The course aims to give the students insight into how one can plan and conduct empirical analyses of questions in the social sciences. The course aims to enable students to conduct investigations that can endure a critical evaluation based on the most common quality criteria that are used for such investigations. The course is organised around the two types of empirical design that are most referred to - the survey and the experiment. Emphasis will be placed on the students" understanding of the possibilities and limitations of these two designs and how the concrete question that is analysed influences them, and which of these two designs should be chosen and how the shaping of the chosen design determines what conclusions can be drawn on the basis of the conducted investigation. Inside this framework, the lecturers will more specifically deal with how the information brought forward by the investigation may be analysed and thereby answer some of the central questions of the investigation.

To plan and conduct social science studies.

Lectures, group work, and exercises.

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Textbook and some additional reading.

Basic statistics.

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Written examination, 3 hours (counts 2/3 of the total grade). Group assignment (counts 1/3 of the total grade). If you fail one of them, you fail the course. If the examination and the group assignment is not passed in the same semester, the grade is based only on the the examination. 

150 hours.

Minimum requirements for entrance to higher education in Norway (generell studiekompetanse)

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2 hours per week with classroom lectures + a few weeks with 2 hours per week with other activities.

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An external examiner will assess the curriculum and the exam. Grades will be set by the internal examiner (teacher).