CRJ research component

Addendum to syllabus:

Students in Criminal Justice courses are required to participate in 2 “credits” of research (called SRPCs), which will be graded as specified in your syllabus. This web page contains information about how to complete this requirement.

Many classes, including CRJ 101, 102 and 301 require students to participate in research. Research is a process by which professionals “know” things. For instance, we “know” how crime victims typically react to being victimized because someone has done research. Much of the information in your text books is based on past research. Thus, you can contribute to the research findings and help advance the field by participating in research.

Participating in research also helps you learn about criminal justice. By participating in research, you will learn a little bit about how research is conducted. For example, if you choose to participate in a research study, you will receive a detailed “debriefing form” which will tell you what the researchers were studying and how the research was designed

Special Notes Criminal Justice students:

*The deadline for Criminal Justice students is December 3, 2009

*Researchers will notify professors that you completed the research. You do not have to tell your professor.

*For criminal justice students, your contact person is Dr. Monica Miller. Your professor will not be able to answer questions about the research component- so you should contact Dr. Miller at UNRresearch@yahoo.com. If you do not have email access, call 784-6021.

*There are three Options for completing the research component, listed below. The IRB (Institutional Review Board) requires us to provide you all three options below. However since Criminal Justice students are only required to complete 2 credits, Option 2 does not apply to criminal justice students (because it is worth 4 credits). Other classes require up to 12 credits, and thus, Option 2 applies to students in those classes with larger research requirements.

* Many students will choose Option 1, which is to be a participant in a study (e.g., fill out a survey). If you choose Option 1, please choose a study that is related to crime, law, legal court trials, deviance, or is in some way related to criminal justice. See details below under the heading “1. Procedure for participating as a subject in research”

* If you Choose Option 3, you contact person will be Dr. Monica Miller at UNRresearch@yahoo.com. See details below under the heading “3. Procedure for Summarizing Empirical Research”

For Option 3, acceptable journals for criminal justice students include:

Crime and Delinquency

Criminal Justice Review

Journal of Criminal Justice

Criminal Justice and Policy Review

Law and Human Behavior

Behavioral Sciences and the Law

Crime, Law and Social Change

Criminal Justice and Behavior

Criminology

Please use one of these approved journals. If you would like to use a different journal, please email Dr. Miller at UNRresearch@yahoo.com.

Below are the instructions approved by the UNR Institutional Review Board to apply to students in all social science classes.

The Social Research Participation Credit (SRPC) Requirement for Students in the Social Sciences

Students taking courses in the humanities, social, managerial, and behavioral sciences may earn Social Research Participation Credits (SRPCs) for their courses if required by their individual professors. The number of SRPCs may vary by course and/or professor. These credits will be factored into your final grade (see your specific course syllabus for details). SRPCs may be earned by any of the following 3 methods: 1) participating in IRB-approved research studies conducted under the supervision of designated UNR faculty, 2) writing a page research paper on a topic approved by your professor, and/or 3) writing summaries of published research using library resources. You may earn all of your SRPCs by any one method, or you may earn some SRPCs by each method. You are simply required to earn the total of SRPCs assigned by your course instructor.

The reason for the requirement is to enhance your understanding of social and behavioral research. The descriptions of social and behavioral research that appear in textbooks offer an incomplete picture of what a social scientist actually does. Thus, there are educational values that may be realized by first-hand experience of the various kinds of social and behavioral research and professional practices engaged in by social scientists. In addition, participation in research provides a service to the field of social and behavioral research by contributing to the knowledge base and understanding of human behavior and capacities, and a service to faculty and students conducting research at UNR. Similar benefits result from reading original literature in professional journals and synthesizing this information in the form of an original research paper.

1. Procedure for participating as a subject in research

Credit

You may earn some or all of your SRPCs by participating as a research subject. Each hour or fraction thereof earns you 1 SRPC. Some studies take less than an hour to complete; however, the minimum SRPC awarded for participation in 1 credit. A study that requires over an hour of your time, but less than 2 hours, is worth 2 SRPCs. The number of SRPCs a study is worth will be noted on the information page for that study (see below).

Sign-Up Procedure

First, you must obtain an account for the social research sign-up system. You can do this by going to http://unr-socialresearch.sona-systems.com , clicking on the ‘request an account here’ link, and fill in the information requested. A username and password will then be emailed to you. Use this to log in to the system at the same webpage. After viewing the studies available to you, select the study in which you wish to participate, and the appointment time that fits your schedule. Each study listed will contain the day, date, time, and room in which it is conducted. Some of the studies available can be completed online and do not require a trip to campus. Studies change throughout the semester, with some ending and new ones starting before the term is over. If you do not find one that is at a time convenient for you, check back in a few days and you are likely to find new alternatives to choose from.

To sign-up for a survey or experiment, you should:

1. Log in to http://unr-socialresearch.sona-systems.com using your username and password

2. Click on the link for an available study and read the information page for that study. Read the restrictions carefully to be sure that you qualify as a participant (e.g., if you are male, do not sign-up for a study that is for females only)

3. Pick a timeslot that you can attend and click on the ‘sign-up’ button

4. Note the time and location of the study. If the building the study is conducted in is unfamiliar to you, re-read the information page to see if instructions on how to locate the building and room are provided for you. If there are no instructions, email the researcher for more information on how to locate their study. Not all studies require a visit to campus. Some can be conducted online.

5. An email reminder will be sent to you as a confirmation that you signed up, and a reminder email will be sent to you 24 hours prior to your appointment

6. If a conflict arises and it becomes necessary to cancel your appointment, you may do so up to 24 hours prior to your appointment time without penalty. You may do so by signing in the sign-up system and canceling your appointment. If an emergency arises and you are not able to attend your appointment or cancel in the allotted time, send an email to the researcher explaining the circumstances, and you will be able to sign up for that study again

Students Who Are Minors (Under 18 Years of Age)

Students who have not reached their 18^th birthday at the time of a research or professional training are not permitted to participate in research studies, unless the research study specifically identifies minors as a population of interest in the study description. In this case, students who are minors will be required to sign an assent form. If there are no studies available for minors, please make other arrangements with your professor.

At the Study

You do not have to participate in, or complete, any specific study, and you are under no obligation to give reasons if you decide not to participate, or if you decide to leave before completing the study. There are no penalties in such cases. If you decide to leave before the study has begun, you will neither receive a SRPC for participating nor be penalized by losing a SRPC for not participating. If you change your mind about participating after beginning participation in the study, you will still receive 1 SRPC as if you had completed the study.

In order to make participating in research studies a meaningful learning experience, at the conclusion of the experiment the researcher will briefly explain the study. If you have questions, feel free to ask them during this explanation stage.

2. Procedure for Writing a Research Paper

Students may earn some or all of their SRPCs by writing a research paper. Check with your instructor as to specific requirements. For 4 credits of SRPC the research paper should be 4-6 pages, and should be written according to APA (or ASA) formatting guidelines. The topic of the research paper will be determined by the course and approved by the professor prior to beginning the paper. In addition to the 4-6 page body of the paper, there also needs to be a title page and a reference page (or works cited page). Papers should be turned into the professor of the course no later than 2 weeks before the end of the semester (that is, no later than one week prior to finals week). Papers turned in during or after the final week of class will not be accepted. Papers will be evaluated by the instructor on an acceptable/not-acceptable basis. An acceptable paper includes a title page, 4-6 page body of the paper that is consistent and literate, and a reference/works cited page with at least 4 references.

All usual consequences for plagiarism, or knowingly turning in work that is not your own, apply for this optional assignment.

3. Procedure for Summarizing Empirical Research

Students may earn some or all of their SRPCs by writing summaries of published empirical research articles from scholarly journals.

This option consists of reading empirical research articles published in journals found in the library and then writing brief 400-500 word summaries of each article. Articles need to be from research journals in a subject area related to the course for which the student is earning SRPCs.

Credit. Each summary is worth 1 SRPC. Students may earn all of their SRPCs by writing article summaries; or they may earn a fraction of their SRPCs in this manner and combine them with SRPCs earned in other ways.

Summaries should be turned in to the instructor no later than 2 weeks before the end of the semester (that is, no later than one week prior to finals week). Summaries turned in during or after the final week of class will not be accepted. Summaries will be evaluated by the instructor on an acceptable/not-acceptable basis. An acceptable summary must include the complete reference to the summarized article, along with a description (IN THE STUDENT’S OWN WORDS) which contains: (a) the purpose of the research project, (b) the basic procedures used, (c) what was actually found, and (d) what the findings mean (theoretically, practically, or both). Along with each summary, the student must also submit a PHOTOCOPY OF THE ABSTRACT from the published article.

Students can find ideas for journal articles and identify appropriate journals from the references in their textbooks. The journals you choose should be relevant to the course in which you are enrolled. Below are some examples of the wide range of available journals that would be appropriate for this assignment, but there are many others, and not all of those in this list are applicable to the content of your course (this is only a partial listing of acceptable research journals).

American Journal of Sociology

Child Development

Contemporary Sociology

Cross-Cultural Research

Journal of Family Issues

Journal of Health and Social Behavior

Journal of Marriage and Family

Journal of Poverty

Journal of Research on Adolescence

Journal of Social and Personal Relationships

Learning and Motivation

Psychological Science

Psychology of Women Quarterly

Social Psychology Quarterly

Research on Aging

All usual, consequences for plagiarism, or knowingly turning in work that is not your own, apply for this optional assignment.

Questions

If you have questions about any of the various procedures for completing the SRPC requirement, please see your professor or teaching assistant (TA). If they are unable to answer your questions to your satisfaction, you should see the Subject Pool Coordinator, Michael J. Williams, or submit an email to WILL1311@UNR.NEVADA.EDU. If you require any special assistance or accommodations in fulfilling the SRPC requirement check first with your professor, TA or the Subject Pool Coordinator. If they are unable to handle your accommodation, please contact the Director of the Interdisciplinary Social Psychology Program, Dr. Colleen Murray.

Criminal Justice students with questions should contact Dr. Monica Miller at UNRresearch@yahoo.com or 784-6021