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SRM-R08
(PGDM-RM 2008-10 : Term-II)

SOCIAL RESEARCH METHODS
(Faculty: Dr. P. Mishra)

COURSE OUTLINE

Course Objectives

The course provides an opportunity for the participants to expose themselves to the various theoretical, methodological and empirical aspects of Social Science Research. It helps them developing skills to identify research topics, formulate research plans and use suitable tools and techniques in social research. Thus, the course tries to develop skill to conduct independent research work and understand & critically appreciate research articles.

Course Content

The course is visualized in three parts.

The first part relates to ‘conceptualization’ with emphasis on some theoretical concepts like science and scientific approach to research, unique features of social science, types of research, measurement of variables etc. The students are required to relate these theoretical aspects to the second part, which is known as operationalisation.

The second part of the course deals with instrument designing, use of various statistical tools and techniques including the participatory approaches used in social science research. Emphasis will be given to the application, interpretation of the findings of the statistical tools and their rationale.

The third part constitutes a field study (group work) and writing a research report in which various tools will be used for data analysis including the participatory rural appraisal (PRA) techniques.

The participants, in a group, are required to identify a research topic relating to the rural society/economy and conduct a study on the selected topic. The group, during the field trip, will collect data from the house-holds in the villages with the help of a questionnaire & participatory methods. The groups will take the help of the course instructor for identifying a research topic and formulating a questionnaire. After the field trip and collection of data a report will be prepared by the groups and present it in the assigned class for discussion. After the presentation and feed back, a final report will be submitted by the groups towards the end of the term. (The groups will be formed by the instructor for the field trip.)

The following are the topics that are intended to be covered in this course and the sessions allotted for each topic:

Topics to be covered
Sessions
IConceptualization
- Scientific approach to research & Social Scientific Enquiry
    - Concept, construct and variables

    - Research Problems & hypothesis
      - Types of Research
        - Scale of measurement – some basis concepts, Reliability & Validity
        2

        1

        1

        1

        1
        IIOperationalisation I
          a) Tools and Techniques
            - Research Design
              - Sampling Techniques and their uses
                - Questionnaire Construction and operationalisation of variables
                  - Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) Methods: Demonstration and explanation of the exercises in the class room.
                    (Exercises on six PRA Tools will be discussed in the class which will be used in the field since it will not be possible to use many due to time constraint.)

                    Data collection and the PRA Exercise in the villages
                      Data collection will be done during the field trip. The participants will identify a topic; collect data from the rural areas using both traditional and PRA methods during their field trip which will be after the mid term.Different statistical tools will be used to analyze the data collected from the villages.
                      1

                      1

                      1

                      1





                      Field Exercise
                      b) Operationalisation – II
                        Tools for Data Analysis and presentation & discussion of results
                          i) Tabulation & diagrammatic representation of data
                            (This will include PRA tools.)
                              ii) Explanation, uses and applications of univariate and bivariate tools ( includes two variable regression)
                                iii) Explanation and uses of multivariate tools. (The dependence and interdependence methods)

                                (There are a large number of multivariate statistical tools available for data analysis, but a few are included in this course since it is practically not possible to use many).
                                  The following multivariate tools will be explained and uses & application will be discussed.
                                    Multiple Regression, Exploratory Factor Analysis (Data reduction Method) and Cluster Analysis (Classificatory method).
                                      The data collected from the field will be used in the above statistical tools. In case some more data is required the groups will collect those in the nearby places.
                                        For processing and analyzing the data the students will be using of Excel and SPSS.
                                      2


                                      3

                                      4
                                      III
                                      The groups will prepare a research report on their topic incorporating the data analysis and conclusions, present it in the class for discussion and submit a final report at the end of the term.
                                      1

                                      Reference
                                        There are a number of books on Social Research Methods in the XIM Library. However, two books viz. Foundations of Behavioural Research by F.N. Kerlinger and The Practice of Social Research by E.R.Babbie are quite handy for the first part of the course i.e. Conceptualisation.

                                        For the second and third part any good book on Social Research Methods or statistics will be helpful. Students are advised to refer Basic Econometrics by D.N.Gujarati or Introduction to Econometrics by Christopher Dougherty for regression analysis.

                                        For the multivariate analysis Business Research Methods by Cooper and Schindler and/or Multivariate Data Analysis by Hair,Anderson,Tatham and Black may be referred to.

                                        References will be given during the sessions. Materials collected from several sources relating to different topics and relevant references will also be given during the sessions to help the participants in understanding the basics of the concepts & tools to be used. The following books(some of them mentioned to earlier) may be referred to by the participants for the present course.

                                        1. Foundations of Behavioral Research by F.N. Kerlinger
                                        2. The Practice of Social Research by E.R.Babbie
                                        3. Business Research Methods by Cooper and Schindler
                                        4. Social Research Methods by C.R.Kothari
                                        5. Basic Econometrics by D.N.Gujarati
                                        6. Introduction to Econometrics by Christopher Dougherty
                                        7. Business Statistics by Ken Black
                                        8. Scientific Social Surveys and Research by P.V.Young
                                        9. Applying Regressiion and Correlation By J Miles & M Shevlin
                                        10. Multivariate Data Analysis by Hair, Anderson,Tatham and Black
                                          Evaluation
                                            a) Mid Term Test 25 %
                                            b) Presentations of exercises 15 %
                                            c) Final Report (including PRA) & presentation 20 %
                                            c) End Term Test 40 %
                                              Attendance in the class and interviews & discussions with participants will be correction features.

                                              Created By: Bijoy Kar on 09/13/2008 at 01:02 PM
                                              Category: PGPRM - I Doctype: Document

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