Project management and evaluation of social services

The course is aimed at the practical application of methodological knowledge and skills and different research techniques. Thus, the main objective is to offer an organic presentation of the application tools of social research methodology, data collection and analysis tools, and presentation of research results. Through laboratory-based teaching, the course includes both face-to-face lectures and technical-application lectures with the actual conduct of empirical research. In the first part, which is general in nature and based on mainly face-to-face teaching, the course will introduce students to the following topics: (a) Logic and language of the social research process (formulation of scientific problems, strategies of inquiry, research design, conceptualization and operationalization); (b) Main survey techniques (observation, free and semi-structured interviews, sample survey and questionnaire) and sampling. In the second part, based on laboratory teaching, the course aims to explore the following topics: (c) Data sources and databases (d) Spatial data: characteristics and use (e) Descriptive data analysis (monovariate and bivariate).

Basic knowledge of sociology, research methodology and statistics

1 - Piergiorgio Corbetta (2014), Metodologia e tecniche della ricerca sociale, Bologna, Il Mulino (o altre edizioni) 2 - Claudio Bezzi (2015), Cos'è la valutazione. Un'introduzione ai concetti, le parole chiave e i problemi metodologici, Milano, Franco Angeli

Attendance is strongly recommended in order to have the opportunity to carry out practical/laboratory activities. Attending students are required to attend at least 85 percent of the lectures and be actively involved in the development of practical/laboratory activities. Specifically, attending students will take part in all phases of an actual research project. For attending students, the syllabus will be based on a selection of chapters and lecture materials, indicated by the lecturer in the course of lectures. Final evaluation will take into account attendance, knowledge acquisition verified through classroom exonerations and active participation in research activities.

For non-attending students, the exam is conducted according to the classical oral questioning mode. For attending students, participation and work done during the course will be evaluated, with a final interview

The course, through laboratory-based teaching, involves learning the content by simulating practical-application exercises from simulations of concrete cases of applied empirical research.