This course will aim to: 

• outline the range of research methods used for studying people in social situations, focusing particularly on survey methods 
• illustrate these methods with relevant examples of completed research drawn from the substantive areas of interest of the students (e.g. education, health, and social services). 
• provide the students with opportunities to practise certain research skills in data collection, data processing and data analysis.

After completeing the course, students shold be able to:

Understand the epistemological reationale underlying the variety of techniques that are commonly used in modern social research;

design a questionnaire and understand the pros and cons of a range of survey designs
identify sources of error in survey measureents and be aware of how they can be prevented and removed
assess the quality and completeness of reporting on surveys on the basis of specific criteria
obtain and report on secondary survey data

• Introduction to the course the main methods of data collection.
• Hypothesis testing.
• Induction and deduction.
• The problems of measurement.
• Theoretical concepts and their empirical indicators.
• Design of questionnaires and interview schedules.
• Pilot studies.
• The continuum of types of interview from 'fixed-choice' to 'interview guide' Life Histories.
• Self-completion questionnaires.
• Diaries and Time Budgets.
• Telephone interviewing and CATI,
• Computer assisted personal interviewing (CAPI).
• Coding.
• Scaling.
• Index Construction.
• Attitude and Occupational Scales.
• Introduction to experimental design.
• Panel and Longitudinal studies.
• Sampling theory.
• Multistage samples.
• Probability Proportional to Size (PPS) Sampling.
• Problems of nonresponse.
• Conducting largescale social surveys.

DeVaus, D.A.(2002) , (5th Edition), London: UCL Press
Bryman, A (2001) Social Research Methods, Oxford University Press
Gilbert, N (ed) (2001) Research Social Life, 2nd ed. Sage
Groves, R,Floyd J.Fowler, M.Couper, J.M. Lepkowski, E.Singer, and R. Tourangeau, 2004. Survey Methodology, New Jersey: Wiley.