Unit Code: SOP803

Unit Name: Research Methods for Social Policy: Exploratory, Monitoring and Evaluation

Description: Research is an essential aspect of social policy.It provides evidence to inform policy decisions. And, in relation to social policy social research assumes its applied form in relation to policy design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. At the postgraduate level it is important for students to understand the Philosophical and theoretical debates that underline social research its methodologies and respective tools.The Unit is divided in two distinct but related parts. The first part addresses some of the critical philosophical issues that underline and inform research in the social sciences. The second part is devoted to the implications of these critical issues to the tools of quantitative and qualitative methods (and variations of this) in the social sciences and their applications to researching social issues and results they yield. A seminar component of this Unit will be devoted to practical aspects of student?s research for their major Research paper which is the fifth requirement of the programme.

Learning Target Outcomes:

Prerequisite: N/A

Prerequisite Sentence: B+ grade from SOP801 and SOP802

Credit Point: 30

Offered In: Semester 2