| CODE | SCI5034 | |||||||||
| TITLE | Qualitative and Quantitative Research Methods | |||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 05 - Postgraduate Modular Diploma or Degree Course | |||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 7 | |||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 5 | |||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Faculty of Science | |||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | This unit will introduce students to the fundamentals of quantitative and qualitative research. Students will be guided through the process of identifying a suitable topic for research, structuring and planning their work, finding and appropriately utilizing relevant literature sources (including the internet), developing and implementing a methodology, rigorously and objectively analyzing results obtained and writing up/ presenting results and conclusions. Study-unit Aims: This study-unit aims to familiarise students with: (1) The fundamentals of research design; (2) Collection and condensation of quantitative data; (3) Collection and condensation of qualitative data; (4) Methods for analysis of data; (5) Hypothesis construction and hypothesis testing; (6) the design of research questions; (7) Mixed methods research; (8) Appreciation of the limitations of studies. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: (1) Construct a hypothesis and design a controlled experiment or other technique for testing it; (2) Devise methods for collection of structured data; (3) Devise methods for collection of unstructured data; (4) Use exploratory statistical techniques to summarise data; (5) Use analytical statistical techniques to interpret data; (6) Use analysis techniques to code qualitative data. 2. Skills By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: (1) design robust studies to test hypotheses and explore research questions; (2) utilise a variety of statistical techniques to summarise, explore and analyse data. Main Texts: - Camilleri-Cassar, F. (2018) Academic Research Methods for the Law Student: A Practical Guide, Faculty of Laws, University of Malta (1 st ed). - McConville, M, and Chui, W.H. (2017) Research Methods for Law, Edinburgh University Press (2nd edition). - Field, A., (2018) Discovering Statistics using IBM SPSS; SAGE Publication Ltd (ISBN 978-1-5264-1951-4). Supplementary Text - Dawn Watkins and Mandy Burton (eds) (2018) Research Methods in Law, Routledge (2nd ed.) - Laura Lammasnienmi (2018) Law Dissertations: a step-by-step guide, Routledge. - A.T.H. Smith (ed.) Glanville Williams (2016) Learning the Law, (16th ed.) Sweet and Maxwell, London. - Sullivan, M., (2018) Statistics – Informed Decision using Data; Pearson/Prentice & Hall. - Finch, Emily | Fafinski, Stefan (2019) Legal Skills, Oxford University Press (7 th ed). |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture | |||||||||
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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