In this course, lasting one semester, students will have the
opportunity to acquire the first rudiments of qualitative research in
social sciences. The course consists of a theoretical part and a
practical part. In the theoretical part, the teacher will provide an
introduction to research in social sciences, illustrating the major
paradigms of social research, the main investigative approaches
(quantitative and qualitative), the main questioning approaches (mostly qualitative) and the methods and techniques for
qualitative research, to which the course is dedicated. The course will
focus, in particular, on the instrument of the qualitative interview.
With this objective, the teacher will provide practical exercises for
the preparation of research projects based on the use of qualitative
interviews and ethnographic research methods. In the realization of the practical part, the teacher will
guide the students to search for research questions and establish
research strategies. There are no specific requirements for this course,
except the knowledge of the English language and course attendance.
Although not compulsory, participation in the course allows the students
to better learn the proposed contents and benefit from practical
exercises, proposed both at home and in class.
The course targets the students who have never had courses on research methods and would like to get a first introduction to research in social sciences, as well as some practical experience on how to prepare a solid research proposal.
Not for students who had already courses on methods of research, unless they think that refreshing some things is fundamentally important and they have never written a research proposal in their life.The teacher will provide some reference texts to the students, but strongly advises the reading of the text by Howard S. Becker (1998) Tricks of the Trade. How to Think about Your Research While You’re Doing It. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
- Lehrende(r): Giulia Romano