79444 - RESEARCH AND EVALUATION METHODS IN THE HORTICULTURAL SYSTEM

Conoscenze e abilità da conseguire

The students will - have a clear understanding of the nature of science and the values involved in the practice of science, as well as of the scientific method and of the main research approaches - be able to plan, perform, and critically evaluate their own scientific work and to communicate the results to a scientific audience; - have a clear understanding of research methods and of the main data analysis techniques used in the socio-economic disciplines with a special focus on market research in the horticultural system - have a clear understanding of the instruments used to analyze agricultural policy at EU and country level.

Contenuti

Research methods for horticultural business (6 ECTS): The student acquires the ability to understand the research process in marketing and management and to apply it to the horticulture-related problems. Starting from project idea, the student is able to develop the research question, prepare a research proposal, design a research plan, a data collection plan, and appropriate data analysis procedures. The student is able to implement the research plan, from data collection to presentation of research results, in oral and written form, critically review research proposals and research results. The student knows and applies criteria of the integrity of the research process and results, including credibility criteria, professional, and ethical criteria.

- Unit 1: Theoretical framework and research design. Deductive vs inductive research. Dependent, independent, moderating, mediating variables. Conceptual model, theory, hypothesis. Exploratory, descriptive, causal studies. Level of research interference, study setting (4 hours)

- Unit 2: research strategies, data collection, data sources, primary vs secondary data, census vs sample data, units of analysis, time horizon, cross-section vs longitudinal studies, panel data (4 hours)

- Unit 3: data collection methods, qualitative and quantitative techniques, focus groups, individual interviews, surveys and questionnaires, observation, experiments (12 hours)

- Unit 4: types of measurement and measurement level, objective and subjective measures, concepts and constructs, operationalizing, single vs multiple items, multidimensional constructs, validation and validated scales, primary scales and specific scaling techniques (4 hours)

- Unit 5: elements of sampling. Sampling design. Population, sampling frame, original sample, final sample. Sampling process. Probability vs nonprobability sampling. Types of samples. Sample size. (4 hours)

- Unit 6: specific data analysis techniques. Linear regression, factor analysis, cluster analysis. (8 hours)

- Unit 7 (practical): R statistical software. Installation and basic elements. Data import and types of data. Analysis of single variables, descriptive statistics and graphs. Bivariate analysis, tests of association, bivariate graphs. Multivariate analysis, linear regression, factor analysis, cluster analysis. (16 hours)

- Unit 8 (practical): design of a research proposal. Draft preparation and discussion. Motivation, problem setting, research objective, data, methods, expected results, outputs, responsibilities, workplan, budget (8 hours)

Agricultural policy evaluation (3 ECTS): public policy is the action taken by government to address specific societal challenges. Local, regional, national, and international government organizations all craft and implement public policy to protect and benefit their populations addressing particular issues with a common long-term goal.

Agricultural and food systems remain key sectors in any society (post-industrial societies, newly industrialized countries, emerging economies, low income countries) and they are strongly shaped by government actions in response to human needs, domestic and international pressures, social changes, climatic events. This module is aimed at analyzing public policies in agricultural and food systems.

Unit 1 Setting the context

Agricultural and food economics: basic elements. What is public policy; The role of governments in food and agriculture; The policy process: problem identification, agenda setting, policy development, policy implementation; Institutional and non-institutional actors; Governments, versus corporations, versus non-governmental organizations; Policy objectives: from addressing market failures to food security to rent seeking; Agriculture and natural resources; Sustainability and circular economy.

Unit 2 The politics of farm subsidies

Why do farm subsidies persist? How agricultural subsidies changed over the years? Who is helped by farm subsidies, and who is hurt?

Unit 3 Policy evaluation

Define the problem; Assemble some evidence; Construct the alternatives; Select the criteria; Project the outcomes; Confront the tradeoffs; Decide; Tell your story.

Unit 4 Case studies

Case studies change every year. In the past years case studies included: Food waste: definition, quantification and policy interventions; Life Cycle Costing of horticultural production; Rural crossroads: challenges and opportunities for rural development (workshop); The food-water-energy nexus: what policy can do (workshop); Agricultural and rural development policies in Moldova; Evaluation practices and approaches: the case of the World Food Programme.

The module will:

• define public policy and agricultural and food policy;
• discuss the role of agricultural and food policies;
• outline the policy process and the policy analysis evaluation framework;
• define the critical elements to conduct sound policy analysis (and design/implement sound policies);
• present a set of methodologies to conduct policy analysis;
• provide knowledge to organize and develop a short policy paper.

Testi/Bibliografia

Sekaran, U., & Bougie, R. (2013). Research Methods for Business: A Skill-Building Approach (6th ed.). Wiley.

In alternative: Bhattacherjee, A. (2012). Social Science Research: Principles, Methods, and Practices. Textbooks Collection. Book 3. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/oa_textbooks/3

Crawley, M. J. (2014). Statistics: An Introduction Using R (2nd ed.). Wiley.

Eugene Bardach (2012), A Practical Guide to Policy Analysis: The Eightfold Path to More Effective Problem Solving, Chatham House Publishers, Seven Bridges Press.

Robert Paarlberg (2013), Food Politics: What Everyone Needs to Know. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Other material will be indicated during classes.

Metodi didattici

Research methods for horticultural business (6 ECTS): The course is based on face-to-face lectures, assignments and practical training.

The class activity is split into content units. For some units the theoretical and practical sessions will be integrated in the same lesson.

The module is integrated with the course "79446 - SCIENTIFIC METHOD IN HORTICULTURAL RESEARCH" and it is assumed that students have attended its lectures.

Students are invited to propose a mandatory individual project work, aimed at preparing a research proposal draft that will be presented and discussed at the exam. Student must prepare a written research proposal (length in the range of 30-60 thousand characters) on their individual project work and its discussion will be one of the oral exam question.

A voluntary self-evaluation test will be proposed at the end of the course and before the last lecture to let the student identify possible topics where performance need to be improved.

Agricultural policy evaluation (3 ECTS): The module is divided in 4 units and is based on face to face lectures, assignments and group discussions. Specific case studies will be presented and discussed during the classes in order to enhance participation. An active learning approach is utilized also to evaluate and discuss papers, reports, strategies and policy briefs. Participants are requested to prepare a final policy paper (approximately 4000 words). More information regarding assignments will be provided during classes.

Modalità di verifica e valutazione dell'apprendimento

Research methods for horticultural business (6 ECTS):

Oral exam, approximate duration 30 minutes. The exam consists in three questions focused on the topics dealt with during the lectures. The questions will cover the three main course areas: research planning strategy (1/3), research techniques (1/3), analysis methods (1/3).
The oral exam will start with the discussion on the short paper (research project proposal) submitted at least three days in advance.

Students who attended at least 70% of the lectures will have the possibility to make the online test as a replacement of two questions in the oral exam. The results of the online test will be converted to a grade using a conversion curve based on general test performance. The student can decide to discard the online test results and make the full oral exam.

 

Agricultural policy evaluation (3 ECTS):

Students who attended at least 70% of the lectures will be required to produce a policy paper of around 4000 words. A concept note of the policy paper will be presented and discussed during the class. The final version of the policy paper will be presented and discussed during the exam after the end of the class. The paper should be submitted at least three working days in advance.

The final grade for the module will be calculated thusly:

• In class grade: policy brief, case analysis, articles revision and discussion, and other class activities (40% approximately)
• Policy paper preparation and discussion (60% approximately)

Non attending students will be requested to take an oral exam and to produce a policy paper of around 4000 words. The paper will be presented and discussed with the lecturer. The oral exam will start from the discussion on the paper and it will consist of questions related to the course material. The topic of the policy paper should be agreed with the lecturer.
The final grade will be calculated thusly:

• Policy paper preparation and discussion (40% approximately)
• Oral (60% approximately)

Strumenti a supporto della didattica

Teaching materials (slides, scientific articles, and grey literature) made available on-line.
Edmodo teaching and social network platform used to communicate notices, assignments, exchange materials and comments.
R statistical software (free) installed on student's own PC. Practical sessions in the PC room.

Link ad altre eventuali informazioni

https://www.edmodo.com/home#/join/wwg4wk

Orario di ricevimento

Consulta il sito web di Maurizio Canavari

Consulta il sito web di Matteo Vittuari