2012/2013  BA-PPSM  Philosophy of Social Science and Applied Qualitative Methods

English Title

Philosophy of Social Science and Applied Qualitative Methods

Course information
Language	English
Exam ECTS	10 ECTS
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, BSc
Course coordinator
Hubert Buch-Hansen - Department for Business and Politics
Main Category of the Course
Philosophy and philosophy of science
Last updated on 06-05-2013

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).

Examination

Applied Social Theory and Qualitative Methods: Type of test Oral with Written Assignment Marking scale 7-step scale Second examiner External examiner 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 20 Minutes

Examination

Written group project followed by group oral exam according to the rules in § 6 in the Programme Regulations. Students are graded by teacher and external examiner on the 7-point scale. Grading is based on an overall evaluation of the written and oral performance. Groups consist of up to five students. At the oral exam, 20 minutes are allotted per student. 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: 60 standard pages 4 students: 50 standard pages 3 students: 45 standard pages 2 students: 40 standard pages 1 student: 30 standard pages Re-exam when the oral ordinary exam is failed is an individual oral exam (20 minutes per student) based upon the same group project with a 3-standard 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