Course code

RII6027.YK

old course code

Course title in Estonian

Sissejuhatus sotsiaalteaduste uurimismeetoditesse

Course title in English

Introduction to Research Methods

ECTS credits

6.0

Assessment form

Examination

lecturer of 2025/2026 Autumn semester

Not opened for teaching. Click the study programme link below to see the nominal division schedule.

lecturer of 2025/2026 Spring semester

Not opened for teaching. Click the study programme link below to see the nominal division schedule.

Course aims

The course aims to provide the introduction to research design, social research methods, research ethics and the basic terminology related to scientific research in social sciences. The course also introduces the basic principles of qualitative and quantitative research, comparative and case study research. The course is intended to offer the practical guidelines for the students how to outline the research design for BA thesis and how to write the thesis (advanced academic writing).

Brief description of the course

The basic principles of scientific research. The basic terminology for understanding the social research: independent/dependent variables, concepts, causality, operationalization of variables, etc. The major components of the research design: research problem, research goal, research questions and hypotheses. The place of theory in social research and how to connect empirical data with theoretical knowledge. Qualitative and quantitative research strategies – what they mean and how to make a selection between them? The basics of quantitative research: sample, sampling, questionnaires, the formulation of questions for the questionnaires. The very basic introduction to the quantitative data analysis. Open-access databases – how to find them and how to use them for your thesis. The basics of qualitative research and the introduction to the qualitative data collection/analysis methods: qualitative interviews, content analysis, discourse analysis, etc. Case study – the basic principles and application. Comparative research design – the basic principles and application. Research ethics. Academic arguments and argumentation. Advanced academic writing regarding BA thesis – the outline and style of thesis, the rules for citing.

Learning outcomes in the course

Upon completing the course the student:
- has acquired the basic knowledge on principles of social research and knows the basic terminology used in scientific research;
- is able to make a coherent and feasible research design and knows about the basic principles how to outline the research design;
- is able to formulate the different components of the research design and to select the suitable research methods and research strategies regarding his/her research goals and research questions;
- knows about the most widely used data collection and data analysis methods applied in sociology and political science/governance;
- is able to assess critically the research design of simple research papers and the papers written by other students;
- knows the basic rules and conventions of academic writing regarding the thesis-writing and knows about the academic arguments and how to formulate them;
- is aware of research ethics and knows about the relevant dilemmas concerning research ethics.

Teacher

Tõnis Saarts, Pille Ubakivi-Hadachi

The course is a prerequisite

Study programmes containing that course

Politics and Government (RIRIB/23-o.YK)
Politics and Government (RIRIB/23-t.YK)
Sociology (RASLB/23-t.YK)
Sociology (RASLB/23-o.YK )
Politics and Government (RIRIB/22.YK)
Sociology (RASLB/22.YK)
Sociology (RASLB/21.YK)
Politics and Government (RIRIB/21.YK)
Politics and Government (RIRIB/20.YK)
Sociology (RASLB/20.YK)
Politics and Government (RIRIB/19.YK)
Sociology (RASLB/19.YK)
Politics and Government (RIRIB/18.YK)
Sociology (RASLB/18.YK)