Research Methods
Objectives
The goal of the Research Methods Curricular Unit is to capacitate students with the mastery of the scientific ways of thinking and ways to communicate their academic reflections.
At the end of this Curricular Unit, students should be able to:
1) Explain the epistemological principles of the scientific activity in social sciences and in education in particular
2) Identify the necessary steps of the scientific procedure in order to develop a research project
3) Perform a bibliographic search, organizing and summarising the collected information
4) Specify the logic of the scientific exposition
5) Distinguish between the different types of written academic work
6) Present a scientific conducted reflection according to the academic rules adequate to the different types of written works
7) Communicate and discuss a scientific conducted reflection according to the academic rules adequate to an oral presentation
General characterization
Code
02103422
Credits
10.0
Responsible teacher
Susana Paiva Moreira Batista
Hours
Weekly - 3
Total - 280
Teaching language
Portuguese
Prerequisites
Available soon
Bibliography
Bryman, Alan (2012). Social Research Methods. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Cohen, Louis, Lawrence Manion & Keith Morrison (2011). Research Methods in Education. London: Routledge.
Creswell, J. (2012). Educational Research. Planning, conducting and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research. Pearson.
Popper, Karl R (1980). Conjecturas e Refutações (O Progresso do Conhecimento Científico). Brasília: Editora da UnB.
Quivy, Raymond e Campenhoudt, Luc Van (1998), Manual de Investigação em Ciências Sociais, Lisboa, Gradiva, 2 ed. revista e aumentada, 1ª ed. orig. 1988.
Sedas Nunes, Adérito (1979). Sobre o problema do conhecimento nas sociais. Materiais de uma experiência pedagógica.Lisboa, GIS/ICS.
Silva, Augusto Santos (1986). “Uma visão global sobre as ciências sociais” e “A ruptura com o senso comum nas ciências sociais”. Em Augusto Santos Silva e José Madureira Pinto, Metodologia das Ciências Sociais (Introdução, pp.9-27 e Capítulo I, pp. 29-53), Porto, Edições Afrontamento.
Sousa, Jesus M (1997). “Investigação em educação: novos desafios”, in Estrela, A.& Ferreira, J. (orgs.). Métodos e técnicas de investigação científica em educação. Lisboa, FPCE, Universidade de Lisboa, pp. 661.672.
Teaching method
Classes follow a theoretical-practical nature. The first classes corresponding to the first module serve as an introductory part, in which basic content about the process of building scientific knowledge is discussed, through an expository and interrogative approach. During this period, students will have access to resources to consolidate and deepen their knowledge and activities will be proposed so that they can train/apply these skills and knowledge. The second module focuses on an active approach in conjunction with continuous assessment, in which students are involved in creating a group portfolio with monitoring in class. This portfolio continues in module 3, in close conjunction with the theoretical-practical classes.
Evaluation method
The following assessment instruments are considered: 1) Individual written work in response to pre-defined open questions, dealing with scientifically driven ways of thinking and the stages of the scientific method (30%); 2) Portfolio (70%), which can be carried out in groups, consisting of four activities: i) reserrch question; ii) bibliographical research; iii) mini literature review; iv) oral presentation of the research process. These activities will receive feedback from the teacher and students will be able to integrate the suggestions before proceeding to the presentation and definitive delivery of the portfolio at the end of the semester.
Subject matter
1. SCIENCE AND SCIENTIFIC CONDUCTED WAYS OF THINKING
1. Observation and questionning: common sense and adquired knowledge
2. Description, understanding, explanation and theorizing
3. The problems and the problematics
4. Concepts and conceptions
5. Observation, definition and measurement
6. The formution of hypothesis: conjectures and rebbutals
7. Research methods in education: deduction, induction and comparison
2. PROTOCOL OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH: CONSTRUCTION STAGES
1. Some itineraries of scientific research
2. The steps of the scientific procedure
3. Starting question
4. Problematization
5. Bibliographic search: search, organize and sumarize information
6. Elaboration of the analysis model
7. The collection of data: an introduction
3. WAYS TO COMMUNICATE SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE
1. The logic of the scientific exposure
2. From Reading sheets to critical reviews
3. Essays
4. Abstracts and scientific papers
5. Scientific reports
6. Academic dissertations
7. Oral communication