Universität Wien
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230015 UE Methods of Empirical Social Research (2019S)

4.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 23 - Soziologie
Continuous assessment of course work
Moodle

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 40 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Thursday 07.03. 08:45 - 10:15 Inst. f. Soziologie, Seminarraum 1, Rooseveltplatz 2, 1.Stock
  • Thursday 14.03. 08:45 - 10:15 Inst. f. Soziologie, Seminarraum 1, Rooseveltplatz 2, 1.Stock
  • Thursday 21.03. 08:45 - 10:15 Inst. f. Soziologie, Seminarraum 1, Rooseveltplatz 2, 1.Stock
  • Thursday 28.03. 08:45 - 10:15 Inst. f. Soziologie, Seminarraum 1, Rooseveltplatz 2, 1.Stock
  • Thursday 04.04. 08:45 - 10:15 Inst. f. Soziologie, Seminarraum 1, Rooseveltplatz 2, 1.Stock
  • Thursday 11.04. 08:45 - 10:15 Inst. f. Soziologie, Seminarraum 1, Rooseveltplatz 2, 1.Stock
  • Thursday 02.05. 08:45 - 10:15 Inst. f. Soziologie, Seminarraum 1, Rooseveltplatz 2, 1.Stock
  • Thursday 09.05. 08:45 - 10:15 Inst. f. Soziologie, Seminarraum 1, Rooseveltplatz 2, 1.Stock
  • Thursday 16.05. 08:45 - 10:15 Inst. f. Soziologie, Seminarraum 1, Rooseveltplatz 2, 1.Stock
  • Thursday 23.05. 08:45 - 10:15 Inst. f. Soziologie, Seminarraum 1, Rooseveltplatz 2, 1.Stock
  • Thursday 06.06. 08:45 - 10:15 Inst. f. Soziologie, Seminarraum 1, Rooseveltplatz 2, 1.Stock
  • Thursday 13.06. 08:45 - 10:15 Inst. f. Soziologie, Seminarraum 1, Rooseveltplatz 2, 1.Stock
  • Thursday 27.06. 08:45 - 10:15 Inst. f. Soziologie, Seminarraum 1, Rooseveltplatz 2, 1.Stock

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

This course introduces you to the most important research methods and techniques in the behavioral sciences, including research design, methods of data collection, particularly surveys, intensive interviews, participant observations, historical and comparative research, among others. This course will also address the benefits and liabilities of each approach. However, this course will focus mainly on quantitative methods, where students will choose a research topic, narrow the topic to a researchable project, find academic research journal articles relating to their topics, use these articles to formulate a research project consisting of a research question, hypothesis, research and questionnaire design. Students will pre-test their questionnaires, then enter the data from their pre-tested surveys into Excel and conduct some preliminary data cleaning and analyses. By the end of the semester you will be able to: (1) demonstrate a knowledge of methods sociologists use to conduct research; (2) discuss techniques and analyze data using a sociological approach; (3) produce a research paper, with appropriate literature, hypotheses, and research design; and (4) produce a reflection paper about your research experiences. In addition, you will learn to conduct interviews and design and collect quantitative data using a survey questionnaire. You will use analytical techniques to describe and synthesize your work. Finally, you will strengthen your skills in reading, comparing, critically examining, evaluating, and summarizing journal articles.

By the end of the semester students will be able to:

(1) demonstrate a knowledge of methods sociologists use to conduct research;
(2) discuss techniques and analyze data using a sociological approach;
(3) produce a research paper, with appropriate literature, hypotheses, and research design.

Assessment and permitted materials

Assignments are as follows:

Part I: The class will be divided into 4 to five different groups, where each group will choose one research area to focus its research project. The students in each group will work together to complete the following graded tasks:

1. Choose a research project topic
2. Formulation of quantitative research topic
3. Formulation of hypotheses
4. Creating a research design
5. Preliminary literature review
6. Questionnaire design
7. Draft introduction and thesis statement
8. Final quantitative research paper

Part II: Each student will be responsible for the following individual tasks:

9. Pre-test project's draft surveys
10. Examination
11. Final reflection paper
12. Class participation

All assignments will be collected and graded.

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

Grades for the entire course will be assigned as follows:
1 Sehr gut 90% and above
2 Gut 80% - 89%
3 Befriedigend 70% - 79%
4 Genügend 60% - 69%
5 Nicht genügend 59% or lower

Class attendance is mandatory. Students are allowed three absences. Any absences afterward will require a doctor's note.

Examination topics

Students will be assessed as stated in the "assessment and permitted material", as well as the "minimum requirements and assessment criteria" above.

Reading list

I will post the following reading material on Moodle for students to read.
(a) course lecture notes
(b) three research journal articles (to be determined)

Association in the course directory

in 505: BA M1 Einführung in die empirische Sozialforschung

Last modified: Mo 07.09.2020 15:39