Ethical and Political Issues in Social Research (SP0047)

? Credit Points : 20 ? SCQF Level : 11 ? Acronym : SPS-P-SPEPI

Course description
The course sets out to examine important ethical and political issues arising in the conduct of empirical social research. It is designed both for postgraduate research students and for professional researchers. It draws on the experiences of the course convenors and of the students in the class as well as on published case studies. Students will have the opportunity to address ethical and political problems as they emerge in the course of preparing their thesis or dissertation proposal or in the conduct of their own research.

Entry Requirements

none

Subject Areas

Home subject area

Postgraduate (School of Social and Political Studies), (School of Social and Political Studies, Schedule J)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : Postgraduate

? Delivery Period : Semester 2 (Blocks 3-4)

? Contact Teaching Time : 2 hour(s) per week for 10 weeks

First Class Information

Date	Start	End	Room	Area	Additional Information
09/01/2007	16:00	18:00	Room 3.332, Adam Ferguson Building	Central	PLEASE NOTE WRONG TIME PRINTED IN GRADUATE SCHOOL BOOKLET

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

Learning Objectives
By the end of the course students should:
- be able to engage effectively with the ethical, social and political aspects of the research process.
- be sensitive to a range of ethical issues in the conduct of research, including access to subjects, informed consent, protection from harm, utilisation and publication of data, and responsibilities of researchers to subjects, users, sponsors and stakeholders.
- be familiar with different models of the research-policy relationship, and of the contribution of research to evidence-based practice.
- be aware of critical perspectives on issues of value, power and utility in the context of different research strategies.
- be more reflective about their own research practice.

Assessment Information

In addition to a class presentation, all students taking the course are required to write a 3,500-4,000 word essay. This may be an extended version of their class presentation or on any other topic selected from titles presented by the course convenors.