Handbook

Note: This is a 12 UOC course. You will enrol in 6 UOC in each of two successive terms with a result reported by a single grade at the end of the second 6 UOC course.

This is a core course for Honours candidates in the School of Social Sciences and the main focus will be the question of methodology. Each seminar will look at different approaches to research across the sub-disciplines and will explore what we might call the ‘so what’ of a particular methodology’s analytical leverage. Why do the Social Sciences break into myriad, competing methodologies? Can we describe our methodologies as scientific, and if not, then how do we best secure a notion of accuracy and usefulness? How does our understanding of evidence actually change our research methods as well as the outcomes and conclusions that we might reach?