Introduction to Research Methods
Psychology and Criminology (First Year Taught at Salford City College)
School of Health and Society
Full-time
Three year
September 2021
In a nutshell
Crime is one of the major problems facing society today. To understand the complex issues surrounding it, we have brought together two areas of study that have a natural affinity, giving you a degree that will help you make a real difference.
The first year of this course is taught at Salford City College before you transition to the University of Salford main campus for years two and three. Find out more about the benefits of studying at a partner college here.
You will:
- Understand how to relate a psychological understanding of human behaviour and development to an analysis of crime and deviance, gaining a comprehensive grasp of the ways in which crime can be analysed, understood and addressed
- Use a hands-on approach to developing research skills
- Be able to apply the theory you have learned to everyday situations
Course accreditations

This is for you if...
You'd prefer to get used to the demands of University study in a smaller, supportive environment
You have the desire to explore all areas of psychology
You have an interest in crime and its occurence
You have strong written skills and an aptitude for research
You want to make a real difference
You are able to think fast on your feet
All about the course
Psychology is about people and focuses on the study of the human mind and behaviour. Criminology involves analysing crime and deviance, exploring a wide range of issues from the nature of criminal justice systems to the role of the media in representing and influencing crime. Together these two areas will provide you with the skills and knowledge to succeed in a number of careers.
The psychology and criminology course will equip you with a theoretical understanding of human behaviour and you will apply the skills you learn to a varied range of innovative assessments. The course has been designed with a clear emphasis on employability and incorporates valuable practical activities (e.g. courtroom observation, museum visit, police station visit), core skills (e.g. writing skills, presentations, group collaboration), and workshops from experts in the field (e.g. forensic, educational, and occupational psychologists).
The first year of this course is taught at Salford City College. Please check their website for details of upcoming Open Days.
This module introduces the methods which are used in psychology and related fields. Statistical concepts and the quantitative methods which they underpin are taught alongside qualitative methods. The module builds knowledge which is important in interpreting the research papers you will read over the course of your degree as well as providing the foundation for skills which you will need in order to conduct your own research projects.
Introduction to Developmental Psychology and Social Psychology
You will be introduced to key factors in human development including social, emotional, cognitive and biological foundation. Within social psychology you will look at how individuals perceive, influence and interact with others.
Criminal Justice and Human Rights
You will be introduced to the form, key features and purpose of the institutions of the contemporary criminal justice system in England and Wales and begin an exploration of the issues relating to justice and civil liberties.
Introduction to Biological and Cognitive Psychology
You will be introduced to the basic biological processes and cognitive principles necessary for understanding human psychology. Language is a key cognitive skill, and this module covers topics such as reading and listening, automatic word identification, resolving linguistic ambiguities, and aphasia.
Crime and Society
You will be introduced to the key foundational issues, ideas, and ways of thinking within criminology. You will explore the various relationships between crime and society drawing upon contemporary, historical, and comparative evidence and demonstrate links between particular theories and concepts and their implications for research methodology and crime policy.
Further Research Methods
You will develop on the skills you developed in year one, designing, carrying out research and analysing your results.
Further Biopsychology and Cognition
You will explore the links between biological and cognitive processes and examine how this relationship influences performance in real-world contexts. You will also go into more depth in topics such as language and thought, reading, understanding language, and speech production.
Theoretical Criminology
You will develop an understanding of the range of theories of crime and criminal justice and locate the key issues of criminology within their socio-political and historical context. You will gain a knowledge of the most important theories, and their relevance for understanding crime matters in contemporary society.
Identity, Diversity and Crime
This module offers you the opportunity to explore how personality affects criminal behaviour and offending as well as how the criminal justice system responds to these individual differences.
Developmental and Social Psychology
This module covers the influences of nature and nurture on human development, including exploring how these influence children’s communicative and language development. You will gain practical experience of conducting social psychological research, and examine the implications of research for education, policy, and clinical practice.
Optional criminology modules, choose one of the following:
Constructing Guilt and Innocence
The typical criminal trial is primarily a contest between the prosecution and the defence over whether or not a crime was committed and whether the accused is guilty. Each side uses narrative, rhetorical and argumentative strategies to construct its own version of the events and to present claims about the guilt or innocence of the defendant. Judges and juries must also do the same when they pronounce on a case, and third parties such as the public or the media often engage in a similar exercise. This module examines the strategies used to construct guilt and innocence, paying particular attention to their sociological underpinnings. Case studies will be an important part of the module’s content, and there will be presentations by prosecutorial, defence and judicial professionals.
Policing and Social Control
You will be introduced to issues surrounding the policing and social control in the past, in contemporary society and in the future, and analyse how social control and surveillance are manifested. You will identify the implications for policing and social control studies on wider sociology as well as policy and practice.
Violence in Society
An overview of the conceptualisation of “violence”. You will examine debates concerning violence in various aspects of life, consider the contemporary debates surrounding violence in a range of contexts, trace the development of theorisations of violence and consider ethical, methodological and practical issues involved in the researching of violence.
Prisons and Punishment: Responses to Crime
Provides an understanding of the evolution of the modern prison and its policies, practices, and regimes. In this module you will develop an understanding of the relationship between prisons, probation, and the courts; and of the use and impacts of punishment with regard to age, gender, and ethnicity.
Dissertation
You will carry out a large-scale empirical research project on a topic of your choice. The range of skills you develop as you navigate the process of research design, applying for ethical approval, recruiting participants and carrying out your research, performing appropriate analysis, and writing up your work will be invaluable in any workplace.
Optional psychology modules, choose from two of the following:
The Psychology of Mental Health
You will explore conceptualisations of mental health, explanations of mental health, legal and social ramifications of mental ill health, the range of conditions treated within psychiatry, and therapeutic modalities and agencies. You will also think about the language used in the field, such as the shift from talking about ‘abnormal psychology’ to less stigmatising terms, and also the linguistic origins of the terms used to describe mental health conditions.
Media Psychology
This module explores the effects that exposure to media has on people, as well as how people process information from media. It looks at advertisement, persuasion, news journalism, social media and internet use, including the use of metaphors in the media. It also covers conversation analysis and discursive psychology.
Psychology of Children in Need
Aimed at students interested in a career in education or a clinical setting. You will learn about the conditions and environments of children in need (autistic spectrum, poverty, Down Syndrome, ADHD, blindness). You will examine theories and the psychological impact of interventions.
Effective and Affective Thinking and Processing
During this module, you will learn to apply theories and methodologies from cognitive psychology to real-world behaviour. You will explore the influence of emotional processing on human cognition and performance and reflect on the optimal conditions for thinking and decision-making.
Occupational Psychology
A practitioner based module which will provide you with a tour of relevant theories and topics (including stress, selection techniques and change at work), as well as an assessment opportunity to apply these in real-world settings, including your own experience in the workplace.
Brain and Behaviour
This module examines in detail the relationships between behaviour and the nervous system. You will explore these relationships through the consideration of key topics in the field of neuroscience including learning, psychopharmacology, brain damage, aphasia/alexia, organic brain disorder, and mental health.
Psychology of Global Issues in the 21st Century
A new module which considers the role of psychology in a global context. You will have the opportunity to use your psychological knowledge to explore the issues of the day.
Psychology and Health
This module aims to introduce you to the concepts, theory, methods and applications of health psychology. It is concerned with the psychological aspects of physical illness, their treatment and management as well as what it is that keeps people healthy and well.
Educational Psychology
Develops your understanding of the relevance of psychology to education and provides opportunities to apply psychological theory and principles in the field of education and professional practice.
Psychology of Ageing
Explore positive models of ageing and lifespan development in the 21st Century including: identity, physical and mental health, and the psycho-social implications of ageing.
The Psychology of Extreme Violence
The psychology of serial homicide, mass shooting, and terrorism. The module also explores the neurodevelopmental and psychosocial risk factors in serial killers and mass shooters, the pathway to intended violence in such extreme cases of violence and the neuropsychodynamics of individuals who commit serial homicide and single homicide.
Work Placement
You will be placed with industry professionals to develop and nurture your own career interest.
Child Language Development
This module will develop your knowledge of how children learn language, from sounds, words and grammar, to the complexities of human communication. You will explore data from real children to increase your understanding and test out the theories discussed in class.
Atypical Child Development
This module explores what it’s like for children growing up with various conditions like autism spectrum disorder, Down’s syndrome, deafness, and developmental language disorder, and well as the impact on development of growing up in adverse environments such as poverty.
Optional criminology modules, choose from two of the following:
Constructing Guilt and Innocence
The typical criminal trial is primarily a contest between the prosecution and the defence over whether or not a crime was committed and whether the accused is guilty. Each side uses narrative, rhetorical and argumentative strategies to construct its own version of the events and to present claims about the guilt or innocence of the defendant. Judges and juries must also do the same when they pronounce on a case, and third parties such as the public or the media often engage in a similar exercise. This module examines the strategies used to construct guilt and innocence, paying particular attention to their sociological underpinnings. Case studies will be an important part of the module’s content, and there will be presentations by prosecutorial, defence and judicial professionals.
Policing and Social Control
You will be introduced to issues surrounding the policing and social control in the past, in contemporary society and in the future, and analyse how social control and surveillance are manifested. You will identify the implications for policing and social control studies on wider sociology as well as policy and practice.
Violence in Society
An overview of the conceptualisation of “violence”. You will examine debates concerning violence in various aspects of life, consider the contemporary debates surrounding violence in a range of contexts, trace the development of theorisations of violence and consider ethical, methodological and practical issues involved in the researching of violence.
Prisons and Punishment: Responses to Crime
Provides an understanding of the evolution of the modern prison and its policies, practices, and regimes. In this module you will develop an understanding of the relationship between prisons, probation, and the courts; and of the use and impacts of punishment with regard to age, gender, and ethnicity.
Intersectionality and Crime (only available in year three)
You will gain an understanding of the construction of deviant labels based on variables of ethnicity, gender and youth, and the relationship between these labels and crime. You will engage with issues surrounding experiences of crime and encounters with the criminal justice system. You will also compare crime policies on a national and international scale and look at a number of historical and contemporary case-studies.
Media, Crime, and Justice
This module explores the role of media in crime and justice. You will identify the ways in which news media report crime and the fictional representation of crime and criminal justice.
The Criminal Justice Process - Crim w Counselling
You will gain an overview of the philosophy, nature, significance, outcomes and consequences of the criminal justice process and explore how it functions. You will think critically about key aspects of the criminal justice process and examine the interaction between different actors and agencies involved, and between the criminal justice process and politics, the community and the media. You will also have the opportunity to engage with professionals working in every stage of the criminal justice process.
Genocide
You will define and analyse state violence and transitional justice to understand the meanings of ‘terror,’ ‘truth’, and ‘justice’. This module explores the explanations and effects of state violence using examples such as The Nuremberg Trials and the emergence of Truth Commissions in Argentina and South Africa.
Becoming a Victim
You will develop an understanding of how and why people become victims and of the relationship between victimisation and social and cultural variables. You will critically explore the place of the victim in the criminal justice system, and how they are processed.
Please note that it may not be possible to deliver the full list of options every year as this will depend on factors such as how many students choose a particular option. Exact modules may also vary in order to keep content current. When accepting your offer of a place to study on this programme, you should be aware that not all optional modules will be running each year. Your tutor will be able to advise you as to the available options on or before the start of the programme. Whilst the University tries to ensure that you are able to undertake your preferred options, it cannot guarantee this.
School of Health and Society
We are focused on enhancing the health and wellbeing of patients, service users and athletes and our commitment to public involvement help us retain our strong focus on real-world issues.
Facilities
We provide a comfortable and friendly environment for you to carry out a wide range of psychological testing. These include:
- Eye-tracker laboratory – we have Tobii T120 and Tobii X2-60 eye-trackers to monitor conscious and unconscious gaze movements from a range of displays including smartphones and tablets
- Observation suite - with a two-way mirror, this laboratory allows for observation of behaviour in adults and children
- Psychophysiology laboratory – includes functional near-infrared spectroscopy brain imaging equipment, heart rate monitors, and galvanic skin response recorders
- A dedicated computer suite that allows access to a range of psychological programs such as ERTSLab and E-Prime.
- You will also have access to Psychology laboratory cubicles, Private interview rooms and a Social learning space
For details on facilities at Salford City College, please visit their website.
What about after uni?
You will be equipped to work in a number of environments such as health and social care, criminal justice institutions, and the prison service. You could also continue your study at postgraduate level. If you go on to become a chartered psychologist, you may specialise in forensic, clinical, educational, health, or occupational psychology.
Our graduates have taken a range of jobs within a variety of fields. Some graduates have gained employment as an assistant psychologist, mental health support worker, within drug and alcohol services, or have gone on to pursue a career as a chartered psychologist. Alternatively you may take a role within policing or probation services, education, advertising, marketing, or retail.
Following graduation you may decide to continue your studies with us on the MSc Applied Psychology (Addictions), MSc Applied Psychology (Therapies) or MA Terrorism and Security, or a complete a vocational course such as the MA Social Work. Whatever direction you choose, the key skills within this degree ensure that you will be both accomplished and imaginative in your career.
Career Links
The British Psychological Society accredits this course – if you achieve a lower second class degree or above, Graduate Basis for Chartership is awarded. This is the first step to becoming a chartered psychologist.
FURTHER STUDY
What you need to know
This course isn’t suitable for international students. If you are an international student and interested in studying a foundation year, please visit our International Foundation Year course page.
The first year of this course is taught at Salford City College. Please check their website for details of upcoming Open Days.
APPLICANT PROFILE
An ideal student will have:
- A good understanding of the disciplines of psychology and criminology
- The desire to explore all areas of psychology
- An interest in crime and its occurrence, especially how it is explained, and how 'criminals' are processed by the criminal justice system
- Strong written skills and an aptitude for research.
Please note: The entry criteria below are related to entry onto this course in the 2021/22 academic year.
GCSE
Three GCSE subjects at grade C/grade 4 or above, including Maths and English.
You must fulfil our GCSE requirements as well as one of the requirements listed below.
UCAS tariff points
104 -112 points
A level
BCC - BBC
A level double award
BC and an A-level grade C plus, GCSE C/ 4 in English, Maths and Science
BTEC National Diploma
DMM
Foundation Degree
60% pass mark
Access to HE
45+ credits at level 3 (30 at distinction) with level 2 in numeracy
Scottish Highers
104-112 points BBBCC
Irish Leaving Certificate
104-112 points
International Baccalaureate
30 points
Salford Alternative Entry Scheme (SAES)
We welcome applications from students who may not meet the stated entry criteria but who can demonstrate their ability to pursue the course successfully. Once we have received your application we will assess it and recommend it for SAES if you are an eligible candidate.
The university offers two routes for entry under the scheme and applicants will be directed to the one appropriate for their course.
For more information, please visit: https://www.salford.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/salford-alternative-entry-scheme
How much?
These are the fees you will pay whilst studying at the college, you will pay the standard tuition fees for the period when you are studying at the main University of Salford campus.
Type of study | Year | Fees |
---|---|---|
Full-time home | 2021/22 | £7,500per year |
Additional costs
You should also consider further costs which may include books, stationery, printing, binding and general subsistence on trips and visits.
Interested in starting university in September 2021? Book your place on our next Open Day.