Overview

The course is organised around the following topics:

1. Introduction: brief history of social science research
2. Experience, evidence, research and knowledge
3. Research questions and hypotheses
4. Populations, measurement and survey sampling
5. Questionnaire design; design of questions
6. Principles of research design
7. Uses of official data
8. Structured interviews and standardization, Questionnaire testing
9. Introduction to quantitative data analysis, frequencies, means, distributions
10. Simple statistical models: testing research questions. The t test and the significance of significance.
11. Presenting your findings and report writing

Assessment Strategy

-threshold -50-59% A satisfactory grasp of how to formulate research problems and questions, free of major errors in understanding the relationship between epistemology, theory generation and empirical research methods. -good -60-69% A good understanding of the connection between research problems and questions based on an accurate appreciation of the significance of alternative epistemological positions for research design and strategy. A sound knowledge of methods of simple quantitative analysis to explore data on a social issue. -excellent -70%+ A developed and critical understanding of the philosophy of social research which supports a detailed appreciation of the relationship between epistemology, theory generation and empirical research methods.

Learning Outcomes

• Demonstrate the capacity to manage the research process, and conducting and presenting research in a way that is consistent with professional practice and research ethics.

• Display critical understanding of the significance of epistemological positions that provide the context for theory construction, research design, and the selection of appropriate analytical techniques in quantitative research

• Manifest the ability to interrogate the essential principles of research design and strategy, based on a clear grasp of how to formulate researchable problems and critical discernment of alternative approaches to social research

• Show competence in recognising, evaluating and applying a wide range of quantitative data sources and tools of analysis