| SCHOOL | School of Economics and Political Science | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| DEPARTMENT | Sociology | ||
| Level of Study | Undergraduate | ||
| COURSE CODE | 431008 | ||
| COURSE TITLE | Quantitative Methods of Social Research (M) | ||
| Independent Teaching Activities | Weekly Teaching Hours | CREDIT UNITS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lectures - exercises | 3 | 6 | |
| TOTAL | 3 | 6 | |
| Course Type | Special Background | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Prerequisite Courses | No | ||
| Teaching and Examination Language | Greek | ||
| THE COURSE IS OFFERED TO ERASMUS STUDENTS | No | ||
| Course Webpage (URL) | https://eclass.uoa.gr/courses/SOC108/ | ||
The course is an introduction to the basic concepts of empirical social research. It focuses on social measurement, as it is organized and applied through the methods and techniques of the quantitative research method. The structure of the course follows the stages of planning and implementing an empirical quantitative research. Students will develop skills regarding the design of quantitative social research, the formulation of social data collection tools, the collection and coding of quantitative data, their analysis, the formulation and presentation of research results, as well as the drafting of research conclusions. The course aims at acquiring fundamental knowledge in the systematic investigation of social phenomena using statistical methods and is expected to support students in designing sound research proposals in the field of sociology.
Upon completion of the course, students are expected to be able to:
General Capabilities
1. Introduction
1.1 Basic concepts of social science research
1.2 Theory and Research in the Social Sciences
1.3 Deductive and inductive research strategy
1.4 Quantitative and qualitative social research
1.5 Principles of social research ethics
2. Design
2.1 Design and stages of quantitative social research
2.2 Literature Search and Literature Review
2.3 The formulation of the research questions
2.4 Concepts and their measurement: Operationalization in social research
2.5 Reliability and validity of measurement in quantitative social research
2.6 Sampling in quantitative social research: Types of sampling and considerations
3. Data collection tool
3.1 Self-administered questionnaire: Advantages and disadvantages
3.2 Formulating questions: Open-ended and closed-ended questions, Attitude measurement scales, Contingency questions
3.3 Best practices for questionnaire organization
3.4 Questionnaire design in online research
3.5 Pilot study
3.6 Practices for improving the response rate
4. Open social data mining
4.1 Access to open social data platforms (Socioscope, Census Data Panorama, etc.)
4.2 Data mining and visualization in open-access platforms
5. Data organization and coding (using SPSS and/or open-source PSPP software and/or open-source R software)
4.1 Access to software, Environment, Basic functions
4.2 Creation of data file and variable organization
4.3 Adding and deleting variables
4.4 Data entry and handling of problematic responses
5. Data analysis
5.1 Exploratory data analysis: Descriptive/frequency distribution tables
5.2 Univariate analysis: Price position tests (Measures of central tendency and dispersion)
5.3 Data Transformations: Creating new variables (Recode, Compute commands)
5.4 Bivariate analysis: Cross-tabulation and reliability testing using the chi-square ($\chi^2$) test
5.5 Hypothesis testing with the T-test (for independent and paired samples)
6. Visualization of quantitative data (using Excel software)
6.1 Models and chart selection
| DELIVERY METHOD | Face-to-face. Distance online education (when special pandemic reasons apply and following a decision by the Ministry or the Senate) |
|---|---|
| Information and Communication Technologies | In the classroom:
When communicating with students:
|
| Activity | Semester Workload |
|---|---|
| Lectures | 39 |
| Literature study and analysis | 61 |
| Exercises on the course website for individual voluntary practice | 50 |
| Course Summary | 150 |
| Process Description Evaluation | The evaluation process is conducted in the Greek language and covers the entire syllabus with the exception of the practical use of SPSS (as it is not freely accessible). The examination takes place online through the course website and includes two procedures that are carried out sequentially during the exam: a) Multiple-choice questions and b) short-answer questions. In the case of multiple-choice questions, the correct answer is singular and predefined. In the case of short-answer questions, the answers are evaluated based on their completeness, appropriateness, correctness, and accuracy. |
|---|
Suggested Bibliography
