Prof. Dr.

Christian von Scheve

Department of Sociology
Garystr. 55
Room 307
Office hours by appointment:
Wednesdays, 1 – 2 pm
scheve@zedat.fu-berlin.de
Assistant: Tatiana Kozlova
t.kozlova@fu-berlin.de

30213 Seminar, Module 3

Methodology and Research Designs
Winter Semester 2019/2020, Wednesday 14.00 – 16.00, Garystr. 55, R323

Aims & goals

This course is an introduction to sociological research designs and methodologies. The course will
cover the entire research process, from finding adequate and theoretically informed research
questions, to issues related to the operationalization and ‘measurement’ of concepts, the design of
empirical studies, and the analysis of data. Most importantly, students will learn which kinds of
research questions are best addressed using which research methods. This necessarily implies that
the course aims at covering a diverse spectrum of methods, rather than focusing on a few select. At
the same time, the course strongly emphasizes methodological rigor and fundamental principles that
inform and discipline research designs. Students will learn about inductive, deductive, and abductive
reasoning in the research process, about causal inference, inference from part to whole, about issues
of representation and comparison. We will deal with both qualitative and quantitative data and discuss,
for example, in-depth interviews, ethnography, discourse analysis, experimental designs, surveys, and
historical methods. The course will strongly rely on in-class discussions of exemplary studies as well
as on group work in which students develop their own research designs.
Basic Readings:
• Mills, C.W. (1959). The Sociological Imagination. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
• King, G., Keohane, R.O., Verba, S. (1994). Designing Social Inquiry: Scientific Inference in
Qualitative Research. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
• Ragin, C.C. (1994). Constructing Social Research: The Unity and Diversity of Method. Thousand
Oaks: Pine Forge Press.
• Creswell, J.W. (2013). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods
Approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Course requirements
Your weekly attendance is compulsory. If you are unable to attend class, please e-mail me in
advance. Course requirements are:
• regular and active participation in class discussions,
• reading of the assigned texts before each session,
• giving an oral presentation and prepare one peer review
• writing three research designs (1000 words each), one during the semester, and two after the
seminar.

1
Requirements for Active Participation
• Students are expected to prepare one class meeting by giving an oral presentation. Presentations
of the texts in Part I should be no longer than 20 minutes. This limit will be strictly enforced in the
interest of all students. Presentations should only give a very (!) brief overview of the assigned
literature (highlight key questions, theses, and arguments). The main part of the presentation
should reflect your personal engagement with the literature by presenting critique, addressing
open questions and unresolved issues, and by formulating questions for the discussion. This
means: have a plan for leading the subsequent discussion in class, for example, think of key
questions to discuss, assign group work, or allot tasks. The compulsory literature has to be read
by every student and is tagged with an asterisk (*). Additional literature has no tag and has to be
integrated into the presentations. Every student participating in a presentation (group) has to
upload the slides of the presentation as a Blackboard Assignment. Please make sure that the
technical equipment you need is available and ready for use at the beginning of your session!
• Students are expected to write one peer review response to one of the homework study designs
(see below) of their choosing. You have to commit to a specific class meeting in which you will
present your peer review. However, for each class meeting we will have multiple homework study
designs, and you are free to choose on which of those you write your review. Reviews should be
no longer than one page and you should be able to present the main points of your review in
class. They should contain points that you did not understand, find implausible or inadequate or
where you have suggestions for improvement.
• Homework / Essays: Students need to prepare three study designs (1000 words each). One
study design needs to be on a topic of Part II of the seminar and be prepared to be presented in
class. The other two designs can be on one of these topics, but also on other empirical research
designs of your choosing. We will use the first study designs to discuss them in the “Presentation
and Discussion of Homework” sessions and they will be reviewed by your fellow students.
Students need to be prepared to present (i.e., summarize/read) their homework study design in
class, and we will then discuss the different designs. These exercises are supposed to get you
acquainted with developing you own research questions and designs, a skill you will need in later
research placements and the MA thesis. Study designs should be informed by what you have
learned in Part I of the seminar and present an own original idea for an empirical study. This
includes a sociologically relevant topic or issue that shall be investigated, a scientific research
question based on a very (!) brief literature impression, notes on theories and concepts to be
used, steps of operationalization and hypotheses (where applicable), and the specific research
design and methods of data acquisition and analysis. There is a template on Blackboard for this
that shall serve you as a rough guideline. The first research design needs to uploaded as a
Blackboard Assignments and to the designated session in the Discussion Forum by the stated
deadline for that session (see below). The remaining two research designs need to be uploaded
(as Blackboard Assignments) until March 31, 2020.

Course Materials & Consultation

Office hours
If you have questions regarding your presentation or paper, don't hesitate to see me during office
hours (Wednesdays, 1 – 2 pm, only by appointment).
Blackboard
Blackboard (http://lms.fu-berlin.de) is our online-platform. Besides general information on the course
you can find electronic versions of the literature and the presentations here. Furthermore, it serves as
a discussion and exchange platform between students. In case you have any questions regarding the
course literature, technical problems with Blackboard, or organizational issues, please contact my
assistant Tatiana Kozlova (tatiana.kozlova@fu-berlin.de).

2
 Syllabus

16.10.2019 Introduction and organization

Part I: Basics
23.10.2019 Research Paradigms
*Creswell, J.W. (2013). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed
Methods Approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Chapter 1.
* Della Porta, D. & M. Keating (2008). How Many Approaches in the Social Sciences?
An Epistemological Introduction. In D. della Porta & M. Keating (eds.), Approaches
and Methodologies in the Social Sciences (pp. 19-39). Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Ragin, C.C. (1994). Constructing Social Research. The Unity and Diversity of Method.
(pp. 1-53). Thousand Oaks: Pine Forge Press.

30.10.2019 Research Questions

* Ragin, Charles C. (1994). Constructing Social Research. The Unity and Diversity of
Method (pp. 55-76). Thousand Oaks: Pine Forge Press.
*Creswell, J.W. (2013). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed
Methods Approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Chapter 7.
Gerring, J. (2012). Social Science Methodology. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, Chapter 2.
Geddes, B. (2007). Paradigms and Sandcastles. Theory Building and Research
Design in Comparative Politics (pp. 27-40). Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

6.11.2019 Concepts and Operationalization

*Gerring, J. (2012). Social Science Methodology. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, Chapter 5.
Goertz, G. & Mahoney, J. (2012). A Tale of Two Cultures. Contrasting quantitative and
qualitative research. Princeton UP, Ch 10-11.
Mair, P. (2008). Concepts and Concept Formation. In D. Della Porta and M. Keating
(eds.), Approaches and Methodologies in the Social Sciences (pp. 177-197).
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

13.11.2019 Causal Inference and Explanation

*Héritier, A. (2008). Causal Explanation. In D. Della Porta, M. Keating (Eds.),
Approaches and Methodologies in the Social Sciences (pp. 61-79). Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Gerring, J, (2012). Social Science Methodology. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, Chapter 8.
King, G., Keohane, R. & and Verba, S. (1994). Designing Social Inquiry. Princeton
University Press, Chapter 3.

20.11.2019 Cases and Comparison

*Ragin, C. (1992) What is a case? Introduction (pp. 1-11) & ‘Casing’ and the Process
of Social Inquiry, Ch. 10 (pp. 217-226) In Ragin, C., & Becker, H. (Eds.), What is a
case? Exploring the foundations of social inquiry. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.
Della Porta, D. (2008). Comparative analysis: case-oriented versus variable-oriented
research. In D. della Porta & M. Keating (Eds.), Approaches and Methodologies in the
Social Sciences (pp. 198-222). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Gerring, J. (2007). Case Study Research. Principles and Practices. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press. Ch. 2.

27.11.2019 Hermeneutics
*Taylor, S.J., Bogdan, R., & DeVault, M.L. (2016). Introduction to Qualitative Research
Methods. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. Ch. 1
3
 Flick, U. (2004). Design and Process in Qualitative Research. In Flick, U., Kardorff, E.
v., & Steinke, I. (Eds.), A Companion to Qualitative Research. London: Sage. Ch 4.1
Snape, D., & Spencer, L. (2003). The Foundations of Qualitative Research. In Ritchie,
J., & Lewis, J. (Eds.), Qualitative Research Practice. A Guide for Social Science
Students and Researchers (pp. 1-23). London: Sage.

Part II. Examples and Research Ideas

04.12.2019 Surveys
*Katz-Gerro, T. (2002). Highbrow Cultural Consumption and Class Distinction in Italy,
Israel, West Germany, Sweden and United States. Social Forces, 81(1), 207-229.
Harkness, J.A., Braun, M., Edwards, B., Johnson, T.P., Lyberg, L., Mohler, P.,
Pennell, B.-E., & Smith, T.W. (2010). Comparative Survey Methodology. In Harkness
et al. (Eds.), Survey Methods in Multinational, Multiregional, and Multicultural Contexts
(pp. 3-16). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Upload Homework to Blackboard (Assignment + Discussion Forum) by 09.12.2019, 12:00 CET
Upload Peer Review Responses to Blackboard Assignment: 11.12.2019, 12:00 CET

11.12.2019 Presentation and Peer Review of Homework

18.12.2019 Experiments
*Willer, R., Kuwabara, K., & Macy, M. W. (2009). The False Enforcement of Unpopular
Norms. American Journal of Sociology, 115(2), 451-490.
http://primo.kobv.de/FUB:TN_wos000270921400004
*Jackson, M., & Cox, D.R. (2013). The Principles of Experimental Design and Their
Application in Sociology. Annual Review of Sociology, 39, 27–49.
http://primo.kobv.de/FUB:TN_annual_reviews10.1146/annurev-soc-071811-145443
Upload Homework to Blackboard (Assignment + Discussion Forum) by 6.1.2020, 12:00 CET
Upload Peer Review Responses to Blackboard Assignment: 8.1.2020, 12:00 CET

08.01.2020 Presentation and Peer Review of Homework

15.01.2020 Ethnographies
*Besbris, M. (2016). Romancing the home: emotions and the interactional creation of
demand in the housing market. Socio-Economic Review, 14(3), 461–482.
Snow, D., Morrill, C., & Anderson, L. (2003). Elaborating Analytic Ethnography:
Linking Fieldwork and Theory. Ethnography, 4(2), 181-200
Upload Homework to Blackboard (Assignment + Discussion Forum) by 20.1.2020, 12:00 CET
Upload Peer Review Responses to Blackboard Assignment: 22.1.2020, 12:00 CET

22.01.2020 Presentation and Peer Review of Homework

29.01.2020 Interviews
*Teeger, C. (2014). Collective Memory and Collective Fear: How South Africans Use
the Past to Explain Crime. Qualitative Sociology, 37(1), 69–92
Fontana, A. & Frey, J. H. (2000). The interview: From structured questions to
negotiated text. In Norman K. Denzin & Yvonne S. Lincoln (eds.), Handbook of
qualitative research (pp.645-672). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Upload Homework to Blackboard (Assignment + Discussion Forum) by 3.2.2020, 12:00 CET
Upload Peer Review Responses to Blackboard Assignment: 5.2.2020, 12:00 CET

05.02.2020 Presentation and Discussion of Homework

12.02.2020 Wrap up and final discussion