Aims

To introduce students to the rules and practice of scientific research in social sciences, and particularly in demography and development and environment sciences, and to various aspects of team-working.

Main themes

- The various stages of scientific research: question-research, literature search, the formulation of hypotheses, the production of a theoretical framework, the conceptualisation and operationalisation of concepts, the testing of hypotheses, choosing the mode of observation, analysing information and interpreting the results obtained (e.g. concepts of causality in social sciences, of confusion variables, and of the interaction effect).
- Why and how should we read scientific literature? Choosing articles to read, scientific reading and the critique of documents, using the literature as a database, and an introduction to qualitative meta-analysis.
- How can we use other people's ideas (e.g. bibliographical references, quotations, and using ideas developed by other writers)?
- Learning scientific writing (e.g. writing articles and reports).
- Communicating research outcomes (e.g. oral presentations, and the use of visual supports).
Methodology

Content and teaching methods

Half professorial lectures, half collective work to be applied in the classroom. Three pieces of individual work, one of which is to be accompanied by an oral presentation.
Content
Course specification; the course will be continuously based on the analysis of real examples.

Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

Assessment: This will take the form of an individual assessment focusing on written work, and an individual and a collective assessment looking at the quality of interventions and exchanges during seminar sessions.

Other credits in programs