Tutor Resources
This section provides brief information about the modules, showing the skills covered, together with all the downloadable material for this resource.
The first two modules are aimed at A level students, while Modules 3 and 4 progress to a more complex level that would be appropriate to introductory undergraduate and postgraduate courses. However, in the evaluation phase of this project, some A level students did undertake all six modules without a problem. Modules 5 and 6 act as general guides to finding and investigating data and documentation on the UK Data Archive site.
Module 1 Tracking Crime: Police Recorded Crime Figures, Trends and Reasons for Change
- Line graph reading
- Interpretation of trends
- Internet usage
- Group discussion skills
- Problem analysis and evaluation skills
Go to module | PDF | Word | PowerPoint | Model Answers (in Tutor Guide)
Module 2 Theories About Crime: Public Perceptions of Crime Rates
- Comprehension of basic measurement guidelines
- Trend comparison
- More complex graphical analysis (stacked bar charts, time indices, paired bar charts)
- Understanding of theoretical concepts and evaluation of evidence
- Understanding of simple statistical concepts
Go to module | PDF | Word | PowerPoint
There is also an appendix to Module 2 for politics and government students which looks at UK party policy on crime.
PDF (Appendix) | Word (Appendix)
Module 3 Gathering Evidence: How to Investigate Crime Statistics
- Understanding of concepts of operationalisation and validity
- Understanding of content and usage of metadata
- Use of internet to explore metadata
- Understanding of basic descriptive statistics and frequency tables
- Use of computer program to generate descriptive statistics, graphs and univariate tables
Go to module | PDF | Word | PowerPoint
Module 4 Examining Evidence: How to Interrogate Crime Statistics
- Understanding of concepts of association and independence
- Use of computer program for recoding data
- Use of computer program for construction of two-way table
- Analysis of two-way tables
Go to module | PDF | Word | PowerPoint | SPSS Syntax
There is a separate appendix to Module 4, which looks at statistical significance and also shows how to use NSDstat to investigate this.
PDF (Appendix) | Word (Appendix)
Module 5 Searching For Evidence: Sources of Crime Data
- Resource discovery on the web
- Finding surveys at the UK Data Archive (UKDA)
- Exploring the Social Science Information Gateway (SOSIG)
Go to module | PDF | Word
Module 6 Browsing And Analysing Evidence: A Guide to Using Nesstar
- Accessing and browsing data using Nesstar
- Familiarity with the British Crime Survey dataset
- Producing tables and graphs online
Go to module | PDF | Word
Tutor Guide
A guide on suggested ways to use the modules in a learning environment.
Resources Pack
This is the pack that accompanies the CD-ROM. The version below excludes the modules and glossary (downloadable separately above).