INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH METHODS ANSWERING QUESTIONS WITH EVIDENCE - 2019/0

Module Overview

This module develops students’ understanding of the research process as practised in the social sciences, with particular emphasis on the principal options for empirical enquiry available to the social researcher.

Module provider

School of Literature and Languages

Module Leader

BOND Oliver (Lit & Langs)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 7

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 1

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

None

Module content

 

The module sessions will cover a variety of issues relevant to the principles and practicalities of social research, including formulating research questions and hypotheses, sampling techniques, generating quantitative and qualitative data, descriptive and inferential statistics, questionnaires and surveys; focus groups and interviews, qualitative thematic analysis; ethnography and observation

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

N/A

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy consists of two 1,500 words essays. The first assignment will cover one or more of the methods introduced in the first part of the module and the second assignment will cover one or two of the methods taught in the latter part of module. Extensive formative ‘feed forward’ will be provided on the first assignment to prepare students for the second assessment component, on class discussions and on any unassessed class tasks undertaken. The second assignment is due after the students’ have received feedback on their first assignment.

Module aims

• The intention of this course is to provide an accessible introduction, for the non-specialist, to some of the principal tools of social research and to some specialist research approaches relevant to the MA programmes. Through the provision of hands-on experience in workshop exercises, the aim is to provide the student with the tools to evaluate evidence that has been generated through various methods and techniques and to select appropriately from among these in planning their own research.

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

 

The learning and teaching strategy is designed to:

 

Lectures are used to introduce and discuss research methodologies followed by exercises for the students to apply the methods introduced in the lecture.

 

Most individual sessions will take the form of workshops. These will begin with a presentation by the lecturer of the research issue that forms the focus of the session, followed by exercises to provide hands-on experience of the fundamentals of the matter under consideration and critical reflections upon this experience.

 

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: CMCM017

Programmes this module appears in

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2019/0 academic year.