MSc Investigative Forensic Psychology(16 month)

Bournemouth University

The unit covers a range of research methods and a tool used for conducting advanced level research, and describes the intricacies of experimental design in such contexts. The unit aims to prepare students for undertaking independent research using advanced research techniques.

In this module you will learn and apply a range of statistical techniques intended for analysing data from psychological research. These are advanced techniques which are not covered at undergraduate level.

Focuses on the individual differences in face-processing, with an emphasis on the forensic implications of this work. As well as examining cognitive and personality factors that may influence our face recognition ability, you'll consider social biases that affect our ability to process faces. This body of research will be discussed in relation to eye-witness testimony identification and occupations that require proficient face recognition skills, like passport control and other forensic and security settings. You'll be introduced to the concept of extraordinary face recognition the ability for example demonstrated by some police officers when attempting to identify individuals from CCTV footage, and debate will focus on whether these skills can be taught to typical perceivers.

The theoretical and practical understanding of investigative psychology, focusing on serious crime investigations. You will initially explore the roles psychologists can play and general theories regarding why people commit crime, and subsequently specific theories as applied to different crime types including murder and violent crime; serial and sexual offending; group offending and cyber-crime. Case studies will be embedded to demonstrate investigative issues and how behavioural investigative advice (including offender profiling and offence linkage), crime analysis, and police decision making are used. Once these fundamentals are covered, you will learn about investigative interviewing with a focus on interviewing victims and witnesses.

Presentation & Scientific Writing: Here the key skills for interpreting, presenting, writing and publishing research are taught. Topics include writing research and grant proposals, presentation skills and developing advanced writing skills.

Providing you with an understanding of, and initial training in professional practice considerations when working in the field. Specifically we will also consider report writing and courtroom skills, together with legal and practical aspects of giving evidence. We will discuss professional duties from data collection, note taking and retention. We will consider courtroom procedures, lawyers? requirements, and the preparation and structure of expert or professional witness? reports. The unit will be delivered through a combination of lectures, training in court room skills and practical exercises involving behavioural analysis of simulated crime scenes.

In this module you'll work closely with a member of staff engaging in discussions in order to choose an appropriate research project based around a particular topic that interests you, or expanding an element from the course that you want to pursue further, perhaps linked to your future career aspirations. You will be responsible for providing an in-depth literature review, designing and undertaking a study in order to address your research question. You'll also be expected to collect and analyse data and provide a full write up of the project. Supervision for your project will be provided in regular meetings.