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Sylabus

Theory Construction Syllabus Basic Information Course Title Theory Construction Semester Summer 2022 Guarantors Pavol Frič, Doc. PhDr.

Teachers Dina Abdelhafez, Ph.D. Hours per week, examination Once per week (80 minute), Research Paper Credits 6 Credits (1 credit= 3- working hours) Place Online Time Tuesday: 12:30 to 13:50 Moodle Contact 73198435 @fsv.cuni.cz Consultations Course Description ‘Theory Construction’ explores the nature of theorizing in the social sciences.

It focuses on some of the main building blocks in social inquiry, such as concepts, research questions, and causal explanations. This course is designed to help students learn how to construct the theory and concepts for their research papers and to be able to search for some public policy problem and prepare, design and select public policy theories or program to analyze and study the problem.

This course aims to teach elementary knowledge and practical skills for conceptualizing social science inquiry. The emphasis throughout the course is not on theories themselves, but on creative and disciplined theorizing as a practical skill.

Therefore, at the end of the course, the students should be familiar with theoretical choices and debates to conduct social scientific and public policy scientific research, while possessing necessary skills for creative, independent, and disciplined theorizing. Students will have opportunity to discuss their phenomenon understudied during the seminar sessions.

Through lectures, working seminars and individual assignments, you are encouraged to reflect on social scientific approaches to reality and different choices entailed in research design. The first part of the course introduces essential aspects of theorizing, such as thinking sociologically, the specificity of social-scientific inquiries and the application of creative heuristics.

The second part treats essential aspects of the research process, such as developing research questions, a research design, conceptualization, operationalization, and measurement both in (post-)positivist and interpretive approaches. It also discusses how social scientists deal with causation and explanation.

Version: January 26, 2022 In the third part of the course, we treat some typical recurring problems in public policy research: (1) Varying levels of sociological analysis (micro, meso & macro) and (2) Problems of comparative research in public and social policy. Learning Objectives and Outcomes • Students will understand the general features of scientific research and methodology and are familiar with some basic concepts of the epistemology and philosophy of social sciences • Students will have a good understanding of the specificity of sociological and social science research and the interconnectedness within different research goals, research strategies and paradigms.

Students will be able to illustrate the sociological and public policy approaches and different research goals and strategies, using a given or selfchosen societal phenomenon • Students will have a good understanding of the different choices and issues at stake in the research process (finding a research question, conceptualization, operationalization, etc.) and they will be able to apply this understanding in small research assignments during the semester. • Students will have a good understanding of essential issues at stake in the description as well as explanation of social life. Students will be able to distinguish descriptive and causal arguments. • Students will know some general heuristics and specific heuristics of the social sciences and can use them to turn a vague interest into their research question. • Students will understand the various possibilities and problems involved in comparative research • Students will be able to distinguish the main levels of analysis in the social sciences and understand the main problems when developing explanations across different levels of analysis • Students will know how to use social-scientific sources to find a research problem and develop social-scientific arguments.

Students will be able to report orally and written on this phenomenon understudied. • Final competences After following this course, you should obtain the following competences. • Component • Knowledge & insight• Skills • Part I • Understanding of the specificity of social scientific theories. • Understanding of the different phases in the process of researching, and the different roles of theory therein. • Think sociologically about social phenomena. • Apply heuristics to engage in creative, disciplined and independent theorizing. • Part II • Understanding the • Articulate and Version: January 26, 2022 differences between research processes, designs and strategies in postpositivist and interpretivist approaches. • Knowledge of the primary goals of social scientific inquiry. • Understanding the nature of descriptive and causal arguments in the social sciences. illustrate sociological approaches to a given problem or question. • Develop suitable research questions, hypotheses and concepts. • List, compare and substantiate the most suitable research strategies for a certain research goal. • Apply heuristics to formulate descriptive and causal arguments. • Part III • Knowledge of typical problems in sociological research and theory construction. • Clarify the main conceptual choices and problems in a given research project or article. • Evaluate critically the levels of analysis and causal paths in existing research, while providing alternative examples. General • Knowledge of basic terminology to draw up and report scientific research: research questions, hypotheses, explanatory models, analytical frames, etc. • Basic insight in how to choose position in (theoretical) debates and deal with problems and conflicts in design of social scientific research.

Lectures and Course Material Throughout the first semester there will be weekly lectures for (80 minutes) reviewing and explaining the reading material. Powerpoint presentations of the lectures will be distributed on Moodle.

You are expected to read the texts related to the theme of the class in advance. Individual assignments will be explained in the corresponding lectures.

After each assignment, you will receive feedback in class. In preparation of each assignment a working seminar will be organized in which we review the different steps involved in theorizing and applying heuristics.

Version: January 26, 2022 Exam & Assignments The assessment of this course consists of two parts: 1. A research paper, testing knowledge and understanding of course contents and its implementation in a research paper, providing 55% of the final grade. 2.

Throughout the semester, students are required to complete three individual assignments, assessing competences and skills. These assignments make up 45% of the final grade.

Instructions for each assignment will be made available via Moodle. Assignment one This assignment will cover part one of the course Instructions of Assignment one a.

Start with choosing a social phenomenon, introduce it briefly and reflect on why it interests you (drawing on Swedberg, chapter 2). You can draw on personal experiences, stories, media reports, … b.

Imagine you were to conduct research on that phenomenon. Explain how you would engage in early “social observation,” as described by Swedberg (chapter 2).

What sort of preliminary data do you try to find? Where do you look or listen? c. Theorize.

Try to assemble relevant ideas, statistics, background, descriptions, related phenomena, explanations, etc. through free association. Theorize wildly! Present the results of this theorization in two parts: Give a summary of this free association process.

Diagrams, drawings, etc. of this brainstorm session may be included at the end of your paper, as an appendix. Apply at least three of the demonstrated heuristics (e.g. framing by case/aspect, analysing latent functions, etc.) during your process of free association.

Explain the heuristics, how you apply these, and to which insights they lead. The more alternative approaches, explanations, etc. you can generate in relation to your phenomenon, the better.

There are no right or wrong answers, and this step will not be graded as such. We will, however, take into account whether the heuristics were applied correctly and how well you explain what you are doing. d.

Further reflect on your social phenomenon and address the following topics: Explain what is specifically sociological about your theorizations and the future research you suggest (see texts by Swedberg & Mills). Version: January 26, 2022 Explain why future research might demonstrate that it is a socially significant phenomenon (as described by Ragin & Amoroso).

Submit of the assignment before the deadline in electronic format, via Moodle after 3 weeks from discussion. Follow the links under ‘Assignments.’ The intended length of the assignment is 1800 to 2300 words.

But, as always: quality above quantity. You are advised to write in English.

Make sure your name, course title and the title of the assignment are clearly visible on the first page. If you are unsure of how to write, take a look at the ‘Guidelines on Writing an Academic Paper,’ available from Moodle.

Evaluation of Assignment one While grading this assignment will be out of 10, we take into consideration the following criteria: • The degree to which the different heuristics are used creatively and correctly. • The degree of originality of the chosen research interest and the elements that you • eventually select from the first, creative step. • How well you link your approach to the texts in the reader. • Formal requirements (e.g. length & structure of the paper, use of scientific language, • clarity of reasoning, etc.). Assignment Two Instructions of Assignment two (1) Choose a s

Anotace

This course aims to teach elementary knowledge and practical skills for conceptualizing social science inquiry. The emphasis throughout the course is on creative and disciplined theorizing as a practical skill. Therefore, at the end of the course, the students should be familiar with theoretical choices to conduct their public policy research, while possessing necessary skills for creative, independent, and disciplined theorizing. Students will have opportunity to discuss their phenomenon understudied during the seminar sessions. Through lectures and working seminars will encouraged students to reflect on relevant theory choices corresponding with particular research designs.

The first part of the course introduces essential aspects of theorizing, such as thinking sociologically, the specificity of social-scientific inquiries and the application of creative heuristics.

The second part treats essential aspects of the research process, such as developing research questions, a research design, conceptualization, operationalization, and measurement both in (post-)positivist and interpretive approaches. It also discusses how social scientists deal with causation and explanation.

In the third part of the course, we treat some typical recurring problems in public policy research:

(1) Varying levels of sociological analysis (micro, meso & macro) and (2) Problems of comparative research in public and social policy.