Qualitative RM - Tamar Khuntsaria

Tbilisi State University Center for Social Sciences QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS Course syllabus Prof. Tamar Khuntsaria Tel. (8-95) 98 99 16; e-mail: [email protected] Course description: The course is focused on development of the basics of social research design and overview of major methods used in social research, as well as the ways of presentation of research findings. It may serve as a good basis for further, more comprehensive courses devoted to specific research methods. In respect to each topic, relevant reading(s) and/or research tools will be provided, and students will be required to present their own work. The course requires active participation of students. Course objectives: The course will provide students with necessary knowledge to understand and critically assess results of empirical social research; to be able to design qualitative research using basic research methods; and to present research findings in accordance with the academic writing standards. Requirements: Students are required to read respective texts for each class and do weekly home assignments. The latter should represent their individual work, and should be submitted by e- mail by specified deadline. In case if a student missed the class, s/he should ask about the home assignment and send it by deadline. It’s important to meet deadlines; in case if this is not possible because of objective reasons, please, let me know about this. Students, who did not send at least 75% of the home assignments on time, will not be evaluated. Plagiarism is unacceptable. Assessment of students’ knowledge will be based on the following components: • Class attendance and participation 10% • Assignments 20% • Mid-term 35% • Final exam 35% Basic textbooks: o Norman Blaikie. 2004. Designing Social Research. 4 th Edition. Blackwell Publishing Ltd. o Earl Babbie. 2004. The Practice of Social Research. 10th Edition. Thomson-Wadsworth. o W.Lawrence Neuman. 2003. Socia l Research Method s. Quali tativ e and Quant itati ve Approaches. Fifth Edition. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. In addition, Course Readers and CD with readings are also available. Office Hours: The class meets once a week, total of 15 classes. You can e-mail me if you need extra time to discuss issues related to the course or your tentative research. However, it is expect ed that you will not rai se dur ing the off ice hours exactly same issues that had been discussed during the class, unless there was a serious reason to do so – it is completely your responsibility if you miss the class. CSS | Social Research Methods / Autumn 2010 1

Documents

Qualitative RM - Tamar Khuntsaria