POEC 6340/SOC 5390

Graduate Seminar in Qualitative Criminology

Spring 2006

Professor: Danielle Lavin-Loucks

Course Time: Thursday, 4:00-6:45 P.M.
Office: GR 2.116
Phone: 972-883-4769
E-mail: danielle.lavin-loucks@utdallas.edu
Office Hours: Tuesday and Thursday, 12:30-1:30, or by appointment

Course Overview:
The purpose of this course is to expose you to qualitative methods in Criminology. Throughout the
course, we will explore the elements of qualitative research, including: ethical issues, entering the
scene, establishing rapport, collecting data and performing qualitative analysis among others. We
will also establish the ideology behind qualitative research and how it relates to quantitative
research. The first portion of the course will deal with the issues surrounding qualitative research.
The second portion of the course will provide an in depth examination of the varying forms of
qualitative methods and focus on the practice of qualitative research.

Course Materials:
This course will utilize several books and a number of journal articles that will be posted on webCT
or handed out in class. The books for the course include: (1) Miller and Tewksbury. 2006.
“Research Methods: A Qualitative Reader”. Prentice Hall.; (2) Berg, Bruce. 2004. “Qualitative
Research Methods for the Social Sciences”. Allyn and Bacon.; (3) Anderson, Elijah. 2000. “Code of
the Street: Decency, Violence, and the Moral Life of the Inner City”. W. W. Norton & Company.
The books are available at the Campus Bookstore and Off Campus Books.

Structure of the Course:

v Participation: Participation in class discussion is expected. More than this, to have any
meaningful discussion I will expect you to be prepared for class. Obviously to participate,
you must attend. Failure to attend will have a negative impact on your participation grade.
v Discussion Leaders: Each week one student will lead the class discussion over that week’s
readings. I will assign you a week and you will lead a thoughtful and critical discussion of not
only the class material assigned for that week, but two additional academic articles that
either critique, build on, support, or pose alternative views of the assigned readings. One
way to do this is by introducing a comparable qualitative study of a similar or related topic.
Please remember that this is NOT a presentation. You need to involve the class and engage
other students in an open discussion of ideas. To this end, you will be expected to provide a
brief overview of the material for that week, as well as your outside articles. Your outside
articles must be e-mailed to the whole class (as a PDF) or distributed in paper form a
minimum of three days prior to your discussion leading day.

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 v Weekly Projects: For each week that reading is assigned you may turn in a two page (single
spaced) mini research project that deals with the specific method discussed that week. You
may select any of the assigned articles as the basis for your project, or design your own.
You are required to turn in 5 projects (2 full pages, single spaced) throughout the semester.
Each project is worth 6 points. Projects must use the skill set discussed in the readings for
that week and involve a minimum of 2 participants (4 for focus groups). Issues and topics
for research are up to you, but they should center on crime and criminality.
v Final Paper: Your final paper will require you to design a qualitative research project that
deals with crime and/or criminality, perceptions of crime, or social reactions to crime. Final
papers should be at least 20 pages, double spaced, with one inch margins, in 12 point Times
New Roman font. You will be required to upload an electronic version of your paper to
webCT, as we will not be holding class on the day that the paper is due. Late papers will be
penalized one letter grade for each day they are late.

Expectations for the Course:

I expect that you will have completed the readings each week and have something valuable to
contribute to the course. I have no reservations about asking you to leave class if you show up
unprepared. This is a graduate seminar and the minimum requirement is that you attend, complete
the assignment readings and are prepared to discuss the themes and ideas presented in the
literature. This class will be a discussion based endeavor, and I will not be lecturing on the topics.
As such, I would advise you to come prepared with questions, comments, and critiques of the
articles.

Grading:
Participation 15% 90-100% A
Discussion Leader 15% 80-89% B
Projects 30% 70-79% C
Final Paper 40% 69% & below D

Academic Misconduct: Each student in this course is expected to exercise independent scholarly
thought, expression and aptitude. Obviously, cheating, plagiarizing other people’s words and ideas
and collusion will not be tolerated. Citations (in APA or MLA format) should accompany all
assignments and papers turned in for this course. All episodes of suspected scholastic dishonesty
will be reported according to University policy. Students who violate University rules on scholastic
dishonesty are subject to disciplinary penalties, including the possibility of failure in the course
and/or dismissal from the University. Since such dishonesty harms the individual, all students and
the University, policies on scholastic dishonesty will be strictly enforced. Penalties that may be
assessed for scholastic dishonesty may be reviewed in Subchapter D. Penalties at
http://www.utdallas.edu/student/slife/chapter49.html. (Quoted from Judicial Affairs, Syllabus
Addendum, 04/05). Please note that in all cases of academic misconduct I will advise failure of the
course. If you have any questions about what constitutes plagiarism or academic misconduct, please
ask.

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Course Timetable:
The following is a list of the readings assigned for the semester. The journal articles will be posted
in pdf format on webCT, so that you can download and print them if you wish. In addition, some
weeks I may be handing out other supplemental articles that correspond to the topics for the
following week.

January 12th Introduction to the Course: What is Qualitative Research?

January 19th Ethics in Qualitative Research

Read: Eder and Corsaro’s “Ethnographic Studies of Children and Youth:
Theoretical and Ethical Issues”, Taylor’s “Observing Abuse: Professional
Ethics and Personal Morality in Field Research” and Berg Chapter 3

January 26th Designing Research, Gaining Access and Navigating Danger

Read: Newman’s “Research Interviewing in Prison”, Miller and Tewksbury
Part III, and Berg Chapter 2

February 2 nd In Depth Interviewing

Read: Berg Chapter 4 and Jacob’s “A typology of street criminal retaliation”

February 9 th Focus Groups

Read: Berg Chapter 5 and Lane’s “Fear of Gang Crime”

February 16th Participant Observation

Read: Miller and Tewksbury Part I and Berg Chapter 6

February 23rd Ethnographic Fieldwork

Read: Miller and Tewksbury Part II

March 2nd Capturing Culture: Ethnography of the Streets

Read: Anderson’s “Code of the Street” Introduction and Chapters 1-4

March 9th SPRING BREAK: No Class

March 16th Capturing Culture: Ethnography of the Streets

Read: Anderson’s “Code of the Street” Introduction and Chapters 5-7 and
Conclusion

March 23rd Case Study and Comparative/Historical

Read: Harding, Fox and Mehta’s “Studying Rare Events through Qualitative
Case Studies” and Berg Chapters 9 & 10

March 30th Content Analysis

Read: Grabe’s “Narratives of Guilt”, Herda-Rapp’s “The Social Construction
of Local School Violence Threats” and Berg Chapter 11

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April 6th Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis
Read: Duneier and Molotch’s “Talking City Trouble” and HANDOUTS

April 13th Analyzing and Presenting your Data

Read: Berg Chapter 12

April 20th Due: Final Papers

*** I reserve the right to make changes to the syllabus***