CJS270-900-Crime Analysis with Open Data_Wi24 (3)
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Drexel University *
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270
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Arts Humanities
Date
Jun 3, 2024
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docx
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7
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CJS 270-900 – C
RIME A
NALYSIS U
SING O
PEN
D
ATA
W
INTER Q
UARTER 2023-24
D
REXEL U
NIVERSITY
Department of Criminology and Justice Studies
This syllabus is a living document; there may be changes or additions to the reading list for example. Suggestions for changes are welcome and we can discuss them as a class. Whatever is listed in Blackboard for the week in question trumps this document!
PROFESSOR’S CONTACT INFORMATION
Kris Unsworth, PhD
Department of Criminology and Justice Studies Email: ku26@drexel.edu
Office location: 3401 Market St. Suite 110, Rm 110-G
Office hours: by appointment -on Skype, Zoom, phone or other agreed upon method
Personal Zoom ID: 340 782 9641
STUDENT LEARNING
COURSE DESCRIPTION
We live a data rich world and “open data” initiatives have made unprecedented amounts of data available to academics, professionals, and citizens alike. The data are not useful unless we know what is available, how to access it, and what tools to use to make sense of it. Students will gain competence in each of these
areas as we investigate:
Why is open data important? How does the availability of data increase citizen participation in civil society and particularly in relation to the criminal justice system? How can open data help us move toward a more
just society? Why or why not and can we be advocates for using the data.
The course will consist of weekly exercises that focus on finding criminal justice data, understanding the data, wrangling it into a format that is ready for analysis and then conducting basic analysis to discover actionable information. The final project will present use the data as evidence to discuss the issue.
COURSE PURPOSE WITHIN PROGRAM OF STUDY
The concentration in Justice Informatics prepares students to use an analytical and information-led approach to solve the problems crime creates in society. In the course of our daily lives, whether we come in contact with the criminal justice system or not, we create data or leave what are called “data traces.” Some of these are new thanks to the ubiquity of technology in society. Other data points, such as population data collected by the US Census, have been collected for ages. Much of these data are public and openly available (open data) to those who have the tools to understand their implications. This course is the first in a sequence that will familiarize students with the breadth of open data and the “open data movement.” In this class students will learn how to
2
find, access, and use open data resources to investigate an issue of their choosing within the criminal justice system. REQUIRED TEXTBOOK
All additional readings will be made available through Blackboard.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After completion of this course, the student should be able to:
1.
Discuss the history and genesis of the open data movement
2.
Identify diverse types of open data
3.
Access and use open data
4.
Use Excel or similar data visualization tools
5.
Use American Factfinder and the US Census
6.
Use Bureau of Labor Statistics resources
7.
Use Department of Justice crime statistics
8.
Discuss the ethical implications of open data
9.
Craft a professional level report using open data
CITATIONS
We will be using APA style in this class. There are many citation guides available online and one of my favorites is OWL from Purdue University: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/genera
l_format.html
COURSE CALENDAR
This is an online course, so we won’t be meeting any particular day of the week or time. That said assignments are due each week, so you’ll still want to stay on top of things. We will be learning to use different tools to manipulate the data we find. Some of these are made available through the host website, but we will also use Excel. Articles and other readings will be available through Blackboard. OVERVIEW OF ASSIGNMENTS
1.
Course engagement / weekly discussions – Class participation is important, and you will note that I
give it an equal percentage of the grade. One way to ensure that you meet this requirement is to address the discussion prompt completely, referencing the readings for the week, providing citations, and expanding on material we have covered elsewhere. 2.
Assignments - We will complete 8 assignments or labs throughout the quarter. Each of these are
designed to help you understand how to access and use open data. The assignments will be due each week on Tuesday. We will review them on Tuesday.
3.
Project snapshot – During week 8 you will post a snapshot of your project. These are not meant to be
presentations of the finished project! This will be an opportunity for each of you to get some last-
minute feedback on your visuals, determine whether or not the pieces of your final report make
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sense to others, etc. Think of these as final check-ins and a chance to get comments from your peers before you finish your work. Your slides should include:
A title page
An introduction to the issue you are exploring.
A discussion of the dataset(s) you are using
Your methodology or what you are trying to do using Excel as a data exploration tool.
At least one visual
What you hope to be able to still do
Preliminary interpretation of the dataset
A list of references – including references to your data.
4.
Final report –
GRADING SCALE
A+ = 97-100
A = 93-96
A- = 90-92
B+ = 87-89
B = 83-86
B- = 80-82
C+ = 77-79
C = 73-76
C- = 70-72
D+ = 67-69
D = 60-66
F = 59 and below
GRADING MATRIX
Assignment
Points
possible per
assignment
#
Assignments
per quarter
Total points
for
assignment
type
Percent of
final grade
Class engagement / Discussions
100
10
1000
25%
Exercises
100
8
800
25%
Project snapshot
100
1
100
25%
Final project
100
1
100
25%
ACADEMIC POLICIES
A
CADEMIC
I
NTEGRITY
, P
LAGIARISM
, D
ISHONEST
, AND
C
HEATING
P
OLICY
https://drexel.edu/provost/policies-calendars/policies/academic-integrity/
S
TUDENT
WITH
DISABILITY
STATEMENT
https://drexel.edu/disability-resources/support-accommodations/student-family-resources/
C
OURSE
A
DD
/D
ROP
P
OLICY
End of week 1 (Sunday, 11:59 pm via the web)
https://drexel.edu/provost/policies-calendars/policies/course-add-drop/
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