Syllabus
Lectures
First Block – Introduction to Academic Work 1. Introduction, Methodology (October 4) [TH, LH]
The course will be introduced, and the organisation of the semester will be presented. Besides this, teachers will explain the rationale and benefits of the course. Last, we will focus on explaining the term “methodology”.
Reading:
Babbie, E. (2011). The Basics of Social Research. Wadsworth Cengage Learning. Chapter 1 – Human Inquiry and Science. 2. Visiting Library (October 11) [LH]
The lecture will take place in the Jinonice library. Students will meet not only with the library but also with catalogues and e-resources.
Reading:
Gerring, J., & Christenson, D. (2017). Applied Social Science Methodology: An Introductory Guide. Cambridge University Press. Chapter 11 – Reading and Reviewing.
Materials and sources that were presented in the library. 3. Academic Work (October 18) [LH]
The lecture will define academic texts together with their key features and design. Furthermore, we will differentiate between various academic texts (books, articles, reviews etc.). Besides this, the crucial issue of plagiarism will be discussed.
Reading:
Gerring, J., & Christenson, D. (2017). Applied Social Science Methodology: An Introductory Guide. Cambridge University Press. Chapter 14 – Writing.
Končelík, J. (2015). Dean’s Provision no. 18/2015. Quotations and Acknowledgement of the Sources: Measures Against Plagiarism. Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University. Retrieved from: https://fsv.cuni.cz/en/deans-provision-no-18/2015 4. Non-Academic Work (October 25) [LH]
The lecture will focus on other non-academic activities that employ methods of social sciences (journalism, writing blogs, recording vlogs, making speeches etc.). We will also discuss different types of arguments, the issue of disinformation, and artificial intelligence.
Reading:
Gerring, J., & Christenson, D. (2017). Applied Social Science Methodology: An Introductory Guide. Cambridge University Press. Chapter 2 – Arguments.
Gerring, J., & Christenson, D. (2017). Applied Social Science Methodology: An Introductory Guide. Cambridge University Press. Chapter 15 – Speaking.
Second Block – Research Design 5. Topic, Research Question, Knowledge, and Hypotheses (November 1) [LH]
The lecture will open the theme of research design following the ideal research procedure. Therefore, the lecture will discuss the issues of identifying the topic and research question. Furthermore, we will focus on analysing the current state of knowledge and building hypotheses.
Reading:
Gerring, J., & Christenson, D. (2017). Applied Social Science Methodology: An Introductory Guide. Cambridge University Press. Chapter 12 – Brainstorming.
Babbie, E. (2011). The Basics of Social Research. Wadsworth Cengage Learning. Chapter 4 – Research Design. 6. Concepts and Measures (November 8) [LH]
The lecture will focus on the issue of concepts and their definitions. Besides this, we will deal with measuring the concepts.
Reading:
Babbie, E. (2011). The Basics of Social Research. Wadsworth Cengage Learning. Chapter 5 – Conceptualization, Operationalization, and Measurement. 7. Quantitative Methods (November 22) [LH]
The lecture will present shared patterns of quantitative methods of social research. Specific methods will be differentiated, and both pros and cons will be discussed.
Reading:
Bryman, A. (2012) Social Research Methods. Oxford University Press. Chapter 7 – The Nature of Quantitative Research. 8. Qualitative Methods (November 29) [LH]
The lecture will present shared patterns of qualitative methods of social research. Specific methods will be differentiated, and both pros and cons will be discussed.
Reading:
Bryman, A. (2012). Social Research Methods. Oxford University Press. Chapter 17 – The Nature of Qualitative Research.
Third Block – Methods of Political Philosophy 9. Introduction to Methods in Political Theory and History of Political Thought (December 6) [TH]
The first lecture of the block will introduce an overview of the debates on the interpretation of political texts and methods in political philosophy and the history of political thought. This introductory lecture will feature topics such as Hermeneutics, Marxism, Conceptual History (Begriffsgeschichte) or an idea of essentially contested concepts.
Reading:
Whatmore, R. (2015). What Is Intellectual History? Polity Press. Chapter 2 – The History of Intellectual History.
Bourke, R. (2016). The Cambridge School. Interview at The Centre for the Study of the History of Political Thought.
Optional video:
Smith, S (2008). 1. Introduction: What is Political Philosophy? [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/xhm55mIdSuk (00:00–12:15). 10. Textual Approaches and Idealism (December 13) [TH]
The lecture will concentrate on idealist or textual methods focusing primarily on Leo Strauss and his notions of philosophy between the lines, persecution and criticism of positivism in political science.
Reading:
Strauss, L. (1988). Persecution and the Art of Writing. The University of Chicago Press. Chapter 1 – Introduction; Chapter 2 – Persecution and the Art of Writing. 11. The Cambridge School (December 20) [TH]
This lecture will be devoted to contextualist methods developed by The Cambridge School of intellectual history, focusing primarily on the work of its leading scholar Quentin Skinner.
Reading:
Skinner, Q. (2002). Visions of Politics I: Regarding Method. Cambridge University Press. Chapter 4 – Meaning and Understanding in the History of Ideas; Chapter 10 – Retrospect: Studying Rhetoric and Conceptual Change.
Optional video:
Skinner, Q. (2014). Belief, Truth and Interpretation [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/VJYsTJt8vxg 12. Morphological Approach to Ideologies (January 3) [TH]
The concluding lecture of the block will discuss Michael Freeden’s morphological approach to the study of ideologies.
Reading:
Freeden, M. (2003) Ideology: A Very Short Introduction. Chapter 3 - Ideology at the crossroads of theory; Chapter 4 - The struggle over political language.
Optional audio:
Freeden, M. (2011). Ideology Between Method and Meaning: The Gateway to the Political [Audio]. In The Politics of Interpretation and The Interpretation of Politics conference. https://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/ideology-between-method-and-meaning-gateway-political
Seminars 1. Searching (October 12) [LH, MD, & PV]
The first seminar will focus on how to search for sources and use scholarly databases or search engines. 2. Referencing (October 26) [LH, MD, & PV]
The seminar will introduce the basic referencing principles and show how referencing styles are used in practice. 3. Literature Review (November 9) [LH, MD, & PV]
The seminar will explain the importance of literature review for academic work and its genre rules. 4. Research Analysis (November 23) [LH, MD, & PV]
The seminar will present how one research problem can be approached using different methodologies. 5. Research Design (December 7) [LH, MD, & PV]
The seminar will provide a practical insight into research design and go through its partial elements. 6. Political Philosophy in Practice (December 21) [TH]
The last seminar will conclude the Political Philosophy part of the course by contrasting the idealist and the contextualist approach to political thought using the case study of the political thought of Niccolò Machiavelli.
Reading:
Refresh the main ideas from The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli.
Annotation
Science helps us to discover the truth about the world around us. To conduct proper scientific research, we must know how to employ specific methods. It does not apply only to heavy books or rigorous articles in impact journals. In academia, we also need to know proper techniques for writing homework, seminar or bachelor thesis. Therefore, it is necessary to inform students about the methodological aspects of social sciences.
This is an introductory course to the methodology of social sciences for PPE students. The course is divided into three blocks focusing on different topics: introduction to academic work, research design, and methods of political philosophy.