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Research Methodologies

Objectives

Students will acquire and/or develop:

1. Methodological knowledge and skills to delineate and manage, in an integrated and evolutive way, a basic or applied research project required for completing the non- lectured component of the master.

2. Knowledge and understanding of the main strategies and technical options available to social science research, and the ability to combine them in keeping with their research objectives.

3. Ability to communicate and engage in critical and reflexive discussion of research projects.

General characterization

Code

722071074

Credits

10.0

Responsible teacher

Rui Manuel Leitão da Silva Santos

Hours

Weekly - 3

Total - 280

Teaching language

Portuguese

Prerequisites

None

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. Continuous and formative evaluation of the student´s participation in discussions about the projects.

Evaluation method

Evaluation method - Final project paper(80%), Final summative evaluation grade(20%)

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.