Module 30-M-Soz-M3c Sociological Methods c

Non-official translation of the module descriptions. Only the German version is legally binding.

As part of the General Competence Concept for the MA in Sociology (see https://www.uni-bielefeld.de/fakultaeten/soziologie/studium/master/pdf/Kompetenzkonzept_Masterstudiengaenge.pdf), the module serves the profile-building study of sociological methods.
Students develop their methodological skills in this module. Based on a selected topic and orientated towards challenging methodological research problems, students are enabled to develop a research question independently and to answer it using advanced methodological procedures within the framework of an independent empirical analysis and to report on it appropriately.

At the centre of the methods course is the development and application of relevant methods of empirical social research, considering both research-oriented and non-university practice in the use of methods.

In the context of methodology, a general distinction is made between qualitative and quantitative methodological approvals.

In qualitative approaches, the focus is on observation procedures, interview procedures as well as text- and image-orientated procedures, but also on dealing with the most important traditions of qualitative data analysis, such as ethnomethodology, discourse analysis, objective hermeneutics and grounded theory.
In addition to the most important qualitative research methods, the methodological prerequisites and implications of qualitative methods and their function for sociological theorising will also be discussed.

Quantitative approval includes the implementation of theory-oriented research hypotheses in a corresponding survey design, the development and testing of adequate survey instruments, the selection techniques for determining the units of investigation and the application of descriptive and multivariate evaluation methods. As part of the quantitative approval process, differences between the methods used in academic social science research and those used in non-university market and opinion research are also addressed. Finally, current specialist discussions in international methodological journals are also considered.

Students are able to specialise in qualitative or quantitative methods by choosing the appropriate courses.

The module programme is always completed with a written assignment. This always takes the form of a seminar paper.

The study of module 30-M-Soz-M3a should already be completed and the study of module 30-M-Soz-M3b started.

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