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Employer Expectations of Research Skills Provided in Criminology Undergraduate Education

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Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Criminology

Abstract

Students often receive information literacy training however undergraduate programs often fail to provide students with the practical skills they require to produce quantitative and qualitative research. This is evidenced by the findings of research which show that some schools including those offering criminal justice and criminology degrees do not place enough focus on teaching students about research methods and the research process including sample recruitment, data collection, data analysis and research report writing. This chapter reports on a small-scale study that examined research skills requirements from the perspectives of potential employers, postgraduate supervisors, and graduating students. We then propose ways in which we might go about addressing these needs in the curriculum with particular.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    All identifying information about the university in which this study was conducted has been removed.

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Acknowledgements

At various times in this project, the authors were assisted by a number of research assistants: Nicole Horstman, Denise Foster, and Michael Cerruto. The research was supported with research funding from Queensland University of Technology and Griffith University. An earlier version of this chapter was presented at Deakin University’s Symposium on Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Criminology (11 Dec 2017) and has benefited from the useful feedback from, and conversations with, participants at that symposium.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Griffith University, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

    Tara Renae McGee & Li Eriksson

Authors
  1. Tara Renae McGee
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  2. Li Eriksson
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tara Renae McGee .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Deakin University, Geelong, VIC, Australia

    Darren Palmer

Appendix: Interview Schedule for Potential Employers and Academic Supervisors

Note: Different interview schedules were developed for potential employers and academic supervisors. In the interests of space, these have been combined here.

Appendix: Interview Schedule for Potential Employers and Academic Supervisors

Introductions and Participant Information Sheet

After introductions, the following points which must be made clear to participants before the interview begins.

As you know from your consent letter, I will be interviewing you today about the research skills that you as a potential employer/academic supervisor need and expect from graduates of criminology degrees.Footnote 1

We are conducting this research in order to ensure that courses are adapted to the needs and expectations of potential employers and academic supervisors, and adequately prepare students for employment and postgraduate research-related studies.

You can withdraw your consent to participate in this interview at any time. Also, if you do not wish to answer a particular question please feel free to ask me to move on to the next question.

All of your responses will remain anonymous and all transcripts of interviews and publications of results will contain no information which could be used to identify yourself or your place of employment.

Now, may I please have your consent to electronically record this interview? (The recording is being done in order to assist in the transcription process.)

  • NOTE IF THE PARTICIPANT DOES NOT WISH TO BE INTERVIEWED SAY—If you do not wish to be interviewed, may I take notes of what you say.

  • IF THE PARTICIPANT DOES NOT WISH YOU TO TAKE NOTES—You will need to take field notes after the interview.

Interview Schedule

Section A: Participant and Organisation Background

Ask the following questions:

  • Question 1: What organisation do you work for?

  • Question 2: What is your position within this organisation?

  • Question 3: When did you first start working at this organisation?

  • Question 4: (for supervisors) How many Honours and/or PhD students have you supervised throughout your career?

  • Question 5: (for supervisors) How many students do you currently supervise?

  • Question 6: Could you please briefly describe to me your role in this organisation?

  • Question 7: Have you worked with / supervised criminology graduates?

Section B: Employer Needs and Expectations

Make the interviewee aware of the following:

  • Now I’m going to ask you some questions about your organisation’s needs and expectations from criminology graduates.

  • With regards to this, could you please provide a summary of the research methods skills that your organisation needs and expects from the criminology graduates it employs? The aim here is to gain an understanding of the research-related roles that students perform in your organisation and the skills which they need to adequately perform these roles.

If needed, assist or probe the interviewee to identify the skills which there organisation needs from employers. Such skills may include the ability to:

  • Literature search: Conduct searches for scholarly literature both online and in libraries.

  • Write literature reviews: on what is known about a particular topic and critiquing approaches/conclusions made by other researchers working in particular fields.

  • Ethics: Identify and consider Ethical Issues involved with Research.

  • Plan research by constructing timelines and budgets.

  • Design and write research designs/Methodologies which effectively outline: Data collection methods; Sampling techniques; Coding/Analysis; and Limitations of Data and Reliability and validity of findings.

  • The ability to construct data collection instruments such as surveys, interview schedules etc.

  • Collect data by administering surveys, interviews, observations, focus groups etc.

  • Data entry using programs like SPSS in the case of Quantitative Research.

  • Analyse data: The ability to analyse quantitative data using programs like SPSS in the case of Quantitative research.

  • The ability to code qualitative data using programs like NVivo.

  • Write reports: The ability to right reports detailing the Results/Findings of Research Projects of both a quantitative and/or qualitative nature.

Conclusion

Do you have any additional comments that would like to add? Is there anything you feel I have missed? Thank you for your participation.

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McGee, T.R., Eriksson, L. (2020). Employer Expectations of Research Skills Provided in Criminology Undergraduate Education. In: Palmer, D. (eds) Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Criminology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35158-8_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35158-8_6

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-35157-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-35158-8

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