PHILOSOPHY OF SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH - 2020/1

Module Overview

This module provides a grounding in the fundamentals of conducting rigorous and publishable social science research. The module starts with a discussion of the role of social science in research, the assumptions that underpin social science research, the resulting methodological traditions, the formulation of a value-added research problem, the role of theory in explaining scientific phenomenon, informed choices in research design, and ethical issues in the research process.    

Module provider

Surrey Business School

Module Leader

ARYEE Samuel (SBS)

Number of Credits: 0

ECTS Credits: 0

Framework: FHEQ Level 8

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

Module Availability

Semester 1

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

N/A

Module content

Indicative content includes:

• Nature and philosophy of scientific research


• Formulating a research problem


• Theoretic explanation


• Theory testing-converting research ideas into research design


• Designing variance studies


• Designing process studies


• Generalization and replication


• Ethics in research and publication

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

N/A

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate their mastery of the module's outcomes.

Formative assessment
Students will be required to actively participate in class discussions and prepare for these discussions by reading assigned journal articles.

Thus, the summative assessment for this unit consists of:

• Individual presentation
  This assignment constitutes 20% weighting towards the full mark. Students will make a presentation based on an assigned journal article. The presentation will evaluate philosophical assumptions that underpin the articles research methodology and propose an alternative methodology.


• Individual essay
  Students will submit a written essay (maximum 5,000 words) based on a contemporary philosophical issue that underpin methodology in social science research. The essay constitutes 80% weighting towards the full mark.  

Module aims

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The learning and teaching strategy is designed to:
The module adapts to a seminar format and therefore highly interactive. Each session will start with an overview of the topic of interest which will be followed by a discussion of the core readings. Students are therefore expected to read assigned journal articles and come to each session armed with questions, concerns, and alternative perspectives.    

The learning and teaching methods include:
Lectures
Class discussions
Verbal student presentations
Critiques of journal articles

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: MAND026

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 2020/1 academic year.