methods@manchester: research methods in the social sciences

What is... ?

A regular series of lunch-time talks which provide short, accessible introductory guides to key research methods. These talks are ideal for research students — or their supervisors — who want to find out what the method does and whether it might be useful in their research. They will also be of interest to any member of staff who is curious to find out about a new method.

The next series of talks are listed below and will take place on Thursdays from 1 - 2pm in room 1.69/1.70 in Humanities Bridgeford Street. No booking is required, just turn up on the day.

If you would like to offer a talk please email martin.everett@manchester.ac.uk.

Date Title Presenter Discipline/Centre

13 October

What is a scoping study? Alan Boyd and Michelle Bastian Manchester Business School and School of Social Sciences

20 October

What is oral history? Penny Summerfield History
3 November What is web content analysis with a particular application to comparative election campaigns? Rachel Gibson Institute for Social Change
10 November What is Latent Class Analysis? Tarani Chandola Cathie Marsh Centre for Census and Survey Research
17 November What is SNA using qualitative methods? Nick Crossley and Gemma Edwards Sociology
24 November What is Item Response Theory? Nick Shryane Institute for Social Change
1 December What is ethnography in sociology? James Rhodes School of Social Sciences
8 December What is Latent Structure Analysis? Combining latent factors and latent classes Nick Shryane Institute for Social Change
19 January What is psychoanalytic and psychosocial research methodology? Robin Robinson University of Massachusetts and Simon Visiting Professor, University of Manchester School of Law
26 January What is a case study in accounting and business management? Bob Scapens Manchester Business School
2 February What is Fuzzy Set Analysis? Wendy Olsen CCSR
9 February What is spatial data and how can I access it for my research? Gail Millin-Chalabi Mimas - Landmap Service
16 February What are Citizens' Juries? Kingsley Purdam Cathie Marsh Centre for Census and Survey Research
23 February What is Linked Data? Paul Murphy ESDS International, MIMAS
15 March What is a narrative approach to translation? Mona Baker School of Languages, Linguistics & Cultures
19 April What is multilevel structural equation modelling? Nick Shryane Institute for Social Change
26 April What is Narrative Analysis? Vanessa May Sociology
10 May What is Researching Social Media? Farida Vis University of Leicester
17 May What is cultural consensus analysis?
NB. This talk will take place in room 5.210, University Place
Russ Bernard University of Florida and Simon Visiting Professor, University of Manchester

Details of the January - June 2010 and October 2010 - April 2011 series of talks are still available, or see the descriptions and recordings for each method.

To find out about these and other future events