SOCIAL RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
cod. 00852

Academic year 2017/18
2° year of course - Second semester
Professor
Academic discipline
Sociologia generale (SPS/07)
Field
A scelta dello studente
Type of training activity
Student's choice
30 hours
of face-to-face activities
6 credits
hub: PARMA
course unit
in ITALIAN

Learning objectives

The course aims to increase awareness of the role of research design in the social work; introduce a range of design options; and foster an appreciation of the strengths and weaknesses of the different options for particular research objectives related to the social work field (see descriptor 1).
The course also aims to provide students with the fundamental methodological tools to coordinate, build and evaluate social projects(see descriptor 2). In particular, the course aims to build a methodological culture for social work in order to increase the construction of participatory social planning, change-oriented.
The course will addressed the development of independent judgment (descriptor 3), and aims to provide direct immersion in the social reality and the empirical study of primary forms of social relations.

Prerequisites

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Course unit content

The course will address methods of data collection and analysis of qualitative data and it will discuss elements of qualitative research design including how to conduct good quality research and how to collect a corpus of data, writing up qualitative research, with particular reference to the social work and social policy issues. Will be covered Data collection methods including participant observation, interviewing. Particular attention will be paid to the partecipatory research projects.
In the first part will be presented with a variety of paradigms and methods of research.
The second part will address the theme of the research design, and the theoretical and methodological approaches to social planning.
The third part will address the main stages of the design methodology of social and will be dedicated to the research workshop. It will be also be presented data analysis, including thematic analysis, content analysis, discourse analysis.

Full programme

FIRST PART (20 hours):
the paradigms of social research and the main research techniques.:
- Introduction to Research Methodology
- Research and Social Work
- The paradigms of social research
- Quality and quantity
- The methodological cycle of social research: from theory to the analysis of data
- The qualitative Methods

PART TWO (15 hours): The second part will address the theme of the research design related to the social planning:

- The process of social planning
- Social Research Design
- Models of social planning
- The methodological cycle (social planning)
- The design of the research-project
- Drafting a project

PART THREE (15 hours): The third part, conducted through a participatory approach, will be dedicated to the methodological workshops.

- Methodological workshops
- The analysis of qualitative data

Bibliography

Training materials:
1) Teaching material distributed to students by the teacher (50 p.)
2) Chapters in Methodology of social research books:
a) Liliana Leone,Miretta Prezza, Costruire e Valutare Progetti nel Sociale, Franco Angeli, Milano, 2003, Cap. 1, 2, 3, 4.
b) Lyn Richards, Janice M. Morse, Fare Ricerca qualitativa, Franco Angeli, Milano, 2007. Cap 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
c) Piergiorgio Corbetta, La Ricerca Sociale: metodologie e tecniche, Il Mulino, Bologna, 2003. Volume I, I Paradigmi di riferimento; Vol. II, Le tecniche qualitative.

Teaching methods

The course is divided into:

1) Theoretical lectures conducted by the teacher.
2) Laboratories of methodology, where students will expernce the main techniques of research and their applications.

Assessment methods and criteria

• Assesment:

1. oral test: The questions are designed to encourage the critically process and to assess the student’s skills of understanding the research design (descriptor 1).

2. A research design project drawn up on the basis of specific topics proposed by the teacher during the lessons or on personal work experience / social work internship. It must include specific logical, methodological issues and critical analysis. The Research Design Project aim to assess the critical skills, the research management, and the social work skills (descriptor 2), but also their independent judgment (descriptor 3) and their communication skills (descriptor 4).

The final evaluation of the student emerges from the average of the feedback obtained by the student in the single different tests, mandatory both.
In particular:
- The oral exam (50%, evaluated on a scale from 1 to 30). The student must answer all open questions. The vote varies depending on the critical thinking and deepening of the answers;
- Research design project (50%, evaluated on a scale from 1 to 30), 1500 words minimum;
I will explain these assessment criteria at the beginning of the course.

Other information

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