Course description
The aim of this course is to provide an understanding and experience of the disciplines underpinning critical evaluation of quantitative information applied within the Forensic Sciences.
Upcoming start dates
Suitability - Who should attend?
Suitable for anyone wanting to understand how critical assessment, argument and design are applied in the area of forensics.
Outcome / Qualification etc.
What you will learn
On successful completion of the course you will be able to:
- Recognise the fundamental features of effective experimental design
- Explain how confidence may be secured through effective reliability and reproducibility assessments
- Frame and defend an effective argument concerning quantitative information
- Understand the minimum requirements for presenting scientific evidence in court
- Distinguish between evidential types used in court and research environments
- Apply appropriate statistics to forensic evidence for analysis and interpretation
- Explain the statistical processes to the layman
- Apply Bayes’ Theorem to forensic evidence.
Training Course Content
Core content
- Experimental design
- Interpretation and assessment
- Effective framing & rebutting of arguments
- Problem solving
- Evidential types
- Use of relevant statistics for design & interpretation
- Courtroom statistics.
The syllabus will follow the general course of a generic investigative process from the appropriate framing of a question to the critical interpretation of data and information. The appropriate use of data in well constructed arguments will be considered in order to distinguish between fact, opinion and speculation. Intellectual rigour will be challenged, and the ability to identify weakness in argument will be developed. Data will be examined for reliability and reproducibility with a focus on the distinct features of forensically related data. Appropriate use of descriptive and hypothesis testing statistics will be practiced and the ‘prosecutor’s fallacy’ explored. Bayes’ Theorem will be considered and rehearsed through case studies.
Course delivery details
Course structure
One course per year; 5 days duration per course.
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Cranfield University
Cranfield is a specialist postgraduate university that is a global leader for education and transformational research in technology and management. We have many world-class, large-scale facilities, including our own global research airport, which offers a unique environment for transformational education...