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2011/2012  BA-PQUM  Applied Social Theory and Qualitative Methods

English Title
Applied Social Theory and Qualitative Methods

Course Information

Language English
Point 10 ECTS (300 SAT)
Type Mandatory
Level Bachelor
Duration One Semester
Course Period Spring
Time Table Please see course schedule at e-Campus
Study Board
Study Board for BSc/MSc i International Business and Politics
Course Coordinator
  • Hubert Buch-Hansen - Department for Business and Politics
Main Category of the Course
  • Philosophy and philosophy of science
Last updated on 29 maj 2012
Learning Objectives
The overall purpose is to develop students’ skills in making informed and reasoned methodological and theoretical choices in their own analytical work. At the end of the course students are expected to be able to:
  • Describe, compare, and discuss the basic positions in the philosophy of science.
  • Formulate a research question.
  • Make and critically assess theoretical and methodological choices.
  • Retrieve relevant information and data.
  • Produce and present coherently argued answers, combining theory, methodology, and data, to the research question posed.
  • Explain how their own work is situated in relation to the above (i.e. the basic positions in the philosophy of science and qualitative methods).
Applied Social Theory and Qualitative Methods:
Assessment Oral with Written Assignment
Marking Scale 7-step scale
Censorship External examiners
Exam Period May/June and August, The exam is in June. The re-exam/make-up exam is in August.
Aids Please, see the detailed regulations below
Duration Please, see the detailed regulations below
Examination
Written group project followed by an individual oral exam (20 minutes per student) graded by teacher and external censor on the 7-point scale. Groups consist of up to five students. Grading is based on an overall evaluation of the written and oral performance. The exam evaluates both philosophy of science and qualitative methods, as well as the students’ ability to use insights in the project from other disciplines from the programme. The project must draw on theory and empirical material.
Maximum project length:
5 students: 50 pages
4 students: 45 pages
3 students: 40 pages
2 students: 35 pages
1 student: 30 pages

Re-exam when the ordinary exam is failed is an individual oral exam (20 minutes per student) based upon the same group project with a 3-page supplement.
Make-up exam when ill at the ordinary exam is an individual oral exam (20 minutes per student) based on the same group project.
Make-up exam when ill during the writing of the project is a 20 minutes oral exam with 20 minutes preparation in the entire curriculum. No aids are allowed.
Course Content
The overall purpose is to develop students’ skills in making sound, informed, and reasoned methodological and theoretical choices in their own analytical work. In order to achieve this, the course aims firstly at giving the students and introduction to the history of economic and political thought. Secondly, it aims at giving the students and understanding of major positions and debates in the philosophy of science, such as positivism, constructivism, hermeneutics, and critical realism. Thirdly, the course introduces qualitative methods used in contemporary political economy and business studies such as macro-sociological method, comparative methods, interview techniques and report writing techniques.

The course covers i) key positions in the philosophy of science, focusing on the social sciences, ii) qualitative methods used in contemporary political economy and business studies, and iii) writing a project. Students choose their own project theme and develop their own research question. The project must be action or policy oriented, on behalf of a company or other type of organization, it must draw on both management and social science disciplines from the programme, and it must draw on theory as well as on empirical material.
The course involves writing a project. Students choose their own project theme and develop their own research question. The project must be action oriented, on behalf of a company or other type of organization, it must draw on both management and social science disciplines from the programme, and it must draw on theory as well as on empirical material. The specific action orientation of the project must be addressed in the problem statement and in the conclusion. The purpose of this requirement is to avoid purely academic and theoretical projects with no practical relevance at all. It is a flexible requirement that can be met in different ways.
As a minimum it means that the project must address the questions:
1. Which actor or group of actors is the knowledge produced in this project relevant for?
2. How is it relevant for this actor or group of actors? In other words, how can it contribute to choice of action, strategy formulation, improvement of practice etc?
Depending on the nature of the project, it can be taken further, for instance into
  • A suggested course of action for a specified actor (person, organisation, company) faced with a particular dilemma or difficult decision
  • A suggested medium- or long- term strategy for a specified actor; and there may be other possibilities.
In the evaluation of the project, it makes no difference how far the action orientation is taken as long as the minimum requirement is met.
Teaching Methods
Lectures