| CODE | SOC1012 | ||||||||
| TITLE | Introducing Research Methods in the Social Sciences | ||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 01 - Year 1 in Modular Undergraduate Course | ||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 5 | ||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 4 | ||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Sociology | ||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | A general introduction to social scientific methodology, with an emphasis on research question generation and the principle of research design. Content: This study-unit introduces students to the relevance of doing sociological research. Specifically, it introduces the main steps in doing research. It refers to all the processes and principles in doing research in social sciences. Students shall be able to apply their knowledge by designing their own sociological research. Additionally, students are introduced to ethical considerations required when conducting research and the storage of data. Course content: - Why doing sociological research? - Introducing different methodological approaches - Sampling techniques - Ethics in social research - Quantitative research methods: Introducing questionnaire research - Qualitative research methods: Introducing interviews and participant observation - Analysis of data - Introducing thematic analysis - Presentation of results - Revisiting the main steps of doing research - Workshop session: Walk-along research techniques; elite interviewing - Workshop session: Ethnography; drawing as visual elicitation - Workshop session: Content analysis; visual methodology - Overview lecture Study-unit Aims: The study-unit aims to: - Introduce students to social sciences as a critical and creative set of disciplines; - Acquaint students with the basic principles of research design, ethics, logic and coherence; - Acquaint students with the principles of drawing up a research proposal, sampling, and triangulation. Learning Outcomes 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Generate original and creative research questions; - Develop valid and reliable research design that is also logistically manageable; - Define a population and work towards an achieved sample. 2. Skills: The emphasis throughout is to equip students with a set of transferable research-design and methodological skills and protocols that they can apply to various fields of social science. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: Main Texts: - Clive Seale (ed.) 2018. Researching Society and Culture, London, Sage. Supplementary Readings: - Alan Bryman. 2001. Social Research Methods Oxford, OUP. - Anthony Giddens. 1997 ‘Types of Society’. In Anthony Giddens Sociology 3 ed. Cambridge, Polity. - Chava Frankfort-Nahmias & David Nahmias. 1996. Research Methods in the Social Sciences. 5th ed. St. Martin’s Press. - W. Lawrence Neuman. 2000. Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches 4 ed. Allyn and Bacon. - Keith F. Punch. 1998. Introduction to Social Research: Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches London, Sage. |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture | ||||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
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| LECTURER/S | Kay Polidano Godfrey Baldacchino Michael Briguglio Dylan Cassar Mark Anthony Falzon Mario Vassallo Valerie Visanich |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2024/5. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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