Venue: MIUC Required Reading for this session: MSG (Module Study Guide) Key Concepts:This first week of the module we will start by introducing ourselves and by exploring students' motivations and expectations. Furthermore, we will go in depth on students' previous knowledge about research. Finally, some general information about formal and organizational aspects of the module will be provided, including an introduction to the research proposal to be developed throughout the module.

Throughout the second week of the module we will explore the basics of research, with a focus on social sciences research, including the cores of the scientific approach, the hypothetic-deductive method, the key distinction between ontology-epistemology-methodology, the main theoretical paradigms, and the difference between quantitative and qualitative methods.

his third week of the module we will focus on the role and conceptualization of research questions, aims and hypothesis. In doing so, we will explore issues such as the requirement of gaps of knowledge, the importance of the significance of our research questions, the role of the hypothetic-deductive and comparative methods, as well as possible challenges when formulating research questions. Furthermore, this week’s sessions will support students in the process of beginning to define the research question for their research proposal.

In this fourth week of the module we will study different forms of literature, sources and methods of adoption. Moreover we will focus on theoretical and practical aspects of the Literature review.

This fifth week of the module we will go in depth into the issue of quality and evaluation of research by exploring the types of validity and the reliability of measures. Furthermore, we will discuss the different conceptualization and operationalization of validity and reliability criteria in quantitative and qualitative studies.

Along the sixth week of the module we will discuss the practical processes and issues related to any research design. We will highlight the importance of selecting appropriate research questions, measurements and methods, as well as the process of conducting a targeted and comprehensive literature review. This will be addressed to support students in the elaboration of their research proposals.

This seventh week of the module will be the first of two weeks focused on qualitative research. This week we will approach the key features of qualitative research, such as its focus on meaning, subjectivity, natural settings, extensive interaction, reflexivity, purposeful sampling, naturalistic generalizations and flexible research designs. Likewise, we will explore the main traditions in qualitative research: ethnography, phenomenology, grounded theory, life history and narrative, critical research, case study.

In this eighth week of the module, and after the former introductory session on qualitative research, we will cover different ways of collecting qualitative data: interview, focus groups, observational methods, visual methods, media, vignettes and internet research. Likewise, we will point out the importance of developing rapport, reflection, empathy and trust when collecting qualitative data.

This ninth week of the module will be the first of two weeks focused on quantitative designs. This week we will comprehensively explore the principles and applications of experimental designs, as well as their utilities and limitations. Specifically, we will cover control-group designs, factorial designs and quasi-experimental designs.

In this eleventh week of the module we will approach the main types of qualitative analysis, such as thematic analysis, and the basic principles of working with qualitative data. As for the former, we will point out the key role of transcripts and we will approach the process of data coding, categorization, identification of patterns and elaboration of memos.

This twelfth week of the module we will cover the basics of quantitative data management and analysis, introducing descriptive and inferential statistics and covering issues such as: measures of central tendency, measures of variation, confidence interval or correlation. SPSS software will be presented as a tool to carry out computer-assisted data analyses, such as tests of statistical significance.

Along the thirteenth week of the module we will discuss the practical aspects of producing research reports. Specifically, we will cover the purpose of research reports, the rules and general points in scientific communication in social science, and the typical sections in quantitative and qualitative reports. Likewise, we will look at several examples of research reports, both students' and academics'.

This fourteenth and last week of the module we will approach ethics in research. In doing so, we will discuss the use of participants' informed consent, issues such as deception and debriefing, participants' right to withdraw and the respect for their confidentiality, anonymity and privacy, and ethical standards to be considered when reporting research. Furthermore, we will specifically cover ethical issues in qualitative research.

Here you have the Harvard Reference Style guidelines.

Here you can find all te information related with your research proposal