Metodologias de Investigação em Ecologia Humana

Objectives

Students are expected to acquire or develop:
1. Methodological knowledge and skills needed to design and implement, in an integrated and evolutive way, the research project conducive to a doctoral thesis.
2. Knowledge and understanding of the main strategies and technical tools available for interdisciplinary research in Human Ecology, amd the abilty to combine them according to research needs.
3. Ability to deploy the strategies and technical tools when operationalizing research problems and hypotheses.
4. Ability to present and discuss a doctoral-level research project in a critical and reflexive way.

General characterization

Code

73220102

Credits

10.0

Responsible teacher

Rui Manuel Leitão da Silva Santos

Hours

Weekly - Available soon

Total - 280

Teaching language

Portuguese

Prerequisites

Available soon

Bibliography

Bardin, L. (2004). Análise de conteúdo. Lisboa: Edições 70.
Becker, H. (2007). Writing for social scientists. Chicago: Chicago University Press.
Berry, W. D., & Sanders, M.S. (2000). Understanding multivariate research. Boulder: Westview.
Burgess, R. (1997). A pesquisa de terreno. Oeiras: Celta.
Creswell, J. (2014). Research design: Quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods approaches. London: Sage.
Denzin, N., & Lincoln, Y. (Ed.). (2018). The Sage handbook of qualitative research. Thowsand Oaks: Sage.
Gilbert, N. (Ed.). (2016). Researching social life. London: Sage.
Guerra, I. (2006). Pesquisa qualitativa e análise de conteúdo: Sentidos e formas de uso. Estoril: Principia.
King, G., Keohane, R., & Verba, S. (1994). Designing social inquiry. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Ragin, C. (1987). The comparative method: Moving beyond qualitative and quantitative strategies. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Teaching method

In class teaching. The syllabus´s topics are addressed in synthetic lectures, to be deepened through the recommended readings. In parallel, students are required to explanate and discuss with the teachers and among themselves, in tutorials and in moodle fora, their ongoing individual projects up to the final research design paper. Tutorials are also aimed at deepening and guiding the study of methodological and technical issues, as required by each project.

Evaluation method

Métodos de Avaliação - Continuous and formative evaluation of the student´s participation in discussions about the projects. (20%), Final project paper(80%)

Subject matter

1. Scientific method, operationalisation and research design. The overall locial structure of a research design. Typical phases in research and the evolution of design.
2. Designing early exploratory research. From research topic to research problem. Bibliographical research and literature review. Beginning empirical exploration. The iteration of problematisation, exploration and conceptualisation.
3. Designing in-depth exploratory research: Building a problematics. Theorisation, operationalisation and the systematisation of research. The deepening rationale in qualitative research.
4. Designing research to test hypotheses and analytical models. Explanatory and comprehensive analytical models. Testing rationales (experimental, comparative, statistical). The validation rationale in qualitative research.
5. Underpinnings and applications of the main strategies and techniques for empirical research:
5.1 Quantitative.
5.2 Qualitative.

Programs

Programs where the course is taught: