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2009/10 Taught Postgraduate Module Catalogue

SLSP5121M Fundamental Issues in Sociological Research

30 creditsClass Size: 20

Module manager: Dr Mark Davis
Email: m.e.davis@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) View Timetable

Year running 2009/10

Module replaces

SLSP5101M Fundamental Issues in Social Research

This module is not approved as an Elective

Objectives

On completion of this module, students should be able to:
- appreciate the relevance of social theory for empirical research;
- understand the nature of the relationship between the philosophy and the practice of social research, and the ways that epistemological and ontological questions underpin research, from a range of perspectives;
- understand the nature of the relationship between theory, method, hypothesis, evidence, and conceptualisation from a range of perspectives;
- match inquiries to the appropriate locus of investigation (individual/institution, structure/agency, etc.) and to various subject matters and disciplinary orientations (diversity of conditions and culture);
- recognise and confront key issues concerning the questions of objectivity, generalisability, reliability, and utility of social research;
- identify and understand different value positions informing social research and the social and political context of social research;
- understand the dilemmas involved when people are subjects and authors and audience for the research;
- communicate the relevant issues in written form.

Skills outcomes
Research and reading skills (students are required to research, read and summarise material from a variety of sources: books, articles, internet).

IT skills (students are required to access and download material from the internet).

Writing skills (students are required to produce written material for their assessment).

Referencing skills (students are required to use academic references in their written work).

Presentational skills (students are required to make a seminar presentation).

Syllabus

This module provides students with a thorough grounding in some of these assumptions of inquiry. We shall focus on issues and debates in methodological procedures, while being mindful of the background arguments which contribute to these issues and debates.

In the course of this work the module looks closely at the relationships between theory, values, methods and findings. At the heart of all this we are concerned with the contribution of empirical research to sociological explanation and social policy. In each of these areas we look at some of the fundamental questions which recur in debates about research strategy.

These questions include:
- How or what can we generalise from a case study?
- How do those abstracted philosophies (positivism, realism, social constructionism, etc) guide us - if at all - in developing research strategies and research practice?
- How do, or how should, our values influence our research?
- How do our concerns with meaning/agency/structure survive or get distorted through the research process?

Module Outline:
- Introduction
- What is Social Theory?
- Empiricism, Positivism, Realism
- Being Reflexive in the Research Process
- Feminist Research Methods
- Dialectics and History
- Ideology, Ethics and Power
- Evaluation in Research
- Discourse Analysis
- Researching Space and Identity
- Rules of Sociological Method.

Teaching methods

Delivery type	Number	Length hours	Student hours
Lecture	11	1.00	11.00
Seminar	11	1.00	11.00
Private study hours			278.00
Total Contact hours			22.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)			300.00

Private study

- Reading associated with each seminar: 10 hours (10 hours x 11 seminars = 110 hours)
- Seminar preparation: 28 hours
- Asignment preparation: 140 hours.

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

- Monitoring of participation in seminar discussions and of seminar presentation
- and discussion of essay plan.

Methods of assessment

Coursework

Assessment type	Notes	% of formal assessment
Essay	1 x 6,000 word essay	100.00
Total percentage (Assessment Coursework)		100.00

Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated

Reading list

The reading list is available from the Library website

Last updated: 29/10/2010

Disclaimer

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