Prof Sam Friedman STC S216 and Dr Ioanna Gouseti STC S105a

This course is compulsory on the BSc in Sociology. This course is not available as an outside option nor to General Course students.

This course will provide students with a first understanding of social research design and analysis of social research data. It involves a dynamic introduction to a range of research methods, both qualitative and quantitative, through practical exercises in the context of London’s social life.

By the end of the course students will:

- Understand the key role of research design for conducting original empirical social research. In particular, taking into account relevant extant literature, they will develop a research question of their own interest and identify appropriate research method(s) to address it.

- Have engaged with practical research strategies and methods including the design of interview guides and survey questionnaires, conducting qualitative interviews, ethnographic observation, and a survey in the context of London.

- Have a sense of the urban sociology of London and a first-hand experience of its potential for exploring contemporary social issues.

- Be able to analyse different types of data, using a range of methods, such as thematic analysis in the case of qualitative data and regression analysis in the case of quantitative data.

- Be able to assess the quality of employed methodologies on the basis of formal criteria, such as reliability, validity and generalizability.

- Understand the ethical issues involved in social research.

- Have developed a research proposal which will strengthen their dissertation design, and might inform their dissertation topic.

This course is delivered through a combination of lectures, online materials and workshops totalling 50 hours across MT and LT.

Reading Weeks: Students on this course will have a reading week in MT Week 6 and LT Week 6, in line with departmental policy.

There is one piece of formative assessment which will be marked and on which you will get feedback in the Michaelmas Term (MT). 

A. Agresti & B. Finlay (2008) Statistical Methods for the Social Sciences. 4th edition. Pearson.

Bryman, A. (2014). Social research methods, 4th edition. Oxford University Press.

Converse, J. M., & Presser, S. (1986). Survey questions: Handcrafting the standardized questionnaire (No. 63). Sage.

Davidson, O’Connell, J., (2008). “If no means no, does yes mean yes? Consenting toresearch intimacies.”, History of the Human Sciences, 21(4), 49-67.

Duneier, M. (2006). “Ethnography, the Ecological Fallacy, and the 1995 Chicago Heat Wave.” American Sociological Review, 71(4), 679–88.

Ingram, N. (2011). Within school and beyond the gate: The complexities of being educationally successful and working class. Sociology, 45(2), 287-302.

O'Reilly, K. (2004). Ethnographic methods. London, New York: Routledge.

Savage, M., & Burrows, R. (2007). The Coming Crisis of Empirical Sociology. Sociology : The Journal of the British Sociological Association, 41(5), 885-899.

Tourangeau, R., Rips, Lance J, & Rasinski, Kenneth A. (2000). The psychology of surveyresponse. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Essay (20%, 1500 words) and project (30%) in the LT.
Research proposal (50%) in the ST.

An electronic copy of the assessed essays, to be uploaded to Moodle, no later than 4.00pm on the submission day.

The first assessment, a qualitative interview transcript and 1,500-2000 word essay (20%), is due by the first Wednesday of Lent Term.

The second assessment, a survey design project (30%), will be carried out in Lent Term.

The third assessment, a 2,000 word research proposal (50%), is due by the second Thursday of Summer Term.

Attendance at all workshops and submission of all set coursework is required.

Some departments have produced short videos to introduce their courses. Please refer to the course selection videos index page for further information.