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2022/2023

Methodology and Design of Social Research

Code: 101138 ECTS Credits: 6
Degree Type Year Semester
2500262 Sociology FB 1 2

Contact

Name:
Francesc Josep Miguel Quesada
Email:
miguel.quesada@uab.cat

Use of Languages

Principal working language:
catalan (cat)
Some groups entirely in English:
No
Some groups entirely in Catalan:
Yes
Some groups entirely in Spanish:
No

Other comments on languages

The language of the course can be modified in case the course is attended by international students.The language of the course can be modified (from Catalan to Spanish) in case the course is attended by international students.The

Teachers

Joel Marti Olive
Sara Moreno Colom

Prerequisites

No pre-requirements.

Objectives and Contextualisation

It is a subject located in the second semester of the first year and focuses on the initiation of students in the terminology and practices of academic and scientific research. Likewise, the course aims to reflect on what it means to research in the social sciences. These routines and approaches that will be essential to be able to take in the second year the subjects of Quantitative Methods of Social Research and Qualitative Methods of Social Research.

The main interests of the subject are oriented towards the clarification of the basic requirements of the scientific methodology, the understanding of the concepts and basic instruments of the applied research to the analysis of the social reality and the routines and basic instrumental abilities that allow To develop the research activity correctly within the academic world. The central objective of the subject will be oriented, then, to make explicit what are the central elements that allow to do research and to transmit to the students the knowledge that they do that is able to formulate a subject to investigate and to prepare the corresponding research design. In this sense, it is essential to know the main sources of information and scientific documentation, acquire the basic habits of research in the social sciences, and learn a rigorous work style, able to combine the use of collaborative work with personal creativity.

Competences

  • Analysing the problems arising from the implementation of public policies and conflict situations by recognising the complexity of the social phenomena and political decisions affecting democracy, human rights, social justice and sustainable development.
  • Demonstrating a comprehension of the analysis of social phenomena presented in English, as well as observing their strengths and weaknesses.
  • Demonstrating a comprehension of the approaches of the sociological theory in its different aspects, interpretations and historical context.
  • Describing social phenomena in a theoretically relevant way, bearing in mind the complexity of the involved factors, its causes and its effects.
  • Developing critical thinking and reasoning and communicating them effectively both in your own and other languages.
  • Developing self-learning strategies.
  • Enumerating the methodology and investigation techniques that support the main hypothesis about social relationships, the positions and practices of individuals in a social structure and the social changes.
  • Respecting the diversity and plurality of ideas, people and situations.
  • Searching for documentary sources starting from concepts.
  • Students must be capable of assessing the quality of their own work.
  • Students must be capable of managing their own time, planning their own study, managing the relationship with their tutor or adviser, as well as setting and meeting deadlines for a work project.
  • Working in teams and networking in different situations.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Clearly distinguishing between facts and value judgements.
  2. Contextualizing them in their time.
  3. Defining the main sociological concepts.
  4. Demonstrating a comprehension of the analysis of social phenomena presented in English, as well as observing their strengths and weaknesses.
  5. Developing critical thinking and reasoning and communicating them effectively both in your own and other languages.
  6. Developing self-learning strategies.
  7. Differentiating their theoretical and methodological assumptions.
  8. Distinguishing between a sociological hypothesis and a value judgement on democracy, human rights, social justice or sustainable development.
  9. Distinguishing the main qualitative methods and techniques.
  10. Expressing their methodological basis.
  11. Identifying their validity or obsolescence in other times.
  12. Identifying these approaches: functionalism, interactionism, action sociologies, etcetera).
  13. Respecting the diversity and plurality of ideas, people and situations.
  14. Searching for documentary sources starting from concepts.
  15. Students must be capable of assessing the quality of their own work.
  16. Students must be capable of managing their own time, planning their own study, managing the relationship with their tutor or adviser, as well as setting and meeting deadlines for a work project.
  17. Working in teams and networking in different situations.

Content

Block I. Basic concepts of social research
1. Ordinary knowledge and scientific knowledge.
2. The object of study in sociological research.
3. The protagonists of the research. The position of the research subject.
4. The basic procedure of research. Overview of the stages.

Block II. The research process (project)
5. The selection and adequacy of the research issue. The problem and the starting question. (The RESEARCH QUESTION, as RUPTURE with COMMON KNOWLEDGE)
6. The exploration stage. Collection and systematization of information. General, specialized and scientific information. Problematics about selection and suitability of information sources. (LOOKING for ANSWERS)
7. Building a the "state-of-the-art". Definition of the research problem. The recognition of the disciplinary tradition. (WHO has ANSWERED)
8. The analitic model structuring. Definition of key concepts. Structuring concepts. Delimitation of research hypotheses. (your own ANSWER to the RESEARCH QUESTION)
9. Overview of research design. Quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods. (HOW to get empirical DATA)

Block III. Perspectives of social research
10. Historical perspective of the variety of research approaches in social sciences. The traditions of research in sociology.
11. Distinction between theories, methods and techniques, and adequacy among them.

Methodology

The teaching and assessment methodology proposed in the guide may undergo some modification depending on the restrictions on attendance imposed by the health authorities.

In order for students to learn and think about what it means to investigate in Sociology, the teaching methodology and the formative activities of the subject are located at the very center of the learning process, based on the combination of: (1) expositive sessions, (2) classroom and out-class practices that allow to apply the acquired concepts, (3) tutorial sessions of follow-up and autonomous work. Following are the different activities, with their specific weight within the distribution of the total time that the student has to dedicate to the subject.

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.

Activities

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Exam preparation 18 0.72 2, 3, 4, 6, 5, 1, 9, 8, 7, 10, 12, 11
Lecture sessions 30 1.2 15, 2, 3, 4, 5, 1, 9, 8, 7, 10, 12, 11, 13
Practical sessions 22 0.88 15, 4, 6, 5, 9, 8, 10, 16, 13, 17
Type: Supervised      
Scheduled group tutorials 6 0.24 15, 14, 4, 6, 5
Type: Autonomous      
Group project 40 1.6 15, 14, 6, 5, 16, 13, 17
Text readings 30 1.2 15, 2, 3, 6, 5, 1, 9, 7, 10, 12, 11, 13

Assessment

Building the working groups:
Only working groups of 4 or 5 people will be accepted.
Only working groups with people in the same "enrollment group" (matricula) are accepted. A change of enrollment group can be made, if A) is requested during the first 2 weeks of the course to the Academic Management Service, B) it is approved by the Faculty, and C) it is comunicated by the student to the teaching responsable of the "new" enrollement group.

To pass the course (regular course passed in June, after 3 partial exams):
In order to compute the weighted mean and pass the whole subject, (A) both the group research project (full set of 3 assignements) and each of the 3 individual written partial exams must have a minimum grade of 4, and (B) participation -or justified absence- is also required for a minimum of 80% of the scheduled practical sessions.

To participate in the compensatory activities (regular course NOT passed in June):
Only those who during the course had properly attended the subject -at least in all the scheduled practice sessions- can participate in the compensatory evaluation.
Only the 3 individual written exams and the group research project can be "compensated" in a a second-chance evaluation. The "Participation in practices and attendance" activities are not considered recoverable, by their very nature.
In any case, this second-chance will have a maximum score of 8.

To appear as "not submitted" in the official records:
Only those who have not submitted to 50% of the evaluation activities will have the "non-presented" qualification.

About "unique-test" evaluation:
UAB has recently aproved an alternative evaluation scheme based on a unique final test under certains conditions. It will be implemented for the next academic period 2023-2024, so it's not applied for the present curse. Please, read <https://www.uab.cat/web/coneix-la-uab/itineraris/normatives/normativa-academica-1345668305783.html> for more detail.

 

About plagiarism in academic work or written tests:
We kindly remind you that, at the time of signing up your enrollment, you committed yourself in the following sense: "I DECLARE that the Autonomous University of Barcelona has informed me that (...) Plagiarism is the act of publicizing, publishing or reproducing a work or part of it in the name of an author other than the authentic one, which implies an appropriation of the ideas created by another person without explicit recognition of their origin. This appropriation involves an injury to the intellectual property right of this person that I am not authorized to do in any case whatsoever the circumstance: exams, work, practices ... Therefore, I COMMITTEE to respect the provisions related to rights of intellectual property in relation to the teaching and / or research activity carried out by the UAB in the studies I am studying."
In the event that any kind of plagiarism will be detected, the evaluation of the test, exam, individual or group assignement will be "zero" or NOT PASS, for anyone involved in the incident(even the "source" of plagiarism).

Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Monitoring (Assistance and Participation in scheduled practice sessions at classroom) 10% 0 0 15, 3, 4, 5, 1, 9, 8, 10, 13, 17
Research project (including 3, both group and individual deliveries) 10% + 10% + 34% 2 0.08 15, 14, 4, 6, 5, 1, 9, 8, 10, 16, 13, 17
Written tests that will evaluate the acquisition of concepts and basic instruments related to the applied aspect of analysing social reality 12% + 12% + 12% 2 0.08 2, 3, 5, 1, 9, 8, 7, 10, 12, 11

Bibliography

A list of compulsory readings corresponding to theoretical contents, practical sessionsand group projecto will be published at Campus Virtual webspace.

 

Basic Manual

Quivy, R., & Campenhoudt, L. V. (2017). Manual de investigación en ciencias sociales. Ciudad de México: Limusa : Grupo Noriega Editores.

Quivy, R., & Campenhoudt, L. V. (2007). Manual de recerca en ciències socials. Barcelona: Herder.

[Other editions and languages can be found, but not in english]

Complementary readings

Álvarez-Uría, F., & Varela, J. (2011). Sociología, capitalismo y democracia génesis e institucionalización de la sociología en Occidente. Madrid: Morata.

Ander-Egg, E. (2016). Aprender a investigar nociones básicas para la investigación social. Córdoba, Argentina: Editorial Brujas.

Andréu Abela, J., & Pérez Corbacho, A. M. (2004). Investigación aplicada de clásicos de la sociología: viejos y nuevos problemas de investigación social. Sevilla: Fundación Centro de Estudios Andaluces.

Ayuso Sánchez, L., & Requena Santos, F. (2018). Estrategias de investigación en las ciencias sociales: fundamentos para la elaboración de un Trabajo de Fin de Grado o un Trabajo de Fin de Master. Recuperado dehttps://biblioteca-tirant-com.are.uab.cat/cloudLibrary/ebook/show/9788491696957

Bell, J. (2005). Cómo hacer tu primer trabajo de investigación: guía para investigadores en educación y ciencias sociales. Barcelona: Gedisa.

Boudon, R., Lazarsfeld, P. F., & Chazel, F. (1985). Metodología de las ciencias sociales (3a.). Barcelona: Editorial Laia.

Bourdieu, P., Chamboredon, J.-C., & Passeron, J.-C. (2013). El oficio de sociólogo: presupuestos epistemológicos. Tres Cantos, Madrid: Siglo XXI España.

Cassany, D. (2018). La cuina de l’escriptura: un manual imprescindible per a tots aquells que s’han de posar a escriure. Barcelona: La Butxaca.

Corbetta, P. (2010). Metodología y técnicas de investigación social (rev.). Madrid: McGraw Hill.

Durkheim, É. (2016). Las reglas del método sociológico (9a.). Ciudad de México: Ediciones Coyoacán.

García Ferrando, M., Alvira Martín, F., Alonso Benito, L. E., & Escobar, M. (2016). El Análisis de la realidad social: Métodos y técnicas de investigación (4a.). Madrid: Alianza Editorial.

Latiesa, M. (Ed.). (1991). El pluralismo metodológico en la investigación social: ensayos típicos. Granada: Universidad.

Mardones, J. M. (2010). Filosofía de las ciencias humanas y sociales: materiales para una fundamentación científica. México, D.F.: Ediciones Coyoacán : Distribuciones Fontamara.

Mills, C. W. (2001). La Imaginació sociològica. Barcelona: Herder.

Olivier de Sardan, J.-P. (2018). El rigor de lo cualitativo: las obligaciones empíricas de la interpretación socioantropológica. Madrid: Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas.

Passeron, J. C. (2011). El razonamiento sociológico: el espacio comparativo de las pruebas históricas. Tres Cantos (Madrid): Siglo XXI.

Picó, J. (2014). Los años dorados de la sociología (1945-1975). Recuperado de http://site.ebrary.com/id/11028908

Quivy, R., & Campenhoudt, L. van. (2007). Manual de recerca en ciències socials. Barcelona: Herder.

Quivy,R., & Campenhoudt, L. van. (2017). Manual de investigación en ciencias sociales. Ciudad de México: Limusa : Grupo Noriega Editores.

Ruiz Olabuénaga, J. I., Aristegui, I., & Melgosa, L. (2002). Cómo elaborar un proyecto de investigación social (2a.). Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto.

Sautu, R., Boniolo, P., Dalle, P., & Elbert, R. (2010). Manual de metodología: Construcción del marco teórico, formulación de los objetivos y elección de la metodología. Recuperado de http://bibliotecavirtual.clacso.org.ar/ar/libros/campus/metodo/metodo.html

Verd, J. M., & Lozares, C. (2016). Introducción a la investigación cualitativa: fases, métodos y técnicas. Madrid: Síntesis.

Weber, M. (2012). Ensayos sobre metodología sociológica (2a.). Buenos Aires: Amorrortu.

Ziman, J. M. (2003). ¿Qué es la ciencia? Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press.

Software

Document processor: LibreOffice Writer, or MicroSoft-Word.

Visual support for presentations: LibreOffice Impress, or MicroSoft-PowerPoint.

Reference manager: ZOTERO, o Mendeley (UAB).

[ get the software open and free from <https://ca.libreoffice.org/> and <https://www.zotero.org/download/>]