College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences 2015-2016 Catalog

150 CJI 702: Criminal Law (3 credits) The criminal justice system is based upon substantive and procedural criminal law, criminal procedures and criminal rights with emphasis on constitutional theory and practice. CJI 703: Applied Statistics I (3 credits) This course will introduce concepts, and methods in descriptive and inferential statistics. The course is designed to provide students with the statistical background required for doctoral level applied research. Application of statistics educational and human service research will be emphasized. Areas of study will include estimation, probability, variables, normal distribution, t-distribution, chi-square distribution, F-distribution, confidence intervals, hypotheses testing, and correlation. This course will provide the skills necessary to properly apply descriptive and inferential statistics by helping students understand the role of statistics in scientific research. Further, the assignments were designed to help students identify and implement the correct statistical procedure for a research question through data analysis, using a microcomputer (e.g., SPSS). Students will gain the requisite knowledge necessary to learn more complex statistical/research procedures and become more critical of various statistical presentations in academic journals and the mass media. CJI 704: Applied Statistics II (3 credits) The goal of this course is to prepare students to use advanced statistics. The course provides an introduction to some of the statistical tools commonly used. While students taking this class will have already taken a course in statistics, this course will place a much stronger emphasis on conceptually understanding the statistical methods. Since the course is targeted to students already familiar with mathematical concepts, we will not shy away from using the mathematical tools needed to develop the conceptual understanding. But the emphasis of the course will be on the conceptual understanding and application of the tools rather than on the math or the mechanics behind the tools. So for example, when studying hypothesis testing, we will place a heavier emphasis on what the test is doing, when to use it and how to interpret its results, than on mechanical repetitions of the calculations involved in conducting the test. (prerequisite HSHJ 703) CJI 705: Qualitative Methods (3 credits) This course will 1) to suggest the kinds of phenomena for which qualitative approaches are most apt to be useful and 2) to equip students with the skills necessary in order to successfully conduct rigorous and ethical studies. The epistemological bases for such approaches and the complimentary aspects of qualitative approaches will be explored in great detail. The emphasis, however, will be on a hands-on approach on how to do field research, case studies, interviews etc. In addition to a common core of readings, the students may choose from a wide menu of readings in terms of their particular research interests. Course assignments will be topics from the chapters of the textbooks. Feedback will be provided on the evolving research projects including the possible utility of the various approaches listed. Colleagues who are experts at doing field research, analysis, interviewing etc., will be asked to make their contributions at relevant places in the course. For the last five to ten years, there has been burgeoning literature on the value of qualitative research, and guidelines on how to do it well. Most of these earlier studies have drawn from other disciplines. CJI 706: Research Methods I (3 credits) The overall purpose of this class is to familiarize the student with the language and major issues confronting criminal justice research and researchers. As such, students will learn the basic rudiments of social science inquiry with special focus on how one conceptualizes a problem, uses theory to structure research questions, designs a method to examine the