Introduction to Qualitative and Quantitative Methods in Social Science
The course provides an introduction to social science research methods, both quantitative and qualitative. This course presents and discusses key concepts in social science methods, how methods are structured and how qualitative data (interviews and observations) and quantitative data (statistics) are produced.
The course addresses how to create a research design, the importance of a well-developed good research question, the relationship between theory and empirical work, how to conduct research in order to produce data, how data is interpreted and analyzed, differences and similarities between qualitative and quantitative methods, and writing as an analytical process. The course will also provide training in use of a statistical tool, such as SPSS or Stata.
The course literature and the lectures are in English and Norwegian. The obligatory task and the home exam may be submitted in English or Norwegian.
Upon successful completion of this course, students should have acquired the following knowledge, skills and general competence:
Knowledge:
- have broad knowledge of different methods in social sciences, and are familiar with the content in various methodological approaches and strategies of analysis.
- have broad knowledge of central concepts in qualitative and quantitative research.
Skills:
- can apply relevant tools and techniques in qualitative and quantitative research, and are therefore able to read a scientific article and understand the content.
- are able to formulate research questions, design a research project and decide which methods are the most feasible to apply to answer the research questions.
- can evaluate the ethical challenges associated with research activities in social science.
General Competence:
- are able to plan and carry out a simple research task
- have the ability to understand and read literature in social science and presentations of research in the media, with the skills to critically evaluate the results which are presented.
