Sociology

GIOVANNI DI FRANCO
GIOVANNI DI FRANCO

1. Knowledge and understanding: on having passed the exam students will know the theoretical and applied features of methodology of social research on the ground of a basic competence of mathematics and statistics for social science, according to a quali-quantitative approach, with reference to research design and data gathering, processing, and analysis. Further, students should have capabilities of critical analysis and design of strategies and tools of social research and of data analysis as well, together with capabilities of choosing amongst different approaches to the research design and different methods of data analysis
2. Applying knowledge and understanding: on having passed the exam students should be able to apply knowledge and understanding skills to social phenomena through a theoretical and methodological method of empirical research; to know how to choose and use the quantitative and qualitative tools and techniques of social research; to criticize, justify, argue and support methodological choices with respect to the cognitive and / or applicative objectives of social research.
3. Critical faculties should be developed through activities of evaluation of an empirical research, a scientific article, or a research report based on the information available regarding the methodological path. Other activities are the collection of additional information and data from other sources, as well as the identification of cognitive problems and the identification of possible solutions
4. Communications skills. The ability to communicate effectively the results of empirical research with a correct and conscious use of the methodological terms, as well as the ability to analyze and discuss critical issues of a methodological and theoretical nature, with particular regard to the aspects inherent in empirical research, should be obtained through classroom presentations of results of empirical research and the participation of students in discussions with the teacher).
5. Learning skills. The ability of updating in the methodology and techniques of social research should be developed through drawing on various bibliographic sources, national and international scientific literature, databases, etc.

The Methodology and Technique of Social Research course introduces students to empirical research in the social sciences. The course is divided into two teaching modules of thirty-six hours each: the first module is dedicated to qualitative and quantitative data collection techniques with particular reference to the formulation of the scientific-cognitive problem and the drafting of a research design; the second module focuses on the different data analysis techniques, qualitative and quantitative, appropriate for the needs of sociological research. Throughout the course, the topics covered will be exemplified using the illustration of the concrete research procedures adopted in an empirical research conducted by the teacher and having the values ​​and attitudes of young Romans as its research area. At the end of the course, students will acquire the methodological skills to design social research strategies and tools, for the statistical analysis of data, to critically evaluate the results of national and international research reports.

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First module: The techniques of data collection, the formulation of the scientific problem and setting a design of empirical research.

The survey of social phenomena for empirical test of the hypotheses in the social sciences. Logical procedures of conceptualization and operational definition of concepts. The classification, measurement and counting. Concepts-terms, dimensions, indicators, variables and indices. Contexts, types and functions of the indicators. Drawing types of social research: descriptive-exploratory, explanatory. Background research, observation and experiment. Techniques of data collection: types of interview, secondary data analysis, content analysis, analysis of documents, life stories, focus groups. The investigation sample. Types of questionnaire and coding strategies.

Second module: techniques of data analysis.

Construction of the data matrix. Principles of univariate analysis. Principles of data analysis bivariate. Logic analysis trivariate aimed at controlling the genuineness of a relationship between two variables. Construction techniques of the indexes. Multiple indicators and models-indicators. The concepts of reliability, validity loyalty. Multicriteria-multi-technique approach. Analytical procedures, concept maps. Techniques and models of multivariate data analysis: principal component analysis, multiple correspondence analysis, cluster analysis, discriminant analysis, linear regression, factor analysis, log-linear models, logistic regression.

Class attendance, although not mandatory, is recommended.

1. Di Franco G., 2020, Introduzione alla sociologia empirica. Metodo e tecniche della ricerca sociale. Milano, Franco Angeli;

2. Di Franco G., 2011, Dalla matrice dei dati all’analisi trivariata. Introduzione all’analisi dei dati. Milano, Franco Angeli;

3. Di Franco G., 2017, Tecniche e modelli di analisi multivariata. Nuova edizione ampliata e aggiornata, Milano, Franco Angeli;

4. Di Franco G., 2010, Il campionamento nelle scienze umane, Teoria e pratica. Milano, Franco Angeli;

5. Marradi A., 2019, Tutti redigono questionari. Ma è davvero così facile? Milano, Franco Angeli.

The teaching is organized in 72 hours of frontal lessons, 36 lessons of two hours each. The teacher will activate a virtual classroom on the Classroom platform where he will insert the detailed lesson plan, the slides used, and all the materials used during the course, including further reading suggestions to deepen specific topics covered during the course. To allow students unable to attend, the teacher will record the lessons and post them on Classroom for streaming viewing.

Frontal and distance lessons

To pass the exam you must obtain a grade of not less than 18/30. The student must demonstrate that he has acquired sufficient knowledge of the main topics of the methodology and techniques of social science research, a basic knowledge of multivariate analysis procedures and being able to identify the salient features of an empirical research in the social sciences . To achieve the highest marks (30/30) the student must demonstrate that he has acquired excellent knowledge of all the topics covered during the course, being able to link them in a logical and coherent way and demonstrating the acquisition of a language property in the field of social research

The passage from concepts to empirical indices: probabilistic sampling techniques; semantic errors in drafting a questionnaire; the logic of the trivariate analysis; multivariate analysis techniques and models.