MSc Social Research Methods Summer Term Modules 2013
Module
Multisited and Mobile
Ethnography
Qualitative Comparative
Analysis
Researching Hidden & Hard to
Reach Populations
Social Research in Conflict
Affected Zones
Doctrinal versus Socio-legal
Research in Law
Systematic Review
Weeks Date
Start
End
00010
Thu 6 June
Thu 30 May & Mon 3
June
10:00
18:00
10:00
13:00
JUB-G31
JUB-G31 &
C169
10:00
18:00
JUB-G31
13:00
18:00
JUB-G31
10:00
13:00
JUB-G31
01100
Tue 4 June
Mondays 13 May &
10 June
Wednesdays 5 & 12
June
Tue 21 & Wed 29
May
11:00
16:00
Using Mass Observation
Evaluation of Policy &
Professional Practice
10000
Fri 17 May
9:00
17:00
C169
Special
Collections
(Library)
00001
Fri 14 June
9:30
15:30
JUB-G31
Module
Social Inclusion in Education &
Social Care
Date
Start
End
Tue 2 July
9:30
15:30
Tue 25 June
10:00
16:00
Effective Research Data
Management
00110
00010
10001
00011
Location
Location
BR-254/255
Library (Careers
& Employability
Centre)
Doctoral School
MSc Social Research Methods
Summer Term Modules 2013
Full-time and Part-time MSc SRM students select three of the following option
modules:
Summer Term (May 13 – June 14) MSc SRM Workshops:
569X8 Multisited and Mobile Ethnography
580X8 Qualitative Comparative Analysis
574X8 Researching Hidden & Hard to Reach Populations
570X8 Social Research in Conflict Affected Zones
579X8 Doctrinal versus Socio-legal Research in Law
578X8 Systematic Review
582X8 Using Mass Observation
575X8 Evaluation of Policy & Professional Practice
Education & Social Work Summer School (June 17 – Jul 12) MSc SRM
Workshops:
577X8 Social Inclusion in Education & Social Care
586X8 Effective Research Data Management
Students on the MSc Social Research Methods course are given priority for places
on the summer term module options. Requests for places on these modules from
PhD and other PG students are initially placed on a reserve list and will be allocated
a place if there is space available once all MSc SRM students have been allocated
their options).
Please return your form to the Doctoral School or email to esrcdtc@sussex.ac.uk
Deadline to return completed option forms is Fri 19 April by 4pm.
MSc Social Research Methods Summer Term Modules 2013
Doctoral School
569X8 – Multisited & Mobile Ethnography
MSc Social Research Methods Summer term option
5 credits
Tutor: Dr Abby Day
A.Day@sussex.ac.uk
Week 4: Thu 6 June 10:00-18:00 JUB-G31
This workshop examines the rise of multi-sited and mobile ethnography, focusing on tensions
between what might be conceived as 'the local' and 'the global', where 'place' and 'field' are
not only geographic locations, but representations of broader, sometimes invisible relational
and symbolic connections. From Marcus' original 1995 proposition to 'reform' anthropology,
the potential of multi-sited ethnography has been critiqued and, to a lesser extent, practised.
This workshop will consider theoretical issues but will also be related to practice as students
conduct a small multi-sited ethnographic project as the basis for their assessment.
Pre-Readings:
Chapter 1: Geertz, C. (1973), The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays, New York: Basic
Books.
‘Introduction’ Amit, V. (ed.) (2000) Constructing the Field: Ethnographic Fieldwork in the
Contemporary World. London and New York: Routledge
Hage, G. 2005. A not-so multi-sited ethnography of a not-so imagined community.
Anthropological Theory 5:4, 463-75.
Marcus, G. E. 1995. Ethnography in/of the World System: The Emergence of Multi-Sited
Ethnography. Annual Review of Anthropology, 24, 95-117.
‘Introduction’ Falzon, M.A. (ed.) 2009 Multi-Sited Ethnography: Theory, Praxis and Locality in
Contemporary Research. Aldershot: Ashgate.
Assessment: 1500 word essay
MSc Social Research Methods Summer Term Modules 2013
Doctoral School
580X8 – Qualitative Comparative Analysis
MSc Social Research Methods Summer term option
5 credits
Tutor: Dr Sabina Avdagic
S.Avdagic@sussex.ac.uk
Week 2: Thu 30 May 10:00-12:00 JUB-G31 & Mon 3 June 10:00-13:00 Arts C169
This workshop provides an introduction to an increasingly popular range of analytic
techniques in comparative research, commonly referred to as QCA (Qualitative
Comparative Analysis). Based on set theory and formal logic, QCA aims to provide
causal generalizations that strike a balance between complexity (inherent in caseoriented approaches) and generalizability (associated with variable-oriented
approaches). The aim is to provide a practical understanding of both the crisp-set and
fuzzy-set versions of QCA and to examine the main epistemological, methodological
and mathematical foundations of these techniques.
Session 1:
Introduction to crisp-set QCA
This session provides an introduction to the original, crisp-set version of QCA. We
will first discuss the key concepts used in QCA literature, such as subset relations,
complex causation, and equifinality. This will be followed by the basics of Boolean
algebra. Finally, focusing on logical minimization and truth table analysis, we will
explore how crisp-set QCA is done in practice. Given the time constraints, the
focus will be more on practical than theoretical underpinnings of QCA.
Session 2:
Introduction to fuzzy-set QCA
In this session we will focus on fuzzy-set QCA. This is a more advanced version of
QCA that allows cases to have partial membership in sets, which makes fuzzy sets
akin to conventional interval-scale variables. We will provide an overview of this
technique and its main steps, focusing on key differences between crisp-set and
fuzzy-set logics; the principles of data calibration, the use of conventional truth
tables to analyze fuzzy-set data, and the assessment of subset relationships with
fuzzy sets. The last part of this session will be a practical exercise where
participants will be given a simple data set to run a QCA analysis using fsQCA 2.0
software.
Pre-Readings:
Session 1 Introduction to crisp-set QCA
Core readings:
Berg-Schlosser, D., G. De Meur, B. Rihoux and C. Ragin. (2009). ‘Qualitative
Comparative Analysis (QCA) as an Approach’ in B. Rihoux and C. Ragin, eds.
Configurational Comparative Methods: Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA)
and Related Techniques. SAGE Publications, pp. 1-18.
Rihoux, B. and G. De Meur (2009). ‘Crisp-Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis
(csQCA)’, in B. Rihoux and C. Ragin, eds. Configurational Comparative Methods:
Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) and Related Techniques. SAGE
Publications, pp. 33-68.
C. Ragin (2008). Redesigning Social Inquiry: Fuzzy Sets and Beyond. University of
Chicago Press, Ch 1 (pp. 13-28)
Session 2 Introduction to fuzzy-set QCA
Core readings:
Ragin, C. (2009). ‘Qualitative Comparative Analysis Using Fuzzy Sets (fsQCA)’, in
B. Rihoux and C. Ragin, eds. Configurational Comparative Methods: Qualitative
Comparative Analysis (QCA) and Related Techniques. SAGE Publications, pp.
87-122.
Ragin, C. (2008). Redesigning Social Inquiry: Fuzzy Sets and Beyond. University of
Chicago Press. Ch. 2, pp. 29-43.
Ragin, C. (2005). ‘From Fuzzy-Sets to Crisp Truth Tables’, Compasss Working
paper. Available at http://www.compasss.org/files/wpfiles/Raginfztt_April05.pdf
Assessment: 1500 word essay
Participants who wish to work on their own laptops are advised to install fsQCA
2.0 software before the class. This software can be downloaded for free from
http://www.u.arizona.edu/~cragin/fsQCA/software.shtml
Please note that this software is currently compatible only with Windows based
computers. We will also download this software during our computer exercise on
the desktops in the computer lab.
MSc Social Research Methods Summer Term Modules 2013
Doctoral School
574X8 – Researching Hidden & Hard to Reach
Populations
MSc Social Research Methods Summer term option
5 credits
Tutor: Dr Michael Collyer
M.Collyer@sussex.ac.uk
Week 4: Tue 4 June 10:00-18:00 JUB-G31
Hard to reach, rare and/or hidden populations are often of particular interest to social science
researchers, yet present obvious challenges to identify and engage in the research process.
Such populations typically include individuals facing stigmatisation who are likely to be
unwilling to identify themselves in public contexts. This workshop reviews the reasons why we
may want to engage such populations in research and assesses the range of methods which
have been employed to access them. This includes various chain referral methods,
respondent driven sampling, privileged access interviews, engaged or activist research and
applications of Internet research. Although some of these applications, such as snowball
sampling, are now well established, others are only widely used in health research and are
still at the experimental stage in the social sciences more broadly. The workshop will involve
small group work to assess and apply these methods to a series of research contexts to
identify the advantages and potential drawbacks of each. Research with hard to reach and
hidden populations often generates particular ethical concerns which will also be considered
in detail.
Assessment: 2000 word essay
MSc Social Research Methods Summer Term Modules 2013
570X8 – Social Research in Conflict Affected
Zones
MSc Social Research Methods Summer term option module
5 credits
Tutor: Dr Nigel Eltringham
N.P.Eltringham@sussex.ac.uk
Weeks 1 & 5 Monday 13 May and Mon 10 June 13:00-18:00 JUB-G31
This workshop explores issues of access and ethics for social scientists conducting research in conflict
affected zones. In the mid-1990s a seminal volume edited by Carolyn Nordstrom and Antonius Robben
drew attention to the particular ethical and personal dilemmas anthropologists (and social scientists in
general) face when conducting research in conflict affected areas. Drawing on this volume, a more recent
volume edited by Chandra Lekha Sriram et al and additional individual case studies, the workshop will
consider the generic problems that research in conflict affected areas poses for researchers and explore,
through case studies, the strategies and responses researchers have adopted. The first workshop will
consider conducting research in contexts where conflict is on-going and the second workshop will
consider conducting research in contexts that are in the immediate aftermath of violent conflict.
Pre-Readings:
Hoffman, D. (2003) Frontline anthropology: Research in a time of war Anthropology Today Vol. 19, No.
3.
J. C. Kovats-Bernat (2008) Negotiating Dangerous Fields: Pragmatic Strategies for Fieldwork amid
Violence and Terror American Anthropologist Vol. 104, No. 1.
Lekha Sriram, C, J. C. King, J. A. Mertus, O. Martin-Ortega, J. Herman (eds) 2009 Surviving Field
Research: Working in Violent and Difficult Situations Routledge
Nordstrom, C. and A. C. G. M. Robben (eds) (1996) Fieldwork Under Fire: Contemporary Studies of
Violence and Culture University of California Press
Wood, E. (2006) 'The Ethical Challenges of Field Research in Conflict Zones', Qualitative Sociology,
Vol. 29 No. 3.
Assessment: 1000 word essay
MSc Social Research Methods Summer Term Modules 2012-13
Doctoral School
579X8– Doctrinal versus Socio-legal Research
in Law: The Role of Courts as Instruments of Legal Development
MSc Social Research Methods Summer term option
5 credits
Tutor: Dr Craig Barker
J.C.Barker@sussex.ac.uk
Weeks 4 & 5: Wed 5 June and Wed 12 June 10:00-13:00 JUB-G31
The first part of this workshop will focus on an analysis of legal research methods examining, in
particular, doctrinal and socio-legal methods but also considering alternative methods including
critical legal studies, feminism and historical/comparative approaches. All students will be
encouraged to consider the different ways in which alternative approaches to legal research might
or might not contribute to our understanding of the law and its role in society. This will be of
interest to both legal researchers and non-lawyers. In particular, students who are not researching
in law and who do not have a law background will be invited to consider how legal research and
analysis might impact on or benefit their own studies.
The second part of the workshop will consist of a case-study examining the decision of the
International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the case of Jurisdictional Immunities of the State (Germany v
Italy) decided on 3 February 2012. Although the ICJ is somewhat unusual in that its decisions are
binding only on the parties before it, the ICJ has a central role in the development of international
law. The case focuses on the balance between securing the interests of states in situations of
human rights violations and is therefore an interesting case study about the role of law in achieving
justice. In particular it is a controversial decision that has been criticised as overly conservative.
The workshop will utilise this case as an opportunity to consider how courts interpret and apply the
law and how the law might or might not function as an instrument of social change.
Assessment: 1500 word essay
MSc Social Research Methods Summer Term Modules 2013
578X8 – Systematic Review
MSc Social Research Methods Summer term option
5 credits
Tutor: Prof Elaine Sharland and Dr David Orr
E.Sharland@sussex.ac.uk
D.Orr@sussex.ac.uk
Weeks 2 & 3: Tue 21 May and Wed 29 May 11:00-16:00 Arts C169
Systematic reviewing is becoming increasingly popular in the social sciences and with policy
makers (in particular the Department for International Development) as a means of providing
greater rigour and transparency to the process of synthesising existing research. This workshop
will provide two full day sessions in which participants will engage in the methods of systematic
reviewing including searching, screening, data extraction and synthesis, focusing on their own
chosen field of research. This practical application will be contextualised in the literature and
debate about systematic reviewing and evidence informed policy and practice in order to examine
the critiques, theoretical assumptions made and limitations. The workshops will enable participants
to approach literature reviewing more critically but more rigorously and will provide training in the
skills involved.
Workshop 1
For those who are less familiar with the background, the first workshop will start with a brief
introduction to systematic reviews, different approaches to undertaking them, and key areas of
critical debate. We will then examine the process of setting suitable research questions for
systematic review, and some of the conceptual and strategic challenges involved. The primary
focus of the day is on the development and implementation of search strategies to identify relevant
studies, and the application of inclusion / exclusion criteria to screen out those that are not of
interest to the review.
Workshop 2
This workshop will focus first on ‘data extraction,’ which is the process whereby research is quality
appraised and relevant research evidence drawn from it. Participants will be asked to adapt an
existing data extraction pro forma to create one suitable for use with the articles they have
selected in order to address their chosen research question. We will explore the challenges and
best strategies for doing this, and then move on to look at how research evidence from several
different research studies can be brought together in a coherent, useful synthesis. Throughout this
process, we will continue to consider some of the critical issues raised in Workshop 1, including
the place of theory in synthesis of research evidence.
Indicative Readings
Boaz, A., Ashby, A. and Young, K. (2002) Systematic Reviews: What have they got to offer
evidence based policy and practice? London: ESRC UK Centre for Evidence Based
Policy and Practice
Hagen-Zanker, J., M. Duvendack, R. Mallett and R. Slater (2012) Briefing Paper: Making
systematic reviews work for international development. Available at www.odi.org.uk/slrc
Petticrew, M. and Roberts, H. (2006) Systematic reviews in the social sciences: A practical
guide. Oxford: Blackwell
Sharland, E. (2012) ‘Systematic Review,’ in M. Gray, J. Midgely, and S. Webb (eds.)
Handbook of Social Work. London: Sage
Assessment: 2000 word essay
MSc Social Research Methods Summer Term Modules 2013
582X8 – Using Mass Observation
MSc Social Research Methods Summer term option
5 credits
Tutor: Fiona Courage
F.P.Courage@sussex.ac.uk
Week 1, Friday 17 May 9:00-17:00 Special Collections Reading Room, Library
The course will examine the methodologies and findings of the Mass Observation organisation
through the Mass Observation Archive held in the University Library giving them the opportunity
to explore the use and effectiveness of qualitative survey material.
Mass Observation was established in 1937 as a unique social survey organisation using
ethnographic and self reflective writing projects to examine many aspects of everyday life in
Britain until the mid 1950s. The project restarted in 1981 and as the Mass Observation Project,
has continued to collect subjective observational writing from a volunteer panel on issues relating
to contemporary life in Britain over the past 30 years.
Using the vast archive of material amassed by Mass Observation over six decades, this course
will look at the techniques of the ‘historical’ Mass Observation and the qualitative value of the
contemporary Mass Observation Project. Students will assess the benefits and effectiveness of
qualitative research analysis through practical exercises examining the documents available in
hardcopy and digital format through the electronic library. They will use this experience to
critically evaluate the types of research questions that quantitative and qualitative methods are
best able to address and articulate rationales for combining these approaches.
Indicative Readings:
Madge, C. & Harrisson, T.H. 1937. Mass Observation London: Frederick Muller Ltd.
Madge, C. & Harrisson, T.H. 1938 First Year's Work London: Lindsay Drummond.
Jeffery, T. 1999. Mass Observation: a short history Mass Observation Occasional Paper
Series No. 10
Highmore, B. 2002 Everyday Life and Cultural Theory: an introduction, Routledge, (p.75112)
Sheridan, D. 1996 “Damned anecdotes and dangerous confabulations” Mass Observation
as life history. Mass Observation Occasional Paper No. 7
Summerfield, P. 1985 Mass-Observation: Social Research or Social Movement? In Journal
of Contemporary History 20: 439 (available via electronic library)
Mass Observation Archive Catalogue available at: www.sussex.ac.uk/library/speccoll
Mass Observation website available at: www.massobs.org.uk/index.htm
Assessment:1500 word report
MSc Social Research Methods Summer Term Modules 2013
575X8 – Evaluation of Policy & Professional
Practice
MSc Social Research Methods Summer term option
5 credits
Tutor: Prof Donald Forrester
Donald.Forrester@beds.ac.uk
Week 5, Fri 14 June 9:30-15:30 JUB-G31
Increasingly evaluation research has become central to assuring and underpinning quality,
effectiveness and accountability in many public services sectors, including social work, education
and health care.
This short, advanced post graduate course is intended for students with some familiarity with
fundamental principles of evaluation research, and with some of the key approaches (including
experimental, process evaluation and realist evaluation) that may be deployed to evaluate
interventions (if students do not have such familiarity then reading the set texts prior to the course is
likely to be necessary and sufficient). The critical focus of the course will be on three key challenges
and different theoretical and practical responses to them, namely:
1. Issues in relation to bias, particularly in relation to measuring outcomes of interventions.
2. Paying significant attention to the context of the service and the research itself.
3. Considering differing perspectives on outcomes.
The content of the course will be focussed on sharing experiences of developing and carrying out
current and recent evaluative research, with some review of historical “classics” of evaluative
research. Various methods will be presented and the course will explore pragmatic, theoretical and
methodological issues in developing effective evaluative designs.
Indicative Readings:
Forrester, D. (2012) ‘Evaluative Research” in M. Gray, J. Midgely, and S. Webb (eds.)
Handbook of Social Work. London: Sage
Oakley, A. (2000) Experiments in Knowing: Gender and Method in the Social Sciences,
Cambridge, Polity Press
Pawson, R. and Tilley, N. (1997) Realistic Evaluation, London, Sage.
Torgerson, D.J. and Torgerson, C.J. (2008) Designing Randomised Trials in Health,
Education and the Social Sciences: An Introduction, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan.
Assessment: 1200 word critical review
MSc Social Research Methods Summer Term Modules 2013
Doctoral School
577X8 – Social Inclusion in Education & Social
Care
MSc Social Research Methods Summer term option module
5 credits
Tutors: Prof Louise Morley, Prof Valerie Hey, Dr Tish Marrable
L.Morley@sussex.ac.uk
Education & Social Work Summer School, Tue July 2 9:30-15:30, BRAMBER 254/255
A socially inclusive society is one where all people feel valued, their differences are respected, and their
basic needs are met so they can live in dignity. Yet there are multiple barriers, including poverty,
difference and identities that contribute to social exclusion. Social exclusion is the process of being shut
out from social, economic, political and cultural systems.
The course Social Inclusion in Education and Social Care engages with concepts and theories that
provide some explanatory power for understanding social inclusion e.g. intersectionality, misrecognition,
social capital, sociology of absences and southern theory. It also focuses on methodological approaches,
challenges and processes involved in researching social inclusion e.g. power relations, accessing
marginalised communities, representation, and situated knowledge.
The course considers the potential ways in which education and social care institutions, organisations,
and processes may be exclusionary, and the impact that this may have on equitable access to education
and social care in diverse organisational and national contexts.
Indicative Readings
Apple, M., S. J. Ball and L. A. Gandin (Eds) (2009) International Handbook of the Sociology of Education: Critical
Research for Social Justice. London: Routledge.
Barnard, J., Prior, A., Potter, D. (2000) Inclusion and autism: is it working? London: NAS.
Bourdieu, P. (1986) The forms of capital. In J. Richardson (Ed.) Handbook of Theory and Research for the
Sociology of Education (New York, Greenwood), 241-258.
http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/fr/bourdieu-forms-capital.htm
Butler, J. (1990) Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (New York, Routledge, 1990).
Clarke, J. (2004) Changing Welfare, Changing States, London, Sage.
Hey, V. & Bradford, S. (2007) Successful subjectivities. The successification of class, ethnic and gender positions.
Journal of Education Policy 22 (6) 595-614 reprinted in Simons, M. Olssen, M.
Peters, A. M. (Eds.) (2009) Re-reading education policies : a handbook studying the policy agenda of the 21st
century Educational futures; v. 32, Sense Publishers, Rotterdam, Netherlands & Boston
Morley, L. (2012). "Researching Absences and Silences in Higher Education: Data for Democratisation." Higher
Education Research and Development 31(3): 353-368.
Morris, K. and Barnes, M. (2008) Prevention and social exclusion: new understandings for policy and practice,
British Journal of Social Work, 38, 6, 1194-1211.
Taylor, I. & Marrable, T. (2011) Access to social care for adults with autistic spectrum conditions. London: SCIE
Assessment: 1000 word essay
MSc Social Research Methods Summer Term Modules 2013
Doctoral School
586X8 – Effective Research Data Management
MSc Social Research Methods Summer term module
5 credits
Tutor: Joanna Ball
J.E.Ball@sussex.ac.uk
Education & Social Work Summer School, Tue 25 June 10:00-16:00 Library
Effective research data management is central to good research.
Funding agencies are increasingly expecting researchers to manage effectively the data produced
as a result of the research they fund, to enable it to be able to exploited for further research. This
is reflected in their data sharing policies and the inclusion of data management and sharing plans
as part of research bids.
The course will provide participants with the knowledge to manage their research data at every
stage of the data lifecycle, from pre-project planning, data creation, data management,
publication, long-term preservation and issues of sharing and re-use.
The course will focus on the specific nature of research data in the social sciences, both
qualitative and quantitative, and the challenges that this presents.
Indicative Reading
Jones, S. (2011). ‘How to Develop a Data Management and Sharing Plan’. DCC How-to Guides.
Edinburgh: Digital Curation Centre. Available online: http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/how-guides.
Viewed 1 November 2012
UK Data Archive (2011). "Managing and sharing data: best practice for researchers". Colchester:
UK DAta Archive. Available online: http://www.dataarchive.ac.uk/media/2894/managingsharing.pdf. Viewed 1 November 2012
Assessment: 1000 word essay