SOCIAL RESEARCH METHODS 2400-ZEWW761
The course consists of 30 hours of on-line seminar focused on presenting basic methodological knowledge followed by individual and team exercises aimed to enable to get some practice in conducting social research, supported by e-learning platform. Each of twelve topics start with a video conference which is followed by additional e-learning material and practical exercises based on acquired knowledge. Additionally, during the
whole term, around 40 hours of home working is expected to read required texts and do homework.
The course is constructed according the following schedule:
Part 1 Introduction: qualitative and quantitative research. Design thinking as a method enhancing learning, carrying out projects and generating ideas & solutions.
Part 2 A review of methods and their applications. Inductive and deductive reasoning. The logic of sampling. Issues of inference and causality.
Part 3 Qualitative field research – observing and interviewing. Qualitative data analysis -basics of grounded theory. Using in-depth interviews as a part of EMPATHY STAGE in the design thinking.
Part 4 Generating research ideas and hypotheses based on qualitative field research.
BRAINSTORMING and PROTOTYPE BUILDING as a way to prepare a research concept.
Part 5 Survey research I. Planning a research. Building a questionnaire and preparing questions. TESTING PROTOTYPES.
Part 6 Survey research II. Conducting surveys. Sampling. Strengths and weaknesses of survey research. The role of pilot research.
Part 7 Theoretical and empirical variables. Measurement. Latent variables. Building aggregated indicators. Basics of factor analysis and IRT.
Part 8 Introduction to survey data analysis. Dealing with ordinal and binary variables. Using survey data in exploratory and confirmatory researches. TESTING ideas for the research report.
Part 9 Case study. Strengths and weaknesses. Non-probability sampling. Research methods applied. Building theory on the basis of case study. Ethical dilemmas.
Part 10 Experimental research. Strengths and weaknesses. Participants assignment and control of variables. Ethical dilemmas. Issues of inference and hypotheses testing.
Part 11 Experimental economics. What are the differences between economic experiments and other social sciences’ experiments? Applications of experiments to economics.
Part 12 Introduction to Social Network Analysis - visualization and network measures.
Applications of the elements of social network analysis to the economical researches.
Type of course
Course coordinators
Learning outcomes
1. Expertise and cognizance
Upon the course completion a student has a general knowledge about different social research methods, both of quantitative and qualitative character, as well as knows which method is suitable for a particular research objective. A student has an orientation where to find more advanced information about the specific methods of his interest. A student understands the problems of conceptualization, measurement, data analyses and interpretation of social researches’ results.
2. Skills
A student is able to recognize and choose a proper research method, adequate to the research problem. A student is able to critically evaluate existing researches, both quantitative and qualitative. A student is able to provide an interpretation of his/her empirical researches’results and is able to make conclusions.
3. Other competences
A student understands ethical dilemmas connected with conducting social researches. A student is aware that available empirical researches should be assessed critically with a special regard to the methodology applied and a proper interpretation of the results achieved. A student understands a need to develop knowledge and skills regarding research methods chosen for deployment. A student is aware of weak and strong sides of quantitative and qualitative methods and perceives them as complementary. A student has an ability to work in team. A student is familiar with design thinking approach and knows how to apply it to designing research ideas.
Assessment criteria
A condition to obtain a credit is to get minimum 50 points. 100 points can be obtained for completing tasks on the e-learning platform (practical assignments to practice new skills and tests checking knowledge from the readings). Additional 10 points can be obtained for active participation in video-conferences. Participation in video-conferences is necessary, as they give guidance for assignments and team tasks are started during the videoconferences.
50-59 points - 3
60-69 points - 3+
70-79 points - 4
80-89 points - 4+
90-110 points – 5, 5!
Bibliography
1. Earl Babbie: The Practice of Social Research
2. Kethleen M. Eisenhardt, Building Theories from Case Study Research, The Academy of Management Review, vol. 14 (1989), no. 4: 532-550
3. Bent Flyvbjerg, "Five Misunderstandings About Case-Study Research," Qualitative Inquiry, vol. 12, no. 2, April 2006, pp. 219-245.
4. Abdelmonem Afifi, Virginia Clark, Susanne May, Computer-Aided Multivariate Analysis, Chapman & Hall/CRC, New York 2004
5. Lawrence C. Hamilton, Statistics with Stata, Thomson Brooks/Cole, Toronto 2006
6. Glaser Barney and Anselm L. Strauss. 1967. Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research.
7. Uskali Mäki, Models are experiments, experiments are models, Journal of Economic Methodology, 12 (2005), p. 3003-315
8. Matthew B. Miles, A. Michael Huberman: Qualitative Data Analysis: An Expanded Sourcebook
9. Lawrence W. Neuman, Social Research Methods. Qualitative and quantitative approaches.Sixth edition. PearsonEducation, Inc, USA 2006
10. John P. Scott, Social Network Analysis: A Handbook, Sage Publications Ltd, London, Great Britain 2000
11. David Silverman, Interpretating qualitative research
12. Chris Starmer, Experiments in economics: Should we trust the dismal scientists in white coats?, Journal of Economic Methodology, 6 (1999), p. 1-30
13. Stanley Wasserman, Katherine Faust, Social Network Analysis: Methods and Applications, Cambridge University Press, New York 2008
14. Robert K. Yin, Case study research. Design and Methods, Sage Publications, Newbury Park 2003
15. Stephen P Borgatti, Martin G. Everett, Jeffrey C. Johnson, Analyzing social networks. London:Sage 2013
16. Christina Prell, Social Network Analysis: history, theory, methodology. London: Sage 2012
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: