Unit Synopsis
Issues in the justice field require a great deal of sensitivity to individual perspectives and understandings of the criminal justice system. Frequently situations involve violence and physical or mental harm. Qualitative research methods provide the investigator with insights into the contextual factors that influence offenders, victims and justice professionals. In this unit you will develop your qualitative research skills, building on skills developed in this course with a focus on writing surveys, conducting interviews or using ethnographic techniques oriented to criminal research. You will examine the ethical context of qualitative research including the importance of respecting individuals or communities being researched and preservation of due process where required. You will also demonstrate the importance of ethical practice and effective data management practices using appropriate and secure technologies where breaches of privacy can also expose respondents and researchers to personal danger.
Details
| Level | Undergraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | 3 |
| Credit Points | 6 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 4 |
| Fraction of Full-Time Student Load | 0.125 |
| Pre-requisites or Co-requisites |
There are no pre-requisites for the unit.
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). |
| Class Timetable | View Unit Timetable |
| Residential School | No Residential School |
Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2026
Term 1 - 2026 Profile
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.
Assessment Tasks
| Assessment Task | Weighting |
|---|---|
| 1. Practical Assessment | 60% |
| 2. Learning logs / diaries / Journal / log books | 40% |
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%).
Past Exams
All University policies are available on the Policy web site, however you may wish to directly view the following policies below.
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of policies are available on the Policy web site .
Term 1 - 2025 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 100.00% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 20% response rate.
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.
Source: Lack of student evaluation data
To improve the SUTE response rate.
The UC will continue to use the College's best practice guide, and for 2024, will allocate time during the final workshop session for students to complete the SUTE survey.
Despite mentioning the survey to students on numerous occasions and explaining its importance, response rates did not improve.
Source: Student communication
Students commented on the clarity of the delivery and explanations of various, complex qualitative methods.
The UC will continue to scaffold student to develop practical research skills useful for future careers in the next iteration of the unit.
The Unit Coordinator continued to scaffold students' knowledge to develop practical research skills useful for future careers.
Source: Student results
Maintain the 2 assessment structure, as this has improved student outcomes.
The unit will maintain the two assessment structure and the UC will continue to monitor student outcomes.
The unit maintained the two assessment structure and grades have continued to improve overall.
Source: SUTE
Students would benefit from further clarity on assessments.
The assessment guidance and associated marking criteria will be revisited to ensure clarity and accessibility for students.
In Progress
Source: SUTE
Students reported high satisfaction with the unit content.
Maintain currency and relevance of unit materials to maintain high overall student satisfaction.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Develop a qualitative methodology for investigation of a justice issue with consideration of institutional limitations on the process
- Conduct a hypothetical ethnographic interview and reflect on the process
- Employ qualitative intelligence techniques including interviewing and ethnography
- Effectively manage data pertaining to a hypothetical human data analysis project
- Work within the research ethics framework including identification of risk of violence and power imbalances.
No external accreditation is relevant to this award.
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Practical Assessment | • | • | • | • | • |
| 2 - Learning logs / diaries / Journal / log books | • | • | • | • | • |
| 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 | • | • | • | • | • |
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | |