Seminar Research Project

6 ECTS credits
158 h study time

Offer 1 with catalog number 1022191BNR for all students in the 1st and 2nd semester at a (B) Bachelor - advanced level.

Semester

1st and 2nd semester

Enrollment based on exam contract

Impossible

Grading method

Grading (scale from 0 to 20)

Can retake in second session

Yes

Enrollment Requirements

Studenten die dit opleidingsonderdeel opnemen, moeten geslaagd zijn voor 'Werkcollege sociologie en wetenschapsmethodologie (langlopend onderzoek I)' en moeten ingeschreven of geslaagd zijn voor 'Inleiding onderzoeksmethoden voor mens- en maatschappijwetenschappen'. Studenten moeten ook voor minstens 30 ECTS-credits geslaagd zijn op bachelorniveau. Studenten in een verkort traject kunnen dit opleidingsonderdeel opnemen, samen met 'Statistiek voor de sociale wetenschappen I en II' en 'Inleiding onderzoeksmethoden voor mens- en maatschappijwetenschappen'.

Taught in

Dutch

Faculty

Faculty of Social Sciences & SolvayBusinessSchool

Department

Sociology

Educational team

Hadewijch Vandenheede (course titular)
Julie Vanderleyden
Laura Emery

Activities and contact hours

9 contact hours Lecture
39 contact hours Seminar, Exercises or Practicals
110 contact hours Independent or External Form of Study

Course Content

The practical seminar “Long-term research II” (langlopend onderzoek II) is part of a group of three different seminars organised over the three bachelor years of the sociology programme: Seminar sociology and science methodology (Langlopend Onderzoek I), data collection and processing (langlopend onderzoek II) and bachelor paper (langlopend onderzoek III). The aim of these three seminars is to teach students to apply their methodological and theoretical knowledge and skills to real-life research problems.

In this seminar, the exploration of a research domain, developing a research question and research design, data collection through field work and the practical application of quantitative (SPSS) software are central.

Students are divided in groups and work together around a specific sociological topic (defining a research objective, operationalisation, field work, analysis, reporting, writing up).

The seminar “Long-term research II” consists of 5 modules: (1) literature review and research questions (1st term); (2) operational definition of concepts / drafting of a survey (1st term); (3) data collection and processing (2nd term); (4) data analysis (2nd term) and (5) reporting (2nd term).

Additional info

Course material: Manual (see Canvas).

Learning Outcomes

Algemene competenties

At the end of this course, students should be able to:

Cognitive skills

Students are able to search for literature in a systematic way and can assess different types of sources on their quality
Students are well acquainted with the structural set-up of a scientific article
Students are able to credit sources correctly
Students are able to explore a social phenomenon and translate it into a research topic
Students are able to define a research topic in terms of a research problem, a research design, research questions and hypotheses
Students are able to students are able to define the objectives of their research in terms of a research plan
Students are able to develop a standardised questionnaire and to test and evaluate this questionnaire, while bearing in mind problems related to construction, reliability, validity and understandability of questionnaire items
Students are able to design a field work strategy with the aim of collecting data in the selected research population and using a standardised questionnaire, while paying specific attention to problems of sample design, representativeness and response maximization
Students are able to use statistical software in a practical manner in order to prepare, modify and analyze data derived from a survey

Psychomotorical skills

Students are able to critically compare and evaluate different methods for data collection and processing
Students are able to evaluate their own learning process in a critical manner

Interactive skills

Students are able to work as a team in order to fruitfully design and conduct scientific research

Grading

The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Written Exam determines 40% of the final mark.
Other Exam determines 60% of the final mark.

Within the Written Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

Exam with a relative weight of 100 which comprises 40% of the final mark.

Within the Other Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

Work throughout semester with a relative weight of 100 which comprises 60% of the final mark.

Additional info regarding evaluation

The students will be graded based upon their work throughout the semester (participation in seminars, punctuality and quality of the assignments) = 60% of the toal grade.

Besides this, at the end of the semester a collective research paper needs to be written, and an infographic needs to be drafted. Furthermore, students need to present their work = 40% of the total grade.

The paper will be evaluated based on pre-defined criteria. These are mentioned in the course outline, posted on Canvas.

Second session: During second session, students will need to write an individual paper on an approved topic. Students participating to the second session will thus need to present a research topic beforehand and get approval to prepare their full paper on that topic. This individual paper will have a weight of 50% in the total second-term evaluation. The other 50% will be the result of the (first-term) evaluation on participation throughout the year.

Allowed unsatisfactory mark

The supplementary Teaching and Examination Regulations of your faculty stipulate whether an allowed unsatisfactory mark for this programme unit is permitted.

Academic context