Agro-Economic Methods and Sociological Research

The aim of this course is to provide knowledge to those who will contribute to the learning of both the theoretical and methodological approaches for the development of socio-economic research in rural areas. The course aims to equip the student with those theoretical and methodological tools that will help him to understand and explain the socio-economic phenomena, to discover the regularity and order behind them and to the interpretation of these phenomena in the modern (historical, economic and social) context. The course consists of two distinct parts: this theory and it's laboratory in which taught the tools of analysis of research data. More specifically, through the teaching of the theory of the course the student understands that the aim of the research is descriptive and;, exigitikos. The exploratory level the aim is to help in the specification of queries and prepare for the investigation. The most important part of socio-economic research is descriptive using techniques for collecting quantitative and qualitative data. At this level, the aim is to create a picture of the situation, socio-economic context and relationships by focusing on the "how" and the "who" and less on the "why". At exigitiko level, the aim is to answer the investigator in "why" to try to identify the causes and the reasons why something happens. So the student is taught how to perform the steps in the research process from choosing the topic, focusing on the basic question (or the key questions) of research, design, with the selection of appropriate methods, data gathering, in their analysis with the right tools, in explanation of the findings and an end to the writing and reporting of results. At the level of teaching the techniques and tools of research in the context of the workshop of the course the student acquires knowledge of measurement and sampling procedure and the methods of processing and data analysis using Spss. Upon successful completion of this course the student will be able to: has acquired the necessary theoretical knowledge for the formulation and investigation of a research problem has acquired the appropriate methodological techniques and tools for conducting sociological research in agricultural and rural areas understand and explain the socio-economic phenomena that it studies Discover the regularity and order behind socio-economic phenomena that it studies and to incorporate the interpretation of these phenomena in the modern (historical , economic and social) context of operation gain technical skills and theoretical training for the management and resolution of critical issues relating to research and development at the national and international environment analyse their data, to synthesize the findings, to interpret research results and to prepare the final reports.

Objectives

The aim of this course is to provide knowledge to those who will contribute to the learning of both the theoretical and methodological approaches for the development of socio-economic research in rural areas. The course aims to equip the student with those theoretical and methodological tools that will help him to understand and explain the socio-economic phenomena, to discover the regularity and order behind them and to the interpretation of these phenomena in the modern (historical, economic and social) context.

Prerequisites

not required

Syllabus

A. theoretical knowledge key dimensions of social research: basic-applied. The research methods: quantitative and qualitative approaches. The definition of the object of research. The choice of method. Stages of empirical research. The sample survey (methods of sampling, questionnaire design and interview, question wording, question format, organization, pilot survey questionnaire). The interview. The difficulties of the interview and the deformation in the investigation. Qualitative research, Interview Guide design and participatory observation. Content analysis method. The syntax of the research report. B. Laboratory measurement Process knowledge (Types of questions – Variables – Scales of measurement). Introduction to the statistical package Spss (General information about Spss, Data presentation Editor, Presentation of Output Navigator). Sampling procedure (Simple random sampling using Spss, stratified Sampling by using Spss). Normal distribution (Comprehensive reference to the normal distribution and control regularity to variables using Spss). Processing and data analysis using Spss (markers of central tendency and dispersion, Exploratory data analysis, reliability analysis, crosstab Tables and tests of independence). Interpretation and presentation of results. Use specific research examples. The role of qualitative data analysis software (features and capabilities). Literature review (bibliographic, Bibliographic references).