Making sense of the combined degree experience: the example of criminology double degrees

Abstract

Little research has been undertaken on student experiences of combined degrees. The few studies report that a considerable number of students experienced difficulty with the contrasting epistemic/disciplinary demands of the component programmes. A mixed-methods approach was employed to explore the experiences of graduates from four double degrees that combine criminology with a second degree. While participants experienced epistemological uncertainties, most worked out ways, individually and in groups, to accommodate the tensions associated with combined degree study and to make sense of their experiences. A common means of coping was to enlist the disciplinary perspectives of one field as a lens to make sense of the other. At the same time, participants reported that there was little in the way of curriculum and pedagogical provisions to help them to establish connections between their degrees. As one participant stated, ‘it was all [done] on our own'.