This course builds upon the first-year introduction to sociology class, by focusing on research design and practice. We will deconstruct sociological empirical investigations conducted in different countries using qualitative methods (interviews, observations, archive analysis), quantitative methods (questionnaires, administrative data, Big Data), or mixed methods. This will allow us to address four main types of issues raised by the field investigation:
Theoretical issues: How does one transform a social question into a sociological one? How does one formulate hypotheses based on theoretical questions? How does one (re)interpret the results on a theoretical level? How does one generalize observations and formulate a theory?
Methodological issues: How does one turn theoretical questions into operational measures? How does one approach the beginning of field research? How does one build a database? How does one reprocess the data in order to test hypotheses and reproduce results?
Epistemological issues: How does one administer the evidence from a sociological field investigation? How does one articulate an inductive approach (going from field exploration to the formulation of a theory?) and a hypothetical-deductive approach (using field results as a means of testing hypotheses)? In what manner do theory and method have elective affinities/participate in the same system of scientificity?
Ethical and legal issues: What are the ethical limits to a sociological investigation? Can sociologists investigate all subjects? Can sociologists step outside of legality and morality for the needs of the investigation? Do sociologists have to protect their “sources”?
All of these questions will be addressed in thematic sessions built around several emblematic sociological investigations.
Marta DOMINGUEZ FOLGUERAS,Holly HARGIS
Cours magistral et conférences
English
Autumn 2024-2025
Students are expected to attend the lectures and to participate in class. Grading will be based on continuous work in the discussion sections (60 percent of the final grade) and a final exam (40 percent of the final grade). Continuous evaluation in the discussion section will include several tasks necessary to complete the research project, to be determined in the discussion section syllabus. The final exam will be a two-hour written exam composed of three short questions about the lecture contents, as well as an longer question about the logics of sociological research applied to one specific topic.
At the end of the course, the student is expected to :
1°) Be able to design and carry out an empirical sociological research.
2°) Be familiar with the main methodological and ethical dilemmas that sociologists face when doing empirical work.
The lecture course will be complemented by a discussion section in which students will conduct a sociological investigation under the supervision of the instructor. Students will first develop a problem and a series of hypotheses. Then, students will carry out an empirical study to collect data. Finally, they will use the data to write a research report. They will thus be able to put the principles presented in the lecture course to the test in practice.
Desmond, Matthew. 2016. Evicted: Poverty and profit in the American city. The Eviction lab.