Knowing the Social World
| Module title | Knowing the Social World |
|---|---|
| Module code | SPA2000 |
| Academic year | 2024/5 |
| Credits | 30 |
| Module staff | Dr Paul O'Connor (Lecturer) |
| Duration: Term | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duration: Weeks | 11 | 11 |
| Number students taking module (anticipated) | 116 |
|---|
Module description
Knowing how to pay attention to social life in a formalised way is the essence of the social research that anthropologists and sociologists perform. This can involve principles from social science, but it is also a creative and craft skill. This module draws together issues common to sociology, anthropology, and empirical philosophy to explore ways of knowing the social world. You will consider techniques such as participant observation, unobtrusive and oblique measures, focus groups, survey methods, online methods, critical statistics, and social media as a research tool. The module will provide you with an appreciation of the kinds of topics and social issues that ethnographers work on in contemporary culture. You will have the opportunity to acquire hands-on research experience doing a pilot project, designing a research proposal, and analysing your own data. You will also consider practices of accounting for and describing social data with an eye to the ways that writing and telling do not merely describe but contribute to what we know, and can know, about social reality. You will learn the essential knowledge and skills needed to conduct an empirical research study and have the opportunity to reflect upon the advantages and disadvantages of different approaches to research.
There are no prerequisites for this module. It is designed for students with a strong interest in the practical observation of everyday life and the theoretical issues associated with this observation.
Module aims - intentions of the module
The module aims to draw theory, empirical work, and practice together in ways that help us to understand the social world. In this module we will explore a variety of approaches to social research and gain hands-on experience with some of the techniques these sources have employed. This module takes you 'into the field' by providing you with a range of skills needed to conceive of, design, justify, execute and report on original and independent social science research.
Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
ILO: Module-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 1. Demonstrate knowledge of various methodological approaches to sociological research; the benefits and drawbacks of ethnography, and various stages of the research process.
- 2. Make a critical assessment of ethnographic texts, different data collection techniques, and approaches to analysis.
- 3. Design, operationalise, and conduct your own research analysis
- 4. Demonstrate analytical understanding of the appropriateness of various methods to different research problems;
ILO: Discipline-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 5. Understand how key concepts in sociology and anthropology can be illustrated and refined in relation to the analysis of detailed empirical data
- 6. Assess, challenge and develop theoretical ideas in relation to reflections on your own experiences and observations of social life, and in dialogue with empirical work
- 7. Write effective research proposals, and be able to evaluate them;
ILO: Personal and key skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 8. Assess critically research-based claims in public discourse;
- 9. Communicate effectively in written and verbal form.
- 10. Develop a thought-out plan of action for future action
- 11. Build and defend an argument based on evidence
Syllabus plan
Sessions will consist of lectures with question/answer and discussion, hands-on workshops and tutorials linked to honing research techniques.
From year to year, the module’s precise content may vary. The syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics:
- Introduction: Knowing the Social (perception and reality; epistemology and ontology; meaning; framing; ethics)
- Unobtrusive measures (physical traces; oblique perspectives, the ‘light footprint’, archives and numbers)
- Survey methods, sampling and questionnaire design
- Online methods of data collection
- Digital Ethnography
- Ethnography and Participant Observation (materiality, embodiment, practice, setting, scenes, organisations, ethnomethods, experience)
- Critical Statistics and the Replication Crisis
- Textual methods (poetics and metaphor, style, content, narrative and discourse analysis, voice)
- Talk and spoken discourse (personae, turn-taking, cueing and discourse strands and registers, ensemble)
- Interviews and focus groups (performance, leading, prompting, the self-effacing interviewer, what we say vs what we do?, cueing, follow-up, the micro-macro link)
- Research Design
- Qualitative data analysis
- Quantitative comparison, reading tables, simple surveys
- Critical reading of ethnography
- Advanced library literature and database search skills
- Open access, predatory publishing, and research impact
Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 44 | 256 | 0 |
Details of learning activities and teaching methods
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching | 22 | 22 x 1-hour lectures |
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching | 22 | 22 x 1-hour weekly tutorial |
| Guided independent study | 168 | Reading set texts and wider reading to inform formative and summative assessment |
| Guided independent study | 88 | Design and application of ethnographic data collection for summative assessment |
Formative assessment
| Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Group panel presentation on Pilot Studies | 10 minutes | 1-11 | Verbal |
| Peer Review on Pilot Studies | 10 minutes | 1-11 | Verbal |
Summative assessment (% of credit)
| Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | 0 | 0 |
Details of summative assessment
| Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pilot Study | 15 | 1,000 words | 1-11 | Written |
| Ethnography | 35 | 2,500 words | 1-11 | Written |
| Data Analysis | 10 | 1,000 words | 1-11 | Written |
| Research Proposal | 40 | 2,000 words | 1-11 | Written |
| 0 | ||||
| 0 |
Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)
| Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pilot Study (1,000 words) | Pilot Study (1,000 words) | 1-11 | Referral/Deferral Period |
| Ethnography (2,500 words) | Ethnography (2,500 words) | 1-11 | Referral/Deferral Period |
| Data Analysis (1,000 words) | Data Analysis (1,000 words) | 1-11 | Referral/Deferral Period |
| Research Proposal (2,000 words) | Research Proposal (2,000 words) | 1-11 | Referral/Deferral Period |
Re-assessment notes
Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.
Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to redo the assessment(s) as defined above. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.
Indicative learning resources - Basic reading
Ataman, J. (2022) How to use ethnographic methods with Instagram. London: SAGE Publications, Limited. Available at: https://doi.org/10.4135/9781529608946.
Atkinson, Paul. (1992) Understanding ethnographic texts. Newbury Park, Calif.â?¯; Sage Publications.
Bloor, Michael. (2000) Focus groups in social research. London: SAGE.
Denzin, N. K., & Giardina, M. D. (Eds.). (2017). Qualitative inquiry in neoliberal times. Taylor & Francis.
Downey, G. (2024) “Ethnography vs. zombie methodologies: What anthropology can teach psychology about nonreproducibility,” American ethnologist, 51(1), pp. 164–170. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/amet.13235.
Faria, R. and Dodge, M. (2022) Qualitative Research in Criminology: Cutting-Edge Methods. 1st edn. Cham: Springer International Publishing AG. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-18401-7.
Larissa Hjorth, H.H. (2017) The Routledge Companion to Digital Ethnography. 1st edn. United Kingdom: Routledge. Available at: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315673974.
Salmons, J. and Orton-Johnson, K. (2022) How to Use Online Qualitative Methods: Collecting and Analysing Data. SAGE Publications, Ltd. Available at: https://doi.org/10.4135/9781529608144.
Schnegg, M. and Lowe, E.D. (2020) Comparing Cultures: Innovations in Comparative Ethnography. 1st edn. GB: Cambridge University Press. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108766388.
| Credit value | 30 |
|---|---|
| Module ECTS | 15 |
| NQF level (module) | 5 |
| Available as distance learning? | No |
| Origin date | 01/02/2024 |
| Last revision date | 14/02/2024 |
