BASS Social Anthropology and Criminology

This course unit is designed to provide students with an opportunity to explore and investigate their own research topic. It is an excellent chance to develop your own independent research project, where you can identify, refine, explore in depth, and evaluate what you produce using the knowledge and skills that you have gained over the previous years of study. 

Throughout the year, there is a mix of Core and Pathway teaching sessions alongside drop-in sessions and one-to-one meetings with your supervisor. This will ensure that you have dedicated discussions and guidance that are tailored to your research project. 

Only available to students on the BA (Criminology) programme. 

Also available to students on the BASS Criminology single pathway, subject to permission from the Programme Director.

This course unit aims to: (1) engage students with the theory and practice of criminological research; (2) encourage exploration of the dilemmas and synergies associated with particular research designs and methods appropriate to their area of study; (3) enable students to explore a research question in depth by designing, conducting and writing up primary research, engaging in library-based research, or analysing secondary/unsolicited data.

Any proposed empirical research is subject to approval by the University's ethics protocols.

On successful completion of this module students will be able to:

(i) analyse, critique and (re-)formulate a problem or issue; (ii) rapidly and thoroughly review/rate argument and evidence from targeted bibliographic searches; (iii) plan, structure and present arguments in a variety of written formats and to a strict word limit, (iv) express ideas verbally and organise work effectively in small teams for a variety of written and oral tasks; (v) obtain, manipulate and (re-)present different forms of data; (vi) manage time effectively; (vii) reflect on and improve performance through feedback.

The 40-credit dissertation provides an extended opportunity for students to develop advanced digital capabilities, including:

•    Independent use of digital research environments, including subject-specific databases and grey literature repositorie; 
•    Data analysis tools (e.g. NVivo, Excel, SPSS) where appropriate, depending on methodology; 
•    Digital project planning tools (e.g. Trello, OneNote) to support time management and workflow; 
•    Digital ethics and data protection awareness, especially for students working with online data or human participants.

Teaching and learning across course units consists of: (1) preparatory work to be completed prior to teaching sessions, including readings, pre-recorded subject material and online activities; (2) whole-class 'core’ workshops; (3) pathway-specific dissertation sessions and drop in sessions; and (4) one to one supervision with a designated supervisor

• Dissertation proposal: 10%;
• Dissertation: 90%;

Formative feedback (both individual and collective) will be given on work produced for each supervision meeting. 

Detailed summative feedback will be given on the submitted dissertation proposal .

This unit is assessed by a 1000 word dissertation proposal (10%) and a 8000-9000 words dissertation (90%).

University of Manchester Library My Learning Essentials ''Start to Finish: Dissertations" available at: https://www.escholar.manchester.ac.uk/learning-objects/mle/packages/dissertations/

Across their course units each semester, full-time students are expected to devote a ‘working week’ of around 30-35 hours studying time. 

Up to 6 supervision meetings across the year, arranged individually with the allocated supervisor.