Methodologies for the Social Sciences I
Prerequisiti
first year PhD
Programma
The aim of this course is to discuss main approaches to political science and sociology and related methodological choices. We will go through the principal steps in designing research, formulating research questions and hypotheses and selecting methods for data collection. In this sense, it aims at introducing all main steps that first year students need to take to design their research project.
Taking into account the diverse national and disciplinary background of first year research, the seminar attempts to develop some common knowledge, without losing the richness of plurality. The seminar as a whole, as well as the individual sessions, aim at critically contrasting the advantages as well as problems of the various strategies in the construction of scientific knowledge.
Obiettivi formativi
The seminar stems from SPS department’s commitment to methodological pluralism and informed debate. Specifically, its aims are:
To provide an overview of approaches in the social sciences, in order to help students to choose their own approach for the thesis, to justify this approach, and to situate it within the discipline;
To ensure that PhD graduates become fully literate social scientists, able to read and understand work written within different traditions and approaches;
To introduce researchers to the main issues of debate and contention in the methodology of social sciences and to demystify some of this debate, identifying commonalities, historic continuities, and genuine differences;
To give first year researchers a common experience and socialization and to encourage them to discuss their own work across sub-disciplines and methodological approaches.
Riferimenti bibliografici
Della Porta D, Keating M, eds. 2014, Approaches and Methodologies in the Social Sciences: A Pluralist Perspective. Cambridge University Press;