University of the West of England

MODULE SPECIFICATION

(Revised November 2002)

Code: UPSN73-30-M Title: Methods of Social Research Version: 2

Level: M UWE credit rating: 30 ECTS credit rating: 15

Module type: Standard

Owning Faculty: Social Sciences and Humanities Field: Sociology

Valid from: September 2008 Discontinued from:

Contributes towards: MA, MSc

Pre-requisites: none

Co-requisites: none

Excluded combinations: none

Learning outcomes

Students will be able to demonstrate:

Knowledge and Understanding

• an understanding of a range of methods appropriate for social research, both qualitative and quantitative (components A and B)

• knowledge of advanced techniques of sampling and valid data gathering appropriate for social research (components A and B);

• knowledge of advanced techniques of data analysis appropriate for social research (components A and B).

• an understanding of the processes of theory testing and building in empirical research (components A and B).

• an awareness of the social and political context and uses of social research (components A and B).

Intellectual skills

• demonstrate an ability to operationalise sociological research questions (components A and B);

• demonstrate an ability to present sociological research data in an effective and appropriate ways (components A and B);

• demonstrate an ability accurately to interpret sociological research data (components A and B);

• show understanding of key ethical and legal issues relating to social research (components A and B);

• critically evaluate existing research (components A and B).

• justify the application of specific research methods to particular problems (components A and B)

Practical Skills

• design their own research project and provide a plan for managing such a project (components A and B);

• identify and apply the practical skills needed to carry out a range of research projects (components A and B),

• apply appropriate IT skills to the analysis and presentation of empirical data (components A and B)

• locate their own research in the context of existing research and scholarship (components A and B)

Transferable Skills

• present their work to a high standard in a range of appropriate written and spoken forms and to a range of audiences (components A and B)

• demonstrate critical reflexivity in their research and learning experience (components A and B);

• demonstrate an appropriate range of ICT skills (components A and B).

Syllabus outline:

• Research design and strategy: formulating and operationalising researchable problems, theory and data collection, validity, reliability and replication, writing a research proposal, meeting the requirements of stakeholders and funding bodies.

• Project management: planning and managing time, setting deadlines, keeping research records, writing strategies, presentation skills, working alone and in teams

• The sociology and politics of social research: anti-discriminatory research, participative methods, ethics, privacy and confidentiality, legal issues, context and uses of social research, working with marginalised and ‘hard to reach’ groups

• Qualitative data collection, analysis and theory building: Sampling, Interviews, field observation, archives, documentary data, historical data, textual deconstruction of visual and other material, biography, film, photographs, questionnaires, content analysis, grounded theory, ethnomethodology, discourse analysis, computer assisted qualitative data analysis, hypermedia software.

• Field research: negotiating access, managing fieldwork roles, ethnography, individual and group interviewing, life histories, collecting audio and visual data.

• Quantitative data collection, analysis and theory building: Types of information that can be measured with statistics, theory building and the testing of hypotheses, operationalising quantitative research, the measurement of social events, experimental and non-experimental research designs, sampling and the use of surveys, interviewing for quantitative and qualitative outcomes, indexes and coding, elaborating on multivariate relationships, making sense of aggregate data, the interpretation and presentation of quantitative analysis, method triangulation..

• Information technology for the sociologist: using the internet, wordprocessing, bibliographic sources and software, electronic databases, the ESRC data archive, carrying out a literature review.

Teaching and learning methods:

A combination of workshops and seminars with an emphasis on student participation. There will be opportunities for students to gain and put into practice a range of practical research skills. Empirical case-studies will be used wherever possible in order to highlight methodological issues. In addition there will be presentations and workshops led by research-active staff as well as student-led discussions around set readings.

Indicative sources:

P Atkinson Understanding Ethnographic Texts, Sage. 1992

M Hammersley The Politics of Social Research, Sage. 1995

C Ellis & Investigating Subjectivity, Sage. 1992

M Flaherty (eds)

T May Social Research Issues, Process and Methods, Open University press. 1993

S Reinharz Feminist Methods in Social Research, Oxford University Press. 1992

E Burman & Discourse Analytic Research, Routledge. 1994

& E Parker (eds)

J Potter & Discourse and Social Psychology, Beyond Attitudes and Behaviour, Sage. 1992.

M Wetherell .

P Reason (ed) Participation in Human Inquiry, Sage. 1994

J Kent ‘Group Inquiry: A Democratic Dialogue?' in Humphries, B. & Truman, C (eds) (forthcoming) Research in an Unequal World, Taylor & Francis.

E Orna & Managing Information for Research, Open University Press. 1995.

G Stevens

B Allison et al Research Skills for Students, Kogan Page. 1996

R Lee (ed) Information Technology for Social Scientists, London, University College Press. 1995

N Fielding & R Lee Using Computers in Qualitative Research, Sage. 1991

Czaja, R. & J. Blair Designing Surveys: A Guide to Decisions and Procedures. Thousand Oaks, California: Pine Forge Press. 1996.

Denzin, N. &. Handbook of Qualitative Research. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage. 1994.

Lincoln, Y. S. eds

van Deth, JW. and Elinor Scarborough eds. The Impact of Values. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1995

King, G.; Keohane, R.; Verba, S. Designing Social Inquiry: Scientific Inference in Qualitative Research. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 1994.

Manheim, J. and R. Rich Empirical Political Analysis, third edition. White Plains, N.Y.: Longman. 1991.

Marsh, D. and R. Rhodes eds. Policy Networks in British Government. Oxford: Oxford University Press 1992.

Marsh, D. and D. Stoker Theory and Methods in Political Science. London: MacMillan Press. 1995.

Miles, M.B. and Huberman, A.M. eds. Qualitative Data Analysis: An expanded Sourcebook ,2nd edition. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage. 1994.

Miller, W.; Timpson, A. M.; Lessnoff, M. (Political Culture in Contemporary Britain: People and Politicians, Principles and Practice. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1996.

Rasmussen, Eric Games and Information: An Introduction to Game Theory. 2nd edition. Cambridge Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers. 1994.

Scott, John Social Network Analysis. London: Sage. 1991.

Taylor, A.D. Mathematics and Politics: Strategy, Voting, Power and Proof. New York: Springer-Verlag. 1995

de Vaus, D.A. Surveys in Social Research, third edition. St. Leonards, Australia: Allen and Unwin. 1991.

Wasserman, S. and Faust, K. Social Network Analysis: Methods and Applications. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1994.

Wassermann, S. and Galaskiewicz J. eds. Advances in Social Network Analysis: Research in the Social and Behavioural Sciences. Thousand Oaks,California: Sage. 1994.

Wright, Daniel, B. Understanding Statistics: An Introduction for the Social Sciences. London: Sage. 1997

Banks Marcus Visual Methods in Social Research. Sage, 2001.

de Vaus David Research Design in Social Research Sage, 2001.

Hart Chris Doing a Literature Search. Sage, 2001.

Jane Ribbens & Rosalind Edwards Feminist Dilemmas in Qualitative Research Sage, 2002.

Assessment

ATTEMPT 1

First Assessment Opportunity

Component A

                      Element weighting

Viva (20 – 30 minutes) 25%

Component B

                      Element weighting

Project Report (4000 – 6000 words) 75%

Second Assessment Opportunity (further attendance at taught classes is not required)

Component A

                      Element weighting

Viva (20 – 30 minutes) 25%

Component B

                      Element weighting

Project Report (4000 – 6000 words) 75%

SECOND (OR SUBSEQUENT) ATTEMPT Attendance at taught classes is not required.

Specification confirmed by …………………………………………………Date …………………………

(Associate Dean/Programme Director)

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