Università Roma Tre

During the course, some preliminary methodological notions (validity, reliability) will be provided, and then qualitative, quantitative and qualitative approaches to psycho-social research will be presented and distinguished.
As to the qualitative approach, methods with low researcher’s intrusiveness will be presented such as observation, qualitative interview, and focus-groups; During the course, different possibilities for coding of qualitative data (ie paper and pencil or semi-automatic) will be presented. As to quantitative approaches, the different phases of constructing structured questionnaires (ie attitude scales) will be illustrated also checking the distorting effects; a special part will be dedicated to the experiment: in this regard, various experimental designs will be presented through concrete case studies, providing preliminary knowledge of data analysis through the use of software such as spss. Finally, the main psychometric properties of psychological tests will be described but also the interpretation of the scores through standardized test examples.

The books to read are:

Pedon, A., & Gnisci, A. (2004). Metodologia della ricerca psicologica, il Mulino.

Leone, G. (2003). Fare ricerca in psicologia sociale: problemi teorici e scelte di metodo. GLF editori Laterza.

Mazzara, B. M. (2002). Metodi qualitativi in psicologia sociale: prospettive teoriche e strumenti operativi. Carocci.

More texts to replace the above can be proposed later or agreed upon with the Teacher.