SACSCOC Fifth Year Interim Report
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Assessment : 2013 - 2014 : Educational Programs :
Criminal Justice And Criminology MA
Criminal Justice And Criminology MA
2 Goals 2 Objectives 2 Indicators 2 Criteria 2 Findings 2 Actions
| GOAL: Research Competence |
| Objective |
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Competency in conducting original Criminal Justice and Criminology research |
| Indicator |
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Successful completion of original research study as demonstrated by defense of Thesis using faculty-developed rubric. This rubric uses a 1-5 rating of specific criteria each thesis should address. Committee then assigns a High Pass, Pass, or Fail for each thesis. |
| Criterion |
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Students will demonstrate their ability to engage in an original research study within the field criminal justice or criminology during the completion of CRIJ 6398 and CRIJ 6399. The culmination of each course in the sequence will be a public defense of the student’s work. First, the research proposal will be defended proximal to the conclusion of CRIJ 6398; then, the results of the final research project will be defended at the conclusion of CRIJ 6399. At minimum, a thesis will include a literature review of relevant empirical literature, well defined and defensible methodology, original statistical analysis appropriate to the methodology described, and the contextualization of the study results within the existing literature. |
| Finding |
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| 91% of students defending thesis received a high pass or pass designation. Only one student's thesis evaluation was held for revision. |
Actions for Objective:
| Action |
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| For the upcoming year, the department will re-examine the thesis rubric used to assess student research competency. As the quality and skill sets of our master's students continue to improve, we aim to better articulate and assess desired research skills. |
| GOAL: Methodological Competence |
| Objective |
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Competency in employing elements of qualitative and/or quantitative research methods to design scientific-based projects in the field of criminal justice and criminology. |
| Indicator |
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Successful completion of Research Methods and Statistical Analysis coursework. |
| Criterion |
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All students in the CJ Master's program are required to complete 5392 Survey of Research Methods and 6385 Statistics for Criminal Justice Research in which they must master theory and application of social science research techniques as well as descriptive and inferential statistics as evaluated by demonstration of written, computational and oral abilities. Across this course sequence, standard tests that require application of theoretical ideas and demonstration of statistical analyses are conducted. Students are expected to master at least 80% of the material. |
| Finding |
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| In AY 2013-2014, 17 students completed the CRIJ 5392-Survey of Research Methods with scores above 80%. 12 students completed the CRIJ 6385-Statistics for CJ Research with scores above 80%. This finding indicates students are achieving a working mastery of social science techniques including an understanding of descriptive and inferential statistics demonstrating their written, computational, and oral abilities. |
Actions for Objective:
| Action |
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| 80% of Master of Specific Areas. In the upcoming year, we will further expand upon the specific areas of competency that we expect 80% of our Master of Arts students to master prior to completion. Specific areas of improvement include research and statistical skills. |
| Previous Cycle's "Plan for Continuous Improvement" |
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This year a small cohort of students (n=2) progressed through their second and final year of the Master of Arts program. Both were assessed on their ability to conduct original research within the field of criminal justice or criminology. Based on a faculty developed rubric, both students obtained perfect scores. A larger group assessed on methodological (n=17) showed the master’s cohorts are increasingly stronger. We will seek to refine our rubrics to better articulate areas of strength and weakness among our M.A. students, as well as define more specific areas of methodological knowledge to be implemented in an upcoming cycle.
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| Update on Previous Cycle's "Plan for Continuous Improvement" |
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During the 2013-2014 academic year, the Graduate Standard and Admissions Committee members discussed adding Statistics II as part of the core curriculum for the Master of Arts program. Aligned with our plan for continuous improvement, the goal is to increase our Master's students methodological and statistical skills. A decision to pilot this course was agreed upon and Statistics II is currently being offered as an elective this semester (Fall 2014). Feedback from the instructor and students at the end of the semester will further inform the decision of a curriculum change for our MA program to include Statistics II as part of the core curriculum. The development of our MA students statistical skills is also contingent on access to the latest versions of various statistical software programs used in the social sciences (e.g., STATA, MPlus, HLM, etc.).
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| Plan for Continuous Improvement |
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For the 2014-2015 academic year, an emphasis will be placed on increasing student research skills. To accomplish this, we will seek to match students and faculty based on similar research interests both formally and informally. Furthermore, Statistics II will be offered as an elective to increase research and statistical skills to conduct original research projects. Students will also be encouraged to present their original research at University-sponsored events and/or national professional conferences.
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