GSM008-Essentials of Research Methods for the Social Sciences
Module Provider: Faculty of Social Sciences
Number of credits: 0 [0ECTS credits]
Level:
7
Terms in which taught: Autumn, Spring and Summer
Module Convenor: Professor
P
Denicolo
Pre-requisites: Enrolment onMPhil/ PhD degree or Research Masters Course
Co-requisites:
Modules excluded:
Module version for: 2009/0
Email: p.m.denicolo@reading.ac.uk
Aims:
To introduce students to the basic tenets of research in the Social Sciences so that they might experiment with and critically evaluate different approaches, designs, data collection methods and forms of analysis in relation to their own research project and those in the literature.
Assessable learning outcomes:
By the end of the module, students should be able to:
Additional outcomes:
Outline content:
Part A – Philosophical Approaches to Research
Positivism; Critical Realism; Interpretivist Approaches; Further Debates including Feminist Approaches and Ethical Issues.
Part B – Research Design
Research Problems and Objectives; From Objectives to Design; Sampling, Sampling Error and Generalisation; Costs, Benefits and Time Management, Research Dissemination.
Part C – Data Capture Methods and Techniques
Experiments; Surveys and Questionnaires; Interviews and Observation; Secondary, Archival and Documentary Data; Narrative and Constructivist Methods.
Part D – Introduction to Concepts of Data Analysis
Use of Data Sets; Quantitative Methods of Analysis; Qualitative Methods of Analysis; Interpreting and Presenting Qualitative Data.
Brief description of teaching and learning methods:
The course is presented as a code accessible web-based package (Blackboard) consisting of 4 Parts each with 5 Strands, following an introduction on how to use the package and prepare for research. Each Strand will consist of a tutorial type discussion that includes activities, self-assessment tasks, hyper links to exemplar texts and guidance on further reading.
Contact hours:
| Total hours |
The whole package is intended to engage the students in 200 hours of effort but some of work on this package will overlap with and be incorporated in the Research Methods Programme Module.
|
Assessment:
Each Strand contains self-assessment activities and each Part has an associated formal assessment with guidance to supervisors, who will assess this, in the form of suggested answers. However, the course is intended to be generic to the Social Sciences and supervisors are encouraged to suggest discipline or project bases responses to particular assessments.
Last updated: 9 December 2009