5201. The Logic of Social Research

Required of all M.A. candidates in the first year of study. Covers the logic of how to frame and design social research. Topics include the link between theory and method, selection of a research topic, inductive versus deductive reasoning, causality (including research designs for identifying causal relations) and causal errors, conceptualization, operationalization, levels of analysis, measurement, reliability and validity, sampling, using mixed methods, research ethics, and the politics of social research.