Teaching Assistant: TBC

Class Attendance                15 pts*

 

*Important Note: A student who exceeds more than three absences in this course will be considered a failure. It is important to note that absences include the following types of leave: female menstrual leave, mental health leave (up to five days per semester, no medical proof required), sick leave (medical proof required), Indigenous annual ritual leave, and personal leave. All applications for leave of absence must be submitted in advance through the University's student leave system. No other means of application will be accepted.

 

Weekly Engagement           20 pts.

This score is consisting of weekly engagement in the class and individual/group tasks across verbal and written forms.

Final Presentation               25 pts.      

Final Paper                          40 pts.

Content of Assignments:

Tasks for Weekly Engagement

To be announced in class weekly.

Assignments I (Midterm) and II (Final)

Topic:

To design your research project (either individual or group work) that could be linked to your research essay in other modules in relevant fields.

In this course, we assure you that none of your efforts will go in vain. Once if you select a topic for formulating your research proposal (Assignment I), you will be able to examine your own proposal/essay writings and build up analytical materials throughout each class.

To the end, you will be able to assemble the materials collected throughout the course to refine your essay/proposal and to submit the combined result as Assignment II. Details of evaluation criteria in each assignment will be announced in the Week 1 introductory class.

Assignment I (Due: April 16, 2025)

Please submit a draft research proposal which relates to one or two of the designated categories (i.e. big data and societies; climate politics; democratization; dispossession; gender; globalization) with the following elements:

• A working title;


• A project description of ‘introduction’ which introduces the research context, the importance of this research project, the intended issue to be studied or problems to be solved; and its potential contribution;


• Your research question: it could be included in the project description or listed as an item separately;


• Tentative research design: (listing indicative research methods)

Both submissions should fulfil the format requirement below:

• main text in font size 11 or 12;


• double spacing;


• If using an image, provides a caption and credits the image source.


• maximum not exceeding three pages (including references).


• Citation and reference style: Harvard or APA 6^th edition.

Assignment II Final Presentation and Refined Proposal (Due: June 4, 2025 - presentation; June 18, 2025 - Proposal Submission)

Course Schedule and Readings:

Week 1: Course Overview

Spickard, James (2017) Research Basics: Design to Data Analysis in 6 Steps, Sage Publications. (Introduction: pp.1-5)

Supplementary reading:

Neuman, W. Lawrence (2014) Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches (7th Edition), Edinburgh: Pearson Education Limited. (Chapter 1)

Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams (2008) The Craft of Research (3rd Edition). Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press. (Prologue and Chapters 1)

 

Week 2: Develop Your Research Proposal: Research Questions, Design, and Ethics

Compulsory readings:

Opt. 1: Spickard, James (2017) Research Basics: Design to Data Analysis in 6 Steps, Sage Publications. (Chapter 1) 

Opt. 2: Bell, Judith (2010) Doing Your Research Project (Open Up Study Skills) (5^th edition), Open University Press. (Chapters 2, 3)

Workshop References:

Gathering and Noting Ideas, SPARK: Student Papers & Academic Research Kit

https://spark.library.yorku.ca/gathering-and-noting-ideas-why-take-notes/

Week 3&4 Develop Your Research Proposal: Research Questions, Design, and Ethics

Compulsory reading:

Spickard, James (2017) Research Basics: Design to Data Analysis in 6 Steps, Sage Publications. ()

Bell, Judith (2010) Doing Your Research Project (Open Up Study Skills) (5^th edition), Open University Press. (Chapters 3, 4, 5, 6)

Supplementary Reading:

Effective Reading Strategies, SPARK: Student Papers & Academic Research Kit

https://spark.library.yorku.ca/effective-reading-strategies-academic-reading/

Week 8: Participant Observation

Henne, Richard B. (2007) ‘From “Subjective I’s” to “Self-evident Ideologies,”’ Qualitative Research Journal, vol. 6, no. 2, April, pp. 117–131.

McCall, George J. (1984) Systematic Field Observation, Annual Review of Sociology, Vol. 10., pp. 263-282. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0360-0572%281984%2910%3C263%3ASFO%3E2.0.CO%3B2-1

Part III. Using Quantitative Methods 量化研究方法  

Week 10: Introduction of Quantitative Methods量化研究方法入門

Compulsory readings:

Stockemer, Daniel (2019) Quantitative Methods for the Social Sciences: A Practical Introduction with Examples in SPSS and Stata, Springer. (Chapters 1, 2)

Week 11: Measurement and Inference in Quantitative Research 量化研究方法中的測量與干擾

Compulsory readings:

Neuman, W. Lawrence (2014) Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches (7th Edition), Edinburgh: Pearson Education Limited. (Chapters 7, 8, 12)

Week 12: Survey, Secondary Data, and Big Data 調查、次級資料與大數據

Compulsory readings:

Neuman, W. Lawrence (2014) Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches (7th Edition), Edinburgh: Pearson Education Limited. (Chapters 10, 11)

Salganik, Matthew (2019) Bit by Bit: Social Research in the Digital Age, Princeton University Press. (Chapters 1, 2)

Week 13: Practices in Quantitative Methods 實作量化研究方法

Compulsory readings:

Mario Callegaro, Katja Lozar Manfreda and Vasja Vehovar (2015) Web Survey Methodology, London: Sage. (Chapter 1)

Part II. Using Qualitative Methods 質性研究方法

Week 5-6 In-depth Interview

發展深度訪談(1) 如何設計問卷

Compulsory readings:

Neuman, W. Lawrence (2014) Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches (7th Edition), Edinburgh: Pearson Education Limited. (Chapters 13 Field Research and Focus Group Research)

Warren, Carol A. B. (2001) Chapter 4. Qualitative Interviewing, in Jaber F Gubrium and James A Holstein (eds.), Handbook of Interview Research: Context and Method, pp.83-101.



Supplementary reading:

Some Strategies for Developing Interview Guides, Department of Sociology, Harvard University. https://sociology.fas.harvard.edu/files/sociology/files/interview_strategies.pdf

Neuman, W. Lawrence (2014) Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches (7th Edition), Edinburgh: Pearson Education Limited. (Chapters 14 Analysis of Qualitative Data)

Week 7 Focus Group

Week 9 Mixed Methods & Participatory Methodology

Creswell, John W. & Creswell, J. David (2018) Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches, 5th Edition (Chapter 10)

Chevalier, Jacques M. and Buckles, Daniel J. (2019) Participatory Action Research: Theory and Methods for Engaged Inquiry (2nd Edition), London: Routledge. (Chapter 1)

Week 10-13: TBC.

Part IV. Integrated & Creative Methods

Week 14: How to Prepare for A Grant Pitch and Social Science Outreach

National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement (no date) The EDGE Tool, NCCPE. Available at: https://www.publicengagement.ac.uk/support-engagement/strategy-and-planning/edge-tool (Accessed: 11 July 2023).

Overall Supplementary readings for Academic Reading and Essay Skills學術閱讀與寫作技巧

Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein (2016) “THEY SAY I SAY”: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing (3^rd Edition), New York/London: W. W. Norton & Company.

Weinberg, Francine, Goggin, Maureen D., and Bullock, Richard (2016) The Norton Field Guide to Writing (4^th Edition), New York/London: W. W. Norton & Company. Chapter 25 (pp.294-300) and Chapter 26 (pp. 305-320).