COURSE INFORMATION Course Title: RESEARCH METHODS IN SOCIAL SCIENCES

Code	Course Type	Regular Semester	Theory	Practice	Lab	Credits	ECTS
PIR 201	C	3	4	0	0	4	5

Academic staff member responsible for the design of the course syllabus (name, surname, academic title/scientific degree, email address and signature)	NA
Lecturer (name, surname, academic title/scientific degree, email address and signature) and Office Hours:	Jubjana Vila , Wednesday, 10:30-12:00; Friday, 10:30-12:00
Second Lecturer(s) (name, surname, academic title/scientific degree, email address and signature) and Office Hours:	NA
Teaching Assistant(s) and Office Hours:	NA
Language:	English
Compulsory/Elective:	Compulsory
Classroom and Meeting Time:	E-313, Tuesday, 12:30-14:15; E-012, Thursday, 08:45-10:30
Course Description:	The course teaches students to learn how to use the quantitative and qualitative methods for investigating political and social sciences topics. It is clear that students will learn developing their research topics and know how to collect and analyze and discuss data. This course seeks to ensure that all students become able to use appropriate research methods on their chosen studies’ field. The course will teach how to use two software, SPSS and NVivo for enabling student to analyses their collected data and equips students how to producing an academic paper. Research Methods in social science are tools that help students and academics to conduct academic studies properly. These methods will provide appropriate guidance for students and academic alike to ask meaningful question about what they study and to find answers of their questions. Therefore, this course will help students to learn and apply key techniques, including inductive and deductive reasoning, hypothesis construction, operationalization of concepts, measurement, sampling and probability, causal inference, and the logic of controls. By the end of the semester undergraduates and graduate students will have a proposal that can be used as the foundation for the senior project and the dissertation prospectus, respectively.
Course Objectives:	This course covers the foundations of scientific research in social sciences. It aims to introduce students to concepts, research process and methodologies in social sciences. Its objective is to enable students to read, understand and critically asses scientific research and get prepared to write individual research proposals in political science and international relations area.

COURSE OUTLINE

Week	Topics
1	Introduction to Social Research
2	Major Types of Social Research
3	Theory and Research
4	The Meanings of Methodology
5	Literature Review and Ethical Studies
6	Qualitative and Quantitative Measurement
7	Qualitative and Quantitative Sampling
8	Midterm exam
9	Quantitative Data Collection
10	Analysis of Quantitative Data
11	Qualitative Data Collection
12	Analysis of Qualitative Data
13	Writing the Research Report and Politics of Social Research
14	Research Project Presentations (Students)

Prerequisite(s):	No
Textbook:	Neuman, W. Laurence. 2014. Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. 7th ed. Pearson. Burnham, P. 2008. Research Methods in Politics. Palgrave Macmillan: New York.
Other References:	Walliman N. 2011. Research Methods: The Basics. Routledge: New York. Students are advised to search for materials that are appropriate for their research area.
Laboratory Work:
Computer Usage:	Students are introduced to basic SPSS
Others:	No

COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES

1	Define concepts and methods of research in social science
2	Explain and compare research designs in social sciences
3	Conduct literature review in political science and international relations topics
4	Conduct qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis
5	Write a research proposal in political science and international relations topics

COURSE CONTRIBUTION TO... PROGRAM COMPETENCIES (Blank : no contribution, 1: least contribution ... 5: highest contribution)

No	Program Competencies	Cont.
Bachelor in Economics (3 years) Program

COURSE EVALUATION METHOD

Method	Quantity	Percentage
Homework	2	5
Midterm Exam(s)	1	30
Project	1	20
Final Exam	1	40
	Total Percent:	100%

ECTS (ALLOCATED BASED ON STUDENT WORKLOAD)

Activities	Quantity	Duration(Hours)	Total Workload(Hours)
Course Duration (Including the exam week: 16x Total course hours)	16	4	64
Hours for off-the-classroom study (Pre-study, practice)	13	2	26
Mid-terms	1	13	13
Assignments	2	3	6
Final examination	1	16	16
Other	0	0	0
Total Work Load:			125
Total Work Load/25(h):			5
ECTS Credit of the Course:			5