Introduction to Social Sciences

Code:

1EC103

Acronym:

ICS

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Social Science

Instance: 2015/2016 - 1S

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Secção Autónoma de Ciências Sociais
Course/CS Responsible:	Bachelor in Economics

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
LECO	283	Bologna Syllabus since 2012	1	-	6	42	162

Teaching language

Portuguese

Objectives

This is an introductory course to the ways in which the social sciences approach social and economic reality, and produce knowledge about that reality. The aim is to provide students with basic concepts and procedures of scientific methodology; and to motivate them to the need and benefits of interdisciplinary cooperation, namely between economics, sociology and other social sciences.

Learning outcomes and competences

Students are expected to develop the competences required to design and accomplish social research, that is, to define a research problem, to formulate the goals and the subject of the research, to review the relevant literature, to present the hypothesis to prove, to look for evidence and to elaborate data analysis, and to achieve some theoretical result.

Working method

Presencial

Pre-requirements (prior knowledge) and co-requirements (common knowledge)

No pre-requisites demanded.

Program

1. The subject of economics: 1.1. Economy, economic behaviour, economics. 1.1.2. Different perspectives, different definitions. 1.1.3. The common denominator, the starting point for this course: economics is a sui generis social science, in progress.

2. Science, a particular form of knowledge: 2.1. Knowledge and communication in the context of human action. 2.2. The diversity of forms of knowledge and the specificity of scientific knowledge.

3. Science as an organized and rational inquiry: 3.1. An attitude: problematizing; the value of experimentation; the proof rule. 3.2. A language: concepts, propositions, theories; concepts and variables; definitions, classifications and typologies; the norms of scientific writing. 3.3. Ethics: the values of scientific activity; the uses and identification of sources; the duty of referral, originality and peer review; the structuration of scientific communities. 3.4. An organization: disciplinary institutionalization and framing; the tension between interdisciplinarity and the disciplinary affiliation. 

4. The continents of science: 4.1. The distinction between the logical-mathematic sciences and the empirical sciences. 4.2. The distinction between natural sciences and social sciences. 4.3. The distinction between pure sciences and applied sciences.

5. Economics and social sciences: 5.1. The internal differentiation of social sciences. 5.2. Interdisciplinarity and the construction of multidisciplinary domains. 

6. What science does: 6.1. The expected results of scientific research: describe and explain. 6.2. The reasoning logics in science: deduction and induction. 6.3. The formalisation of interpretations: laws, theories and models.

7. Theories and models building and evaluation: 7.1. Acting through conjectures and refutations (Karl Popper). 7.2. Following and testing paradigms (Thomas S. Kuhn). 7.3. Social sciences paradigmatic pluralism.

8. The logic and the method of empirical research: 8.1. Beginning with one or more disciplinary problematics. 8.2. Defining the research problem. 8.3. Defining the empirical research object. 8.4. Literature reviewing, and sources' identification, critiques and exploring. 8.5. Formulating hypothesis. 8.6. Data gathering and analysis. 8.7. Interpreting data. 8.8. Adding value to the available theory within the discipline.

9. The available methods and techniques for empirical data building: 9.1. Fundamental research and action research. 9.2. Extensive analysis and the case study. 9.3. Documental analysis, survey, field work and experimentation.

10. The basic principles for reading and interpreting data: 10.1. The indirect nature of measurement in the social sciences. 10.2. How to organize, read and present statistical data. 10.3. The analysis of relationships between variables: statistical tests and causality analysis.

Mandatory literature

Louçã, Francisco & José Castro Caldas; Economia(s), Afrontamento, 2009
Introdução à economia; Neves, Joaão César das, Verbo, 2011
UNDP; Human development report 2013, United Nations
Silva, Augusto Santos; O conhecimento e a investigação científica, Faculdade de Economia do Porto, 2012

Teaching methods and learning activities

 

The course includes lectures, case studies and practical tests, including such subjects as research design, presentation and interpretation of statistical data and the analysis of variables and correlations.

 

keywords

Social sciences

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation without final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Teste	100,00
Total:	100,00

Eligibility for exams

Scoring at each test 7/20 at least.

Calculation formula of final grade

Two tests (a+b), according to the formula: final mark= a*50%+b*50%.