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All posts by Satenik Margaryan
Google Doc, 11/29
Step 8
Step Eight: Draft of the Research Report (Due 12/7)
Draft a five-page research brief research report that formalizes your CRJ 102 DARE Project research results and experience. Address the following:
- Your research question – what was it and why did you choose it?
- Your hypothesis – what was it and why did you settle on it?
- Your data sources.
- Your data analysis process – describe how you analyzed the data from your research question.
- Present the table and graph. How did you construct each? What are the dimensions/axis and components of each? How does each help you to both answer and present your research question and findings?
- Your written analysis. What does the data reveal? Was your hypothesis correct or incorrect? Why do you think it was/wasn’t so? What do your findings mean? What theory could be helpful in explaining the results?
- Describe your experience using the Google Suite to collect, analyze, and present sociological data. How easy/difficult was that experience? What did you like/dislike about it?
- How would you describe your quantitative reasoning skills (and confidence in those skills) prior to your participation in this course? How would you describe them now?
Share your draft in the OpenLab reflecting on the bullet points above. Offer feedback to at least two of your classmates’ reports.
Grading Rubric
| 18 – 20 | 15 – 17 | 12 – 14 | 9 – 11 | 10 and lower | |
| Thesis | Clearly stated and appropriately focused. | Clearly stated by focus could have been sharper. | Thesis phrasing is too simple lacks complexity, or is not clearly worded. | Thesis lacks a clear objective and/or does not fit the content of the paper. | Thesis is not evident. |
| Tables/Graphs | Tables and graphs are properly formatted and labeled, and are free of quantitative errors. | The tables and graphs are mostly correct, but there are a few errors. | Tables and graphs have several errors. | Tables and graphs have numerous errors. | Tables and graphs are missing or problematic. |
| Data Analysis | Clear and insightful descriptions and interpretations of the data that are statistically and logically correct. | The data are correctly interpreted, but thoughtful insights are absent. | There are mistakes in data interpretations or insights. | The errors in interpretation are numerous. | The data have not been analyzed or interpreted. |
| Organization | The paper has an informative title. It is broken down into coherent sections and subsections with informative titles. | The paper has an informative title. It is broken down into sections. | The paper has an informative title. The paper isn’t not clearly broken down into sections. | The paper does not demonstrate clear organization, the title is missing. | Absence of planned organization. |
| Style and Language | Precise and effective word choice and style. | Generally correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation. | Minimal mistakes in grammar, spelling, and punctuation. | Several awkward and/or unclear sentences; problems with word choice. | No apparent control over sentence structure and word choice. |
Completing this assignment will help you achieve the student learning outcomes required in a 100-level criminology class. It will also contribute to developing your capacity for clear, cogent, and well-organized writing, a capacity that is useful to acquire whatever career you’ll end up embarking on. Finally, your participation in the DARE program will contribute to developing your capacity for qualitative reasoning for understanding data and interpreting tables and graphs.
Welcome to Week 12!
Dear students,
This week we will be focusing on control theories. They are quite prominent in modern criminology. We will discuss the old and new versions of control theories.
We are still working on Step 7th. I have seen a number of submissions. I feel that I need to have a meeting with each one of you whether or not you submitted a Step 7. Fill out this survey so we can arrange a time to meet: https://forms.gle/R7UW5h5zmtZQCWWEA
I have office hours today from 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm on Zoom. I also have office hours tomorrow from 9:45 am to 10:45 am. But as I told you last week, with the registration for Spring 2023, I have been busy advising during my office hours. So, use the survey above to let me know when you would like to meet outside of office hours.
See you both days of the week in class!
WEEK 12 (November 28th to December 4th ): Social Control Theories
Welcome to Week 12th!
Overview
This week we will focus on social control theories. These theories assume everyone has the desire to commit criminal and deviant acts and seeks to answer why some people refrain from doing so. Control theories assume that all people would naturally commit crimes if not for restraints on the selfish tendencies that exist in every individual. The theories are concerned with explaining why individuals don’t commit crimes or deviant behaviors. Others claim that there are internal mechanisms (such as self-control or self-conscious emotions, such as shame, guilt, etc.), but even those are likely a product of the type of environment in which one is raised.
Lesson Objectives
By the end of this week, you will be able to:
- Identify the central question of the social control theories.
- Discuss early models of social control theories.
- Identify the four bonds proposed by Travis Hirschi.
- Describe how a low level of self-control leads to delinquency and criminality, based on the General Theory of Crime.
Workflow
Readings
Chapter 10 in Piquero, Alex R. The Handbook of Criminological Theory, edited by Melissa L. Rorie, John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/bmcc/reader.action?docID=4035968&ppg=205
Access the chapter here.
The_Handbook_of_Criminological_Theory_-_10_Control_as_an_Explanation_of_Crime_and_Delinquency-2Sage Publications (2010). Encyclopedia of Criminological Theory: Hirschi, Travis: Social Control Theory.
Access the chapter here.
Hirschi_Travis_-_Social_Control_Theory-2Videos
PowerPoint Presentation
Google Doc
It is Monday!
Dear students,
On Tuesday, let’s focus on Step 7. I will go over it again to make sure everyone submits the assignment by the end of the week.
I will have my regular office hours today at 1 pm and on Tuesday from 9:45 am to 10:45 am. These days, I am also available on ZOOM: https://bmcc-cuny.zoom.us/j/3772687009
I can also meet with you via ZOOM by appointment.
Welcome to Virtual Week 11! Don’t Come to Class on 11/15 & 11/17
Dear students,
We are in Week 11, and it will take place virtually as I am traveling to my conference. This week we are covering the Social Learning Theories in Criminology. Please review the materials in Week 11th. This is also the time for you to finish working on Step 7 which is due on November 20th. You also have a special assignment for this virtual week. Please remember NOT TO COME TO CLASS ON TUESDAY AND THURSDAY.
I will not have any face-to-face office hours on Tuesday and Thursday. Instead, I have office hours on Monday, November 14th, from 12 pm to 3 pm. I will be in my office and on ZOOM: https://bmcc-cuny.zoom.us/j/3772687009
VIRTUAL WEEK 11 (November 14th to November 20th ): Social Learning Theories
The Social Learning Theories
Overview
This week we will also focus on social learning theories of crime. We will discuss what distinguishes learning theories of crime from other perspectives. We will discuss Sutherland’s differential association theory. We will also explore Akers’s differential reinforcement theory and his social learning theory. Finally, we will examine the theory of neutralization, including the five original techniques of neutralization presented by Sykes and Matza. In addition to the two readings, I gathered a number of videos that elucidate the material in the readings. The PowerPoint is attached as well.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this week, you will be able to:
- Explain what distinguishes learning theories of crime from other perspectives.
- Explain Sutherland’s Differential Association Theory.
- Distinguish differential association theory from differential reinforcement theory.
- Discuss the main positions of Akers’s Social Learning Theory.
- Discuss different techniques of neutralization, according to Matza and Sykes.
Workflow
Readings
Chapter 12 in Piquero, Alex R. The Handbook of Criminological Theory, edited by Melissa L. Rorie, John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/bmcc/reader.action?docID=4035968&ppg=254
Read Chapter 12 here:
The_Handbook_of_Criminological_Theory_-_12_Social_Learning_Theory-1-1