This version of the course guide is provisional until the period for editing the new course guides ends.

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Analysis Methods

Code: 102146 ECTS Credits: 6
2024/2025
Degree Type Year
2500262 Sociology OB 2

Contact

Name:
Marc Ajenjo Cosp
Email:
marc.ajenjo@uab.cat

Teachers

Marc Ajenjo Cosp

Teaching groups languages

You can view this information at the end of this document.


Prerequisites

It is recommended to have passed the subjects of Methodology and Design of Social Research, Quantitative Methods and Qualitative Methods.


Objectives and Contextualisation

Within the path of social research methods and techniques, this subject is considered as a continuation of those of "Methodology and Design of Investigation" of first course, and of "Quantitative Methods of Social Research" and "Qualitative Methods of Social Research" of the first semester of the second year of degree. The main interest of the subject is to provide students with the theoretical foundations and the technical instruments to carry out the applied aspect of what must be in their professional practices. The main objective is to provide students with the information and the development of skills for the application of qualitative and quantitative techniques in the phase of empirical testing of the research, in particular, of analysis of the data.

On one hand, the course will focus especially on the qualitative methods and techniques of observation and analysis of qualitative data (analysis of content, and thematic analysis).

On the other hand, from the quantitative perspective, the subject focuses on the statistical analysis techniques of the relationships and association between two variables.


Competences

  • Applying the main quantitative and qualitative methods and techniques of social research to a specific topic.
  • Describing social phenomena in a theoretically relevant way, bearing in mind the complexity of the involved factors, its causes and its effects.
  • Designing a social research project by defining a comprehensive theoretical framework with clearly defined concepts, formulating consistent and significant hypothesis, choosing suitable investigation techniques for the adopted concepts, and analysing the empirical results obtained with those techniques.
  • 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.
  • 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. Analysing a sample of interviews.
  2. Analysing the results of an observation.
  3. Defining concepts of analysis.
  4. Developing critical thinking and reasoning and communicating them effectively both in your own and other languages.
  5. Developing self-learning strategies.
  6. Explaining the methodological basis of these quantitative and qualitative methods and techniques.
  7. Formulating a hypothesis with these concepts.
  8. Identifying the main quantitative and qualitative methods and techniques.
  9. Indicating their dimensions, their possible quantitative indicators and the significant qualitative evidence in order to empirically observe them.
  10. Measuring a social phenomenon with these instruments on the basis of a theoretical framework of analysis.
  11. Mentioning the main concepts of sociology.
  12. Obtaining conclusions from the information obtained with this tool.
  13. Preparing a script for an interview or a discussion group.
  14. Preparing an analytical tool that is significant to this hypothesis.
  15. Producing an observation plan.
  16. Relating them with the different approaches of sociology.
  17. Searching for documentary sources starting from concepts.
  18. Students must be capable of assessing the quality of their own work.
  19. 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.
  20. Using the appropriate software in order to analyse an interview or an observation.
  21. Using the appropriate software to the basic multivariate statistical tools.
  22. Using the appropriate software to the univariate statistical tools.
  23. Using the basic multivariate statistical tools.
  24. Using the univariate statistical tools.
  25. Working in teams and networking in different situations.

Content

QUALITATIVE BLOCK

Topic 1. Observation techniques: direct observation

  • Conceptual and terminological clarification
  • Aspects of design, field and realization of direct observation
  • Advantages and limitations of observation

Topic 2. Content analysis and qualitative thematic analysis

  • The epistemological framework
  • The elements of analysis and the research strategies
  • The methods and the techniques of analysis of contents
  • Support tools for qualitative analysis (RQDA or QUALCODER)

Topic 3. Axiological aspects in qualitative research

  • Values and construction of the object
  • Political effects of research

Topic 4. The quality of qualitative research

  • Terminology Clarification: What do we mean when we talk about quality?
  • Quality criteria inspired by quantitative techniques
  • Alternative quality criteria

QUANTITATIVE BLOCK

Topic 0. Techniques for statistical data analysis

  • The analysis of data. Characteristics and main procedures
  • Descriptive analysis and hypothesis contrast
  • Preparation of data for the analysis

Topic 1. Data search and manipulation from a spreadsheet

  • Search for data in statistical institutes (idescat, ine, eurostat)
  • The basic Excel functions for data manipulation and processing

Topic 2. The analysis of contingency tables

  • Presentation and nomenclature
  • Contingency tables: descriptive analysis
  • Independence and association between two qualitative variables
  • The contrast of significance: Khi-square
  • Measures of global and local association

Topic 3. The analysis of unifactorial variance

  • Mean-comparison: descriptive analysis
  • Hypothesis test formean differences
  • ANOVA model: Validation of the model, Explanatory power of the model, and Multiple comparaisons

Topic 4. Simple regression analysis

  • Concept, measurement and graphic representation of the correlation
  • Simple linear regression: descriptive analysis
  • Regression analysis: Model Specification, Significance of the parameters of the model, Model Verification

Activities and Methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Classroom lectures 37 1.48 2, 1, 3, 13, 14, 15, 11, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 16, 20
Classroom practices 15 0.6 2, 1, 5, 13, 14, 15, 6, 9, 12, 20
Type: Supervised      
Scheduled group tutorials 15 0.6 2, 1, 18, 4, 13, 14, 15, 11, 6, 19, 12, 16, 20
Type: Autonomous      
Individual preparation of written tests 22 0.88 2, 1, 14, 6, 8, 12, 16, 20
Individual work writing 11 0.44 2, 1, 18, 3, 4, 14, 7, 12, 16
Teamwork 23 0.92 2, 1, 18, 17, 3, 5, 4, 13, 14, 15, 6, 7, 19, 9, 12, 16, 25, 20
Text readings 23 0.92 11, 6, 8, 9, 16

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

Since the subject is mainly oriented to the learning of the basic techniques of quantitative and qualitative analysis, the teaching methodology and the formative activities of the subject place it at the center of the teaching-learning process. Thus, the teaching methodology will combine: expositive sessions (to guide and clarify doubts about compulsory readings), face-to-face practices (in seminars and/or in computer rooms). This teaching format allows to apply the concepts acquired and techniques explained, and will be combined throughout the course with tutorials 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.


Assessment

Continous Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Qualitative block: Attendance during the course to the practices programmed in the classroom. 5% 0 0 2, 1, 3, 14, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 20
Qualitative block: Research project teamwork. 25% 0 0 2, 1, 18, 17, 3, 5, 4, 13, 14, 15, 11, 6, 7, 19, 8, 9, 12, 16, 25, 20
Qualitative block: Written test 20% 2 0.08 2, 1, 3, 5, 13, 14, 15, 11, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 16, 20
Quantitative block: Course attendance control, and realization of different follow-up activities of the subject. 5% 0 0 5, 6, 19, 8, 20
Quantitative block: Research project teamwork. 20% 0 0 2, 1, 18, 17, 3, 5, 4, 13, 14, 15, 11, 6, 7, 19, 8, 9, 12, 16, 20
Quantitative block: written test. 25% 2 0.08 2, 1, 3, 5, 4, 14, 15, 11, 6, 7, 19, 8, 9, 10, 12, 16, 21, 22, 20, 23, 24

1. Grading model

Single assessment system is not provided for this subject. This subject implies an active participation of the student and contemplates the regular attendance in class as a form of integration between the different learning activities.


2. Conditions to be evaluated, requirements to pass the subject

To pass the subject, a final minimum mark of 5 is required, calculated as a weighted average of the 6 assessment activities. See the distribution of the weight of each activity in the lower box.

For the calculation of this weighted average, the following criteria will be applied, based on the follow-up of the course:
- Students who do not attend regularly in class (attendance less than 70%): the average will be calculated only if the qualification of each and every one of the parties is at least 5.
- Students who attend regularly in class (minimum attendance of 70%): the average will be calculated if the qualification of each and every one of the parties is at least 4.

In the evaluation report, people who have not carried out any evaluation activity or those who have only presented the first delivery of the research work (either the qualitative part or the quantitative part) will be classified as "not evaluable".


3. Second-chance activities

During the second-chance period, it may be submitted once again for evaluation within the same call for candidates who do not exceed (<5) any of the individual or group trials. Practices are excluded from second-chance.

In case of second-chance, the maximum grade of the re-evaluated part will not exceed in any case 8 points.

4. Evaluations from previous courses

People with some block passed in previous calls of this course must contact at the beginning of the course with the responsible teaching staff. In some cases, however, it is possible to validate specific parts of some of the two blocks.

5. Policy in the face of plagiarism in academic work or written evidence

We remind you that, at the time of signing up your enrolment, 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. "

Exams: In the event that students who copied non-permitted content are detected, all the people involved will be automatically suspended without the possibility of access to the second-chance.

In case of plagiarism in the writing of works, each case will be valued and, in the extreme case, the option of direct suspense without option for recovery will be considered. In the writing of works, both human and technological help will be considered plagiarism.


Bibliography

1. MANDATORY READINGS

At the Virtual Campus webspace and face-to-face sessions we will inform you which readings are mandatory (content evaluable in written tests) and which are complementary. In general, the base material for the subject is sufficiently addressed in the corresponding chapters of the following references:

  • LÓPEZ-ROLDÁN, P.; FACHELLI, S. (2015). Metodología de la Investigación Social Cuantitativa. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. 1a edició. <http://pagines.uab.cat/plopez/content/manual-misc>
  • MIGUEL, F.J.; AJENJO, M.; GRIERA, O. (2022). MUJADES: Manual d'us de jamovi per anàlisi de dades en estudis socials (v1.5). Dipòsit Digital de Documents. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. <https://ddd.uab.cat/record/238222>
  • VERD, J.M.; LOZARES, C. (2016). Introducción a la investigación cualitativa: fases,métodos y técnicas. Síntesis.

2. RECOMMENDED READINGS

QUALITATIVE BLOCK

  • AGUIRRE BAZTÁN A. (ed.) (1995). Etnografía. Metodología en la investigación sociocultural. Editorial Boixareu Universitaria.
  • ALTHEIDE, D.L.; JOHNSON, J.M. (1994). "Criteria for Assessing Interpretative Validity in Qualitative Research", a N. K. Denzin i Y. S. Lincoln (Ed.), Handbook of Qualitative Research. Sage.
  • BARDIN, Laurence (1986). El análisis de contenido. Akal.
  • BAUER, M.W. (2000). "Classical Content Analysis: a Review", a Martin W. Bauer y George Gaskell (Ed.), Qualitative Researching with Text, Image and Sound. Sage.
  • BERELSON, B. (1971). Content Analysis in Communication Research. Hafner Publishing Company.
  • BOYATZIS, R.E. (1998). Transforming qualitative information: thematic analysis and code development. Sage.
  • COFFEY, A.; ATKINSON, P. (2005). Encontrar el sentido a los datos cualitativos. Universitat d'Alacant.
  • COLÁS, M.P. (1998) "El análisis cualitativo de datos", a Leonor Buendía, María Pilar Colás, Fuensanta Hernández (Ed.), Métodos de investigación en psicopedagogía. McGraw-Hill.
  • GARCIA JORBA, J.M. (2000). Diarios de campo. CIS.
  • GASKELL, G.; BAUER, M.W. (2000). "Towards Public Accountability: beyond Sampling, Reliability and Validity", a Martin W. Bauer y George Gaskell (Ed.), Qualitative Researching with Text, Image and Sound. Sage.
  • GHIGLIONE, R.; BLANCHET, A. (1991). Analyse de contenu et contenus d'analyses. Dunod.
  • GUASCH, Oscar (1997). Observación participante. CIS.
  • HUBER, G.L. (2003). "Introducción al análisis de datos cualitativos", a Antonio Medina Rivilla i Santiago Castillo Arredondo (Coord.), Metodología para la realización de Proyectos de Investigacion y Tesis Doctorales. Universitas.
  • IBÁÑEZ, J. (1985). "Análisis sociológico de textos y discursos". Revista internacional de sociología, 43 (1): 119-160.
  • IZQUIERDO, Javier (2006). Las meninas en el objetivo. Lengua de Trapo.
  • NAVARRO, P.; DIAZ, C. (1994). "Análisis de contenido", a Juan Manuel Delgado y Juan Gutiérrez (Ed.), Métodos y técnicas cualitativas de investigación en ciencias sociales. Síntesis.
  • OLIVIER de SARDAN, J.P. (2018). El rigor de lo cualitativo: las obligaciones empíricas dela interpretación socioantropológica. Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas.
  • RODRÍGUEZ GÓMEZ, G.; GIL FLORES, J.; GARCÍA JIMÉNEZ, E. (1996). Metodología de la investigación cualitativa. Aljibe.
  • SANMARTÍN, R. (2000). "La observación participante", a M. García Ferrando, J. Ibáñez y F. Alvira (Ed.), El análisis de la realidad social. Métodos y técnicas de investigación. Alianza. (3a edició).
  • WEBER, R.P. (1985). Basic Content Analysis. Sage.

+ Digital resources (dossiers for practice, documents, links, ...) at the Virtual Campus webspace.

QUANTITATIVE BLOCK

  • AGUILERA DEL PINO, A.M. (2001). Tablas de contingencia bidimensionales. La Muralla.
  • CEA D’ANCONA, M. Ángeles (1996). Metodología cuantitativa. Estrategias y técnicas de investigación social. Síntesis.
  • GARCIA FERRANDO, Manuel (1994) Socioestadística. Introducción a la estadística en sociología. 2a edició rev. i amp. Alianza. Alianza Universidad Textos, 96.
  • LOPEZ ROLDAN, P.; LOZARES COLINA, C. (1999). Anàlisi bivariable de dades estadístiques. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Col·lecció Materials, 79.
  • SÁNCHEZ CARRIÓN, J.J. (1999) Manual de análisis estadístico de los datos. Alianza. Manuales 055.

+ Digital resources (dossiers for practice, documents, links, ...) at the Virtual Campus webspace.


Software

Spreadsheet: MicroSoft-EXCEL

Quantitative data management and analysis: jamovi

[Get the open and free software at <https://www.libreoffice.org/download/download/> and <https://www.jamovi.org/download.html>]


Language list

Name Group Language Semester Turn
(SEM) Seminars 1 Catalan second semester morning-mixed
(SEM) Seminars 10 Catalan second semester morning-mixed
(SEM) Seminars 51 Catalan second semester afternoon
(SEM) Seminars 510 Catalan second semester morning-mixed
(TE) Theory 1 Catalan second semester morning-mixed
(TE) Theory 51 Catalan second semester afternoon