Data Analysis

The entire course is built upon three main aims: 1) to provide students with a complete and detailed overview of the main phases and techniques of social research; 2) to give students the essential elements which are needed to read, understand and interpret social facts starting from empirical-based observations; 3) to provide students with the essential skills to think, asses and create original empirical analyses based on organized data bases.
In order to achieve this, particular emphasis will be given to the understanding of the procedures leading to research results, to the ability to critically asses the reliability of such procedures, and to the choice of the most appropriate techniques to achieve research objectives. Moreover, a strong methodological approach will be stressed in order to help students to follow both very practical courses as well as to develop the appropriate skills which are needed in more professional environments (software, techniques).
Together, these main objectives will be achieved by relying on a mix of classes and laboratory sessions, where students will be stimulated to critically apply the knowledges gained during the course.

By the end of the course, students will be able to understand the basic elements of empirical researches in the social sciences field, together with their specificities as well as with their main strengths and weaknesses. Moreover, students will acquire a deep knowledge of both the research design and its implementation, together with a detailed comprehension of the different elements underlying the different procedures such as concepts, theories, hypotheses (knowledge and comprehension).
While doing this, students will be continuously stimulated to apply in a critical, practical, and original way all the knowledges developed during the course. This will be achieved by means of laboratory sessions and autonomous and group exercises. Therefore, by the end of the course students will be able to create and present a small piece of original research mainly following the examples presented during the course itself (applying knowledge and comprehension).
In doing so, students must pay attention to the presentation of their works. Indeed, they will be asked to choose and motivate among the most suitable and efficient ways (maps, graphs) to achieve a communicative goal (ability to communicate the knowledge). This aspect is crucial given that the student themselves will be the main recipients, and therefore the main reviewers, of their presentations. This will result in a dialectic exercise following the typical structure of a conference (judgment and critical thinking). It comes with this that both the hard and soft skills that students will develop will help them in autonomously continuing their studies and their job careers (ability to autonomously continue studying).