presentation 20%
Totaling: 70%
Part One: Methodology
This assessment is a continuation of the ‘Research Proposal: Literature Review’ assessment completed earlier in the term. This part of the research proposal focuses on the methodology and ethics of the proposed research. This assessment must be written about the research proposed in the earlier assessment: you cannot change your research focus at this stage.
Part Two: Accessible Summary
The purpose of writing an accessible summary is to concisely explain your work in a way that a non-academic audience can understand. For this assessment, you will need to write about your research proposal in an accessible way aimed at the organisation you have identified. This means you will need to explain the research problem you have aimed to address with your proposal, along with how you intend to carry out the research.
Part Three: Presentation
This part of the research proposal requires students to produce a video presentation that explains their proposed research to an audience of experts from the selected organisation. The research proposal must be thoroughly explained using non-technical language and in an accessible way. Where technical language is used (such as when explaining the analysis), terminology must be explained. Think carefully about how to communicate your proposed work to a non-academic audience.
Week 12 Friday (6 Oct 2023) 5:00 pm AEST
Each part of this assessment has a separate due date. See moodle for more information.
Exam Week Friday (20 Oct 2023)
Each section of the report assessment has unique criteria for that task.
Common criteria include: Organisation and structure.
- Analyse a complex criminology problem by developing and implementing appropriate research methodologies
- Work responsibly on a criminology research project and account for your own learning practices
- Engage in peer review and feedback processes within a discipline research community.
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Team Work
- Ethical practice
As a CQUniversity student you are expected to act honestly in all aspects of your academic work.
Any assessable work undertaken or submitted for review or assessment must be your own work. Assessable work is any type of work you do to meet the assessment requirements in the unit, including draft work submitted for review and feedback and final work to be assessed.
When you use the ideas, words or data of others in your assessment, you must thoroughly and clearly acknowledge the source of this information by using the correct referencing style for your unit. Using others’ work without proper acknowledgement may be considered a form of intellectual dishonesty.
Participating honestly, respectfully, responsibly, and fairly in your university study ensures the CQUniversity qualification you earn will be valued as a true indication of your individual academic achievement and will continue to receive the respect and recognition it deserves.
As a student, you are responsible for reading and following CQUniversity’s policies, including the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure. This policy sets out CQUniversity’s expectations of you to act with integrity, examples of academic integrity breaches to avoid, the processes used to address alleged breaches of academic integrity, and potential penalties.
What is a breach of academic integrity?
A breach of academic integrity includes but is not limited to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, and academic misconduct. The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure defines what these terms mean and gives examples.
Why is academic integrity important?
A breach of academic integrity may result in one or more penalties, including suspension or even expulsion from the University. It can also have negative implications for student visas and future enrolment at CQUniversity or elsewhere. Students who engage in contract cheating also risk being blackmailed by contract cheating services.
Where can I get assistance?
For academic advice and guidance, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) can support you in becoming confident in completing assessments with integrity and of high standard.
What can you do to act with integrity?
