Methods of researching social phenomena

Pre-requisites: Graduate degree (masters) completed, knowledge of the English language

Course objectives: Studying methodological literature and researched works in order to introduce candidates to the most current research options and methods in studying social phenomena.

Course description: The theoretical aspect of this course addresses various ways of studying social phenomena, ethical aspects of research, complementarity of resources and methods, applied sequential analysis, assessing validity(internal and external) and reliability of results - which will enable students to apply these methods to current research, standardization of functional analysis and multivariate analysis of data. Students will also learn to apply qualitative and quantitative approaches to research material. As far as practical work during this course, students will create a research plan and choose an appropriate method for collecting material for their sample (interviews, biography, researching personal documents, case studies etc) and analyze the material.

Learning Outcomes: After passing the exam in this subject students will be capable of independently charting a research plan, will be able to use various qualitative and quantitative method, critically assess methods of research and advance those methods.