Social Analysis Tools I: Methodology and Design
Code: 106978 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Sociocultural Gender Studies | FB | 1 |
Contact
- Name:
- Estel Malgosa Gasol
- Email:
- estel.malgosa@uab.cat
Teachers
- Alexandra Karen Andrea Marie France Desy
Teaching groups languages
You can view this information at the end of this document.
Prerequisites
There are no prerequisites for participating in this course.
Objectives and Contextualisation
The general objective of the course is to introduce students to the field of social research. The aim is to clarify the concepts, approaches and ethical principles that make it possible to design social scientific research.
Learning Outcomes
- CM10 (Competence) Put teamwork skills into practice: a commitment to the team, regular collaboration, encourage problem solving, apply the ethics of care and provision.
- CM14 (Competence) Propose basic lines of co-educational research, programmes and projects with a gender perspective, taking the target group and context into account.
- CM16 (Competence) Assess and correct your own work based on the evaluation of previous studies and having detected and identified specific needs for social intervention.
- KM21 (Knowledge) Analyse the theoretical framework in question and the presence or absence of the gender perspective in existing research, projects or experiences of psychosocial, educational and community intervention.
- SM15 (Skill) Design proposals, spaces and resources for feminist socio-educational action that involve citizen participation.
- SM16 (Skill) Select the appropriate methodology, tools and data collection techniques in order to diagnose and interpret gender-focused intervention needs in different contexts and situations.
Content
1. Introduction of scientific methodology in social research: evolution, definitions, and dichotomies.
2. Ontologies and epistemologies, inductive, deductive and mixed methods.
3. Research design: the research question, literature review, methodology, and research quality criteria.
4. Research ethics
Activities and Methodology
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| compulsory readings | 0 | 0 | |
| Practical sessions | 0 | 0 | |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Project design | 0 | 0 |
A detailed schedule of sessions will be published on the virtual campus (Moodle) before the start of the course.
Three types of training activities will be conducted:
Theoretical sessions (directed). In the theory classes, the lecturers will give an introduction, with examples and classroom discussions. In these classes, readings will be recommended according to the topics to be covered. The materials used in the classes will be available on the Virtual Campus.
Practical sessions (supervised). In the classroom, the assignments programmed in the course will be developed individually or in groups.
Assessment sessions (supervised): Individual theoretical and practical tests will be held to solve cases and problems.
All training activities are scheduled in the calendar proposed at the beginning of the course through Moodle and the evaluation exercises have a deadline that must be strictly complied with.
The readings are also part of the course contents to be evaluated through the exam.
The different exercises will be returned corrected with comments and guidance for reformulation, if deemed necessary, and to consider for the next exercise.
Students must bear in mind that Moodle is the space through which fundamental information about the course is communicated. Therefore, it is their responsibility to pay attention to the news and information that is uploaded.
Communication will take place via Moodle. In cases of emergency, students are asked to communicate via email.
Tutorials. Tutorials can be individual or in small groups. They are intended to clarify specific doubts about the course or the assignments.
Note: 15 minutes of a class within the timetable established by the centre or by the degree programme will be reserved for students to fill in the evaluation surveys on the performance of the teaching staff and the evaluation of the course.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exam | 30% | 20 | 0.8 | CM16, KM21 |
| Individual assigment to present a research design | 30% | 50 | 2 | CM14, SM15, SM16 |
| Reading exercises | 20% | 40 | 1.6 | CM10, CM16, KM21 |
| Submit an application to a research ethics committee | 20% | 40 | 1.6 | SM15, SM16 |
Continuous assessment
-
Reading practices in class (20%):
-
10% test for each compulsory reading (4 in total)
-
10% submission of an analysis of 3 out of the 4 readings (2 pages)
-
-
Individual research design project (30%)
-
Application for approval from an ethics committee, based on the committee’s established criteria (20%)
-
Final exam (30%)
This course/module does not include the option of single (final-only) assessment.
Evaluation rules
- To pass the course, students must obtain a minimum final average mark of 5.0, calculated from the grades received for each of the assessment activities.
- Once the course has been passed, it may not be re-assessed.
- Students who do not submit one or more of the continuous assessment activities will receive a grade of “not assessable”.
- Students who are unable to attend scheduled assessment activities due to attendance at university representative bodies or other reasons recognised in the relevant regulations are entitled to be offered an alternative date and time for completing the activity.
- Students who participate in assessment activities and request it will receive official documentation certifying their participation.
- If a student engages in any form of irregular conduct that could significantly alter the grade of a specific assessment activity, the activity will be graded with a 0, regardless of any disciplinary proceedings that may follow.
- If multiple irregularities are confirmed in assessment activities for the same course, the final grade for the course will be 0.
- Any disciplinary proceedings resulting from cheating or plagiarism—whether in coursework or exams—will result in a grade of 0 (zero) for the activity, the loss of the right to reassessment, and the failure of the entire course.
- It is important to note that “cheating” refers to a piece of work that fully or partially reproduces another student’s work. “Plagiarism” refers to presenting all or part of a text by another author as one’s own, without citing the source, whether on paper or in digital format. See UAB documentation on plagiarism at: http://wuster.uab.es/web_argumenta_obert/unit_20/sot_2_01.html.
- Any activity not submitted within the established deadline will be considered “not submitted”.
- At the time of each assessment activity, students will be informed via Moodle of the procedure and how to request a review of their grade.
About the re-evaluation
- To be eligible for reassessment, students must have been assessed in a set of activities accounting for at least two-thirds of the total grade (CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT).
- Students may reassess the course if their average mark for the assessment activities is below 5 but equal to or above 3.5.
- The reassessment will consist of a single exam, to be held on the date, time, and location set by the Faculty.
- The grade obtained in the reassessment will become the final grade for the course.
Bibliography
Required readings
Bibliografia obligatòria
Güler, Ezgi (2020). A Divided Sisterhood: Support Networks of Trans Sex Workers in Urban Turkey. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 689(1), 149-167. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002716220919745
Haraway, Donna (1988). Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective. Feminist Studies, 14(3), 575-599. https://doi.org/10.2307/3178066
Hilda, Ana; Gaggiotti, Hugo (2019). Mujeres en línea. Liderazgo femenino en una planta de ensamblaje de Ciudad Juárez. Theomai, 40, 96-112. https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=7396609&orden=0&info=link
Huang, Junming; Gates, Alexander, J.; Sinatra, Roberta; Barabási, Albert-László (2020). Historical comparison of gender inequality in scientific careers across countries and disciplines. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 117(9), 4609-4616. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1914221117
General readings
Alvesson, Mats; & Sandberg, Jörgen (2011). Generating research questions through problematization. Academy of Management Review, 36(2), 247-271. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2009.0188
Bernard, Russell H. (2011). Research methods in anthropology: Qualitative and quantitative approaches. Plymouth, UK: Altamira Press.
Blanch, Silvia; Pérez, Eulàlia; & Silvente, Jennifer (2016). Com citar i referenciar en els textos acadèmics. Compilació basada en la normativa APA. Bellaterra: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Disponible a https://ddd.uab.cat/pub/recdoc/2016/145881/citrefapa_a2016.pdf
Düvell, Franck; Triandafyllidou, Anna; & Vollmer, Bastian (2010). Ethical Issues in Irregular Migration Research in Europe. Population, Space and Place, 16(3), 227-239. https://doi.org/10.1002/psp.590
Estruch, Joan (1992). El conflicte quantitatiu/qualitatiu: un fals problema. A: Societat Catalana de Sociologia (Ed.). Tècniques qualitatives en ciències socials (pp. 7-16). Barcelona: Societat Catalana de Sociologia.
González Echevarría, Aurora (1995). Etnografía y método científico. A: Aguirre Baztán, Angel (Ed.). Etnografía. Metodología cualitativa en la investigación sociocultural (pp.49-63). Barcelona: Boixareu Marcombo.
Gordon, Elisa J. (2000). When Oral Consent Will Do. Field Methods, 12(3), 235-238. https://doi.org/10.1177/1525822X0001200304
Jociles, Maria Isabel (1999). Las técnicas de investigación en antropología: Mirada antropológica y proceso etnográfico. Gazeta de Antropología, 15(1). http://dx.doi.org/10.30827/Digibug.7524
Magliozzi, Devon; Saperstein, Aliya; & Westbrook, Laurel (2016). Scaling Up: Representing Gender Diversity in Survey Research. Socius, 2, 2378023116664352. https://doi.org/10.1177/2378023116664352
Maxwell, Joseph A. (2004). Using Qualitative Methods for Causal Explanation. Field Methods, 16(3), 243-264. https://doi.org/10.1177/1525822X04266831
Monk, Ellis P. (2022). Inequality without Groups: Contemporary Theories of Categories, Intersectional Typicality, and the Disaggregation of Difference. Sociological Theory, 40(1), 3-27. https://doi.org/10.1177/07352751221076863
Quivy, Raymond; & Van Campenhoudt, Luc (1997). Manual de recerca en ciències socials. Barcelona: Herder.
Small, Mario L. (2011). How to Conduct a Mixed Methods Study: Recent Trends in a Rapidly Growing Literature. Annual Review of Sociology, 37(1), 57-86. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.012809.102657
Sweet, Paige L. (2019). The Sociology of Gaslighting. American Sociological Review, 84(5), 851–875. https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122419874843
Tracy, Sarah J. (2010). Qualitative quality: Eight a "big-tent" criteria for excellent qualitative research. Qualitative Inquiry, 16(10), 837–851. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800410383121
White, Patrick (2008). Developing Research Questions. Palgrave MacMillan.
Software
Students of the UAB can download Microsoft Office 365 for free on their computers and laptops, if they wish so: https://si-respostes.uab.cat/inici/correu/msop-microsoft-office/msop-com-em-puc-instal-lar-l-office
Furthermore, they can install the ARE button to have access to the electronic resources https://www.uab.cat/web/que-ofrecemos/acceso-a-los-recursos-electronicos-desde-fuera-de-la-uab-1345747332035.html. This short video explains how to do that: https://vimeo.com/516408829/9f4a1ed83d)
Use of AI
In this course, the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies is permitted as an integral part of the development of coursework, provided that the final outcome reflects a significant contribution from the student in terms of personal analysis and reflection. Students must clearly identify which parts have been generated using such technologies, specify the tools employed, and include a critical reflection on how these have influenced the process and the final outcome of the task. Lack of transparency in the use of AI will be considered a breach of academic integrity and may result in a penalty to the grade for the activity, or more serious sanctions in severe cases.
Groups and Languages
Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2025. You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject.
| Name | Group | Language | Semester | Turn |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (PAUL) Classroom practices | 1 | Catalan/Spanish | first semester | morning-mixed |
| (TE) Theory | 1 | Catalan/Spanish | first semester | morning-mixed |