Corsi di Studio del Dipartimento di Culture, Politica e Società

The first part of the course aims to let the students acquire a theoretical equipment of knoledwdge in order to analyze the practice of social work in which they will be engaged.The second part of the course aims at the development of basic knowledge about: -the design of the research process and its steps; -the logic of the main data and texts collection methods; -the logic of the main data and texts analysis methods; -some criteria for assessment of data quality.

For the first part of the course students shall have to critically master its (historically declined)contents through a proper sociological language and ability in linking the different concepts. For the second part of the course students will be expected: to have a good knowledge of the topics dealt in the course, to have acquired the specialized vocabulary, to make the links between concepts and statements contained in the texts studied and other materials available on the website.

For the first part of the course "Sociology" a written examination is foreseen including 3 open questions each with a maximum of 10 points.The assessment of the expected outcomes of the second part "Social research" consists in a compulsory written examination (maximum mark: 27) followed by a facultative oral examination. Facultative oral exam (aimed to improve the written exam mark, up to 4 points) can be sustained if the written one is valued at least 18.
For further details see the “notes”.

The first part of the course (prof.Simon)aims to provide the sociological knowledge necessary to build up a theoretical approach to the study of the 'person'which is fundamental for social workers.At first classical and modern authors will be discussed upon the socio-anthropological question about "man" and his contexts of action. Secondly a crucial subject of social work - poverty - will be treated in the most significant sociological theories.The second part of the course (prof.Albano)introduces to the different modes of structuring social research: goals, methods of data collection and analysis. Main topics are: -relations between social theory and empirical research; -description, explanation, understanding in social science; -distinguishing characteristics of qualitative vs. quantitative research; -the steps of research process, from questions identification to results report; -methods of interviewing; -methods of observation; -documentary research; -the language of variables; -introduction to elementary statistics; -introduction to text analysis; -brief overview of other methods of analysis; -secondary analysis and its pros and cons; -types of secondary data and assessment of their quality; -some available dataset and data archives for the social research.

First part (prof.Simon):1)D.Simon,L'idea di Uomo nella sociologia classica e contemporanea,FrancoAngeli,Milano, 2011;D.Simon,Sociologie della povertà.Dall'approccio positivistico alle teorie dinamiche, in G.Simmel,Sulla povertà (a cura di D.Simon), FrancoAngeli,Milano,2013,pp.9-71 - Seconda parte (prof. Albano): 1) Biolcati-Rinaldi F., Vezzoni C.,L’analisi secondaria nella ricerca sociale, il Mulino, Bologna 2012 2) Albano R., Paccagnella L., La ricerca sociale sulla comunicazione, Carocci, Roma 2006 3) slides, class notes, readings and other training-aids that will be provided during the course. Optionally, those who wish to improve their marks can make a methodological reading of a book chosen among: -Albano R., Bertolini S., D’Agati M., Cui bono? Rappresentazioni e aspettative sulla scuola secondaria in Piemonte, Rosenberg & Sellier, Torino 2014; -Belloni C. (a cura di), Transizioni, Bambini e adulti nella società dell’incertezza, Carocci, Roma 2014; -Cartocci R., Mappe del tesoro. Atlante del capitale sociale in Italia, il Mulino, Bologna 2014; -Jick T.D., Mixing Qualitative and Quantitative Methods: Triangulation in Action, in “Administrative Science Quarterly”, 24, 4, 1979, pp. 602-11; -Mosca F. (a cura di), Italiani e stranieri nelle imprese ferraresi. Relazioni e configurazioni sociali, Provincia di Ferrara, 2010; -Torrioni P. (a cura di), Sportelli e servizi per l’assistenza familiare. Sperimentazioni e prospettive di welfare mix nella provincia di Torino, Celid, Torino 2014.

Registration on ESSE3-system for the exam is mandatory. Exam of the course “Sociology and social research” can be taken no more than three times in the academic year. The exam consists of two tests, one for each part, that must be sustained in the same sitting. To get through the exam, it is mandatory to obtain passing mark (18/30) in both tests. If the mark of the first test is below 18/30, the entire exam has to be sustained again. If only the second test is below 18/30, this can be repeated once, without having to sustain the first test again, on the next available sitting of examination. The final mark of the exam is determined by the average of the marks obtained in the two parts of the course.