| Trabajo final de Grado II | Código: 22.151 : 6 |
This course is designed for students who are beginning to build their dissertation projects in social science research. The aim of the course is to give students the basic tools to conceptualise their theses in terms of research questions, analytical frameworks, empirical methods, and overall design. This course aims primarily at being practical: at the end of it you should be better trained to design your own research - and, in particular, your master or PhD thesis' proposal.
In this course you will read and discuss different texts related to research design. You will also work on your own research proposal, from an early and short draft at the beginning to a more developed and extended one at the end of the course. You will be encouraged to apply the advice and recommendations provided by the course materials to your own project, in order to improve the basic aspects of research design.
Proposals will be collectively discussed along the course in the virtual classroom, in a sort of (non-blind) peer review process. Participation in these discussions is thus a key element of the course.
At the end of the course, you are expected to have learned the following skills:
Advanced Methodological Block Skills
- Mastering of process and stages of empirical research.
- Successful design of an empirical research study, especially regarding its descriptive and/or explanatory capacity, selection of cases and variables, combination of techniques and methods, and consideration of technical limitations and resources available to the researcher.
- Mastering of empirical research logical processes: deduction and induction, consistency, observability, causality, data analysis, useful and communicable conclusions.
- Awareness of decisions, challenges and problems of empirical research.
- Awareness of the importance of theoretical development and knowledge of other research studies and literature when conducting empirical research.
Research Design in Social Sciences specific course skills
- Understanding the basic principles of empirical social research.
- Awareness of the most important particularities of research on the interaction of social change and technological innovation.
- Building and formulating an appropriate research question.
- Selection of the relevant literature and building an analytical model.
- Selection of the most appropriate methodology.
- Conceptualisation, operationalization, and assessment of variables.
- Design of empirical study: determination of units of analysis and temporal dimension.
- Realisation of a thesis' project (research proposal).
COURSE SYLLABUS
1. Empirical research in social sciences: An introduction.
What type of research are we doing? What are methodological approaches?
Analytical models? Theoretical frameworks?
Submission of a pre-proposal.
2. Literature review and formulating a research question.
Research questions will be justified with relevant literature in your field of study.
Peer-reviewing of proposals.
3. Methods and units of analysis.
Review (and rewrite) your pre-proposal checking on how you argued
the case for the methods you will be using, and your units of analysis.
4. The structure of a research proposal.
Study an example of a research proposal according to the elements
discussed so far. Review your proposal according to the elements explored
in this example.
5. Presentation of a research proposal. Final draft.
Rewrite and deliver your research proposal: PLEASE TRY TO INCORPORATE
WITHIN THIS PROPOSAL EVERYTHING YOU MAY HAVE LEARNED DURING THIS
SEMESTER.
Oral presentation of your proposal (10 minutes max).
Submission of your research diary.
| Revista Compas | Web |
As well as the manual, other texts will be provided for each unit, which will serve us as a starting point for our discussion.
La Normativa académica de la UOC dispone que el proceso de evaluación se fundamenta en el trabajo personal del estudiante y presupone la autenticidad de la autoría y la originalidad de los ejercicios realizados.
La falta de originalidad en la autoría o el mal uso de las condiciones en las que se hace la evaluación de la asignatura es una infracción que puede tener consecuencias académicas graves.
El estudiante será calificado con un suspenso (D/0) si se detecta falta de originalidad en la autoría de alguna actividad evaluable (práctica, prueba de evaluación continua (PEC) o final (PEF), o la que se defina en el plan docente), ya sea porque ha utilizado material o dispositivos no autorizados, ya sea porque ha copiado de forma textual de internet, o ha copiado de apuntes, de materiales, manuales o artículos (sin la citación correspondiente) o de otro estudiante, o por cualquier otra conducta irregular.
La calificación de suspenso (D/0) en la evaluación continua (EC) puede conllevar la obligación de hacer el examen presencial para superar la asignatura (si hay examen y si superarlo es suficiente para superar la asignatura según indique este plan docente).
Cuando esta mala conducta se produzca durante la realización de las pruebas de evaluación finales presenciales, el estudiante puede ser expulsado del aula, y el examinador hará constar todos los elementos y la información relativos al caso.
Además, esta conducta puede dar lugar a la incoación de un procedimiento disciplinario y la aplicación, si procede, de la sanción que corresponda.
La UOC habilitará los mecanismos que considere oportunos para velar por la calidad de sus titulaciones y garantizar la excelencia y la calidad de su modelo educativo.
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Esta asignatura sólo puede superarse a partir de la evaluación continua (EC). La nota final de evaluación continua se convierte en la nota final de la asignatura. La fórmula de acreditación de la asignatura es la siguiente: EC. |