Programme
Year 1
- Module 4 (Spring): Social Science Methods for journalists
- Location: Dept. of Political Science, Aarhus University (AU)
- Professor: Lotte Bøgh Andersen
- Duration: 10 weeks
- Credits: 10 ECTS
Overview
The main purposes of this course are: to teach students to (1) assess methodological aspects of social science studies and journalistic presentations; (2) assess, select and apply different methods for minor case-based studies; (3) make objective presentations of study results and statistics; and (4) frame questions and develop research designs.
Classes will be a mixture of lectures, group assignments, presentations and discussions.
Learning Outcomes
- Knowledge:
- Frame empirical questions
- Plan research designs to test empirical questions
- Select and analyze collective entities (cases) such as countries, municipalities, schools etc.
- Plan and complete gathering of interviews, existing documents, questionnaires and existing quantitative data
- Complete both inductive and deductive analyses of text material
- Perform univariate, bivariate and multivariate analyses of quantitative variables
- Understand simple analyses based on probability theory
- Understanding:
- Understand the logic of empirical social science research strategies
- Understand the criteria for sound empirical social science research
- Understand the strengths and weaknesses of different empirical social science research strategies
- Discipline-specific:
- The ability to critically evaluate various empirical social science research strategies
- The ability to formulate researchable empirical research questions
- The ability to assess the validity of concrete examples of empirical social scientific research
Typical Methods of Assessment
In order to be able to hand in the final essay students must have been participating in the course. The final exam is a 3 hour written exam without aids.
Indicative Reading List
- Agresti & B. Finlay (2008), Statistical Methods for the Social Sciences, 4th edition, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
- Babbie, Earl (1992). The practice of Social Research. Sixth edition, Belmont: Wadsworth Publishing Company
- Bryman, Alan (2004) Social Research Methods. 2nd edn. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- David, Matthew & Carole D. Sutton (2004) Social Research. The Basics. Thousand Oaks & New Delhi: Sage Publications.
- Fairclough, Norman (2002) Critical discourse analysis as a method in social scientific Research, in Ruth Wodak (Ed.) Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis Sage Publications.
- Please contact the University for more sources
