We’re pleased to announce that we will be presenting research from the Pedagogy of Methodological Learning Project as part of a Methodological Innovations special event at the British Sociological Association annual conference later this week.

Session title: ‘Teaching Research Methods in Sociology’
Date: Thursday 7th April, 2016.
Time: 13:30-15:00.
Location: Conference Centre Rooms 135-137, British Sociological Association Conference, Aston University, Birmingham, UK.

The session, convened and chaired by BSA President, Professory Lynn Jamieson, brings together an exciting roster of expert insights into the pedagogy of methods in research and practice.  Here are the full details from the conference programme. To follow the event on Twitter, use #BritSoc16

Teaching Research Methods in Sociology

Jamieson, L. (University of Edinburgh)

Come and discuss teaching research methods in Sociology and hear about research on the pedagogy of teaching methods. Do you try to teach methodology as an integral aspect of doing sociology rather than ‘methods’ as a separate box of tricks?  Dr Angus Bancroft convenes such a research methods course at the University of Edinburgh and was the winner of that university’s Chancellor’s Award for Teaching in 2015 in recognition of ‘improving and invigorating student learning’. Dr Sin Yi Cheung at the Cardiff University combines teaching quantitative skills with demonstrating the essential relevance of quantitative data to understanding sociological questions.  Dr Bancroft and Dr Cheung will be joined by researchers reporting on two projects on pedagogical aspects of teaching research methods under the umbrella of the National Centre for Research Method: (Sarah Lewthwaite and Melanie Nind) and (John MacInnes and Kevin Ralston). Lynn Jamieson will chair as BSA president and ask whether we under-emphasise the added value sociology brings to our generic research skills and underplay the theoretical substance of sociology in how we teach research methods.

Teaching Designing and Doing Research

Bancroft,  A. (University of Edinburgh)

Will briefly introduce his experience convening the course Designing and Doing Research which describes itself as  ‘The course is designed to mimic a real world research scenario, in which a multi-disciplinary research team takes varying approaches to a topic but works together towards the same goal.  The emphasis is on learning while doing, and giving you a structured environment where you can learn how to reflect on your research while you are doing it.  Many of the skills you learn on the course will be relevant to your honours project or dissertation, and to your future career.’

Teaching Quantitative Research Methodology

Cheung,  S. Y.  (Cardiff University)

Uses quantitative data in her research to address different forms of social inequalities in Britain and in comparative perspectives -changing inequalities in higher education, ethnic penalties in the labour market, lone parents on benefits, claimants, children in care, and refugee integration. She will describe how she brings this to her teaching of Quantitative Research Methodology at the University of Cardiff.

The Interconnectedness of Methodological and Pedagogical Innovation

Lewthwaite S., Nind, M. (University of Southampton)

There are increasingly well-understood incentives to innovate in social science research methods: the affordances of new technologies, a pluralistic methods culture, and the value research councils place on innovation and interdisciplinarity. This research explores the nature of innovation in methods and the sometimes-interconnected innovation in the teaching and learning of those methods. Using interviews with leaders in the teaching and learning of advanced research methods, the researchers ask whether new research methods demand new pedagogies and look at the role data play in the interplay of methods for research and methods for teaching.

Students’ Perspectives on the Value of Quantitative Methods 

Ralston,  K., MacInnes, J.

(University of Edinburgh)

The  NCRM research project Quantitative Methods Pedagogy focuses on what motivates students to understand the value of quantitative methods, what influences student recruitment and retention, and on what determines whether high performing UG students to continue to postgraduate study using a quantitative approach.