91188 - Laboratories (Lab4)

Learning outcomes

The student, through a workshop activity selected from those that will be activated from year to year, develops transversal skills in the practical elaboration of knowledge acquired in the teachings of the course of study. He/she knows how to collect, organize and analyze complex information and present the results of analysis in written and oral form.

Course contents

The workshop aims to offer a methodological and practical guide to the construction of an instrument for collecting information through standardized direct questioning (the so-called questionnaire). As part of the workshop activity, students will be asked to design, through teacher-led group work, a questionnaire and organize its administration to a target population. The laboratory activity will thus enable them to employ procedures, techniques and tools related to the process of operationalizing and measuring concepts used in the field of social sciences, that is, to actively experience the process of transforming theoretical hypotheses into empirical research operations. At the end of the laboratory course, the student will be able to take a critical approach to the measurement of concepts, identify the main emerging problems and formulate possible solutions.

Readings/Bibliography

Piergiorgio Corbetta, La ricerca sociale: metodologia e tecniche. II. Le tecniche quantitative, Il Mulino, 2015.

Teaching methods

Lectures. Practical exercises guided by the teacher.

Assessment methods

For the final evaluation, the following elements will be considered:

- participation and cooperation in the proposed classroom activities (40%);

- the questionnaire constructed (40%).

- the ability to present the purpose of the questionnaire, the methodological choices made, the challenges encountered, and the solutions provided (20%).

Teaching tools

PowerPoint presentations.

Office hours

See the website of Nicola De Luigi