Research Methods
Code: 42736 ECTS Credits: 9| Degree | Type | Year |
|---|---|---|
| History of Science: Science, History and Society | OT | 0 |
Contact
- Name:
- Jaume Sastre Juan
- Email:
- jaume.sastre@uab.cat
Teachers
- (External) Jesús María Galech Amillano
Teaching groups languages
You can view this information at the end of this document.
Prerequisites
Completion of M2 module (research track).
The student will have a director among lecturers of the master. Within the first weeks of the semester (see Bibliography), the student must choose one of the topics proposed and reach an agreement with a director. If the director does not teach in the master, it will require a tutor. The draft final project must show that the student is rady to develop the subject on a solid documentary base.
Acceptance will be reflected in the registration form, completed and signed by both parties. It will be presented by the student to the coordination in the second tutorial. Given the choice of students and availability of tutors, the coordinators may assign a theme and a mentor among teachers who have few students.
Objectives and Contextualisation
Students will develop the project for their Master's thesis.
Competences
- "Apply the different methodologies and historiographic schools to research work (this competence is acquired by students who take the specialisation ""Research and History of Science"")."
- Apply this discipline's own analysis methods and techniques in the construction of various historical narratives.
- "Design original, innovative research projects regarding the historiographic schools of science (this competence is acquired by students who take the specialisation ""Research and History of Science"")."
- Develop an original, interdisciplinary historical narrative that integrates humanistic and scientific culture.
- Interpret, comment on and edit scientific texts on science's past and place them rigorously within their historical context.
- Use information and communication technologies appropriately in research and in professional activity.
- Work independently: solving problems, taking decisions and making innovative proposals.
Learning Outcomes
- Distinguish techniques to organise, assimilate and manage complex historiographic information using one's own criteria.
- Establish the state of the art of a topic, regarding both sources and secondary bibliography.
- Formulate critical syntheses of the important information.
- Identify relationships between scientific knowledge and practices and the global context in which they are produced.
- Identify the arguments given in a text or speech and critically evaluate their structure and implications.
- Identify the documentary sources and the materials on which a research project is based.
- Interpret texts from different periods and/or traditions, showing sensibility to the context in which they were written.
- Recognise and critically assess the historiographic perspective of texts on the history of science, technology and medicine.
- Reveal the tacit presuppositions behind arguments and theories from the past.
- Seek out and critically select the relevant information for a research project.
- Use a methodology that is appropriate to the topic being studied.
- Use information and communication technologies appropriately in research and in professional activity.
- Work independently: solving problems, taking decisions and making innovative proposals.
Content
The student must develop the project for the Master's thesis, including:
a) a statement of the state of affairs: to present and discuss the treatment of the subject by other historians, using the appropriate literature
b ) a proposed work: in addition to aim a descriptive title, justify the choice of subject, stating the assumptions or working hypotheses, detailing the objectives to be achieved, identify the sources and methodology of analysis, tentatively describe the structure of master Thesis work and propose a timetable
The project will consist of a maximum of 3,500 words, including bibliography.
Sessions
1. First general session. General guidelines.
2. Second general session. Project tracking. Deadline for submitting the application for the MPhil essay.
3. Delivery of projects.
Activities and Methodology
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Monitoring and tutoring sessions | 15 | 0.6 | 10, 1, 3, 11, 2, 9, 5, 6, 4, 7, 8 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Completion of the project for the master's thesis | 200 | 8 | 10, 1, 3, 11, 2, 9, 5, 6, 4, 7, 8, 13, 12 |
The module includes orientation and follow-up sessions focused on the preparation and discussion of the project for the Master's thesis.
Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Assessment
Continous Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Completion of the project for the master's thesis | 50% | 5 | 0.2 | 10, 1, 3, 11, 2, 9, 5, 6, 4, 7, 8, 13, 12 |
| Oral presentation and defence of the project for the master's thesis | 50% | 5 | 0.2 | 10, 1, 3, 11, 2, 9, 5, 6, 4, 7, 8, 13, 12 |
The project report will be delivered to the coordinators within the deadlines set by the calendar. Reports that do not have the director's approval will not be subject to evaluation. Students need to do both the oral presentations and submit the written report in order to be assessed.
The director will submit a proposal of qualification (quantitative note from 0 to 10 with a decimal) and a small report of justification.
The coordinators of the module will also assess both the oral presentations and the written version.
The qualification of the project will be the average of the qualification of the director and that of the coordinators of the module.
Once the written project is delivered, a date and time will be set for the corresponding review.
This module does not incorporate single assessment.
This subject entirely prohibits the use of AI technologies in all of its activities. Any submitted work that contains content generated using AI will be considered academic dishonesty; the corresponding grade will be awarded a zero, without the possibility of reassessment. In cases of greater infringement, more serious action may be taken.
Bibliography
SEE LIST OF THE TOPICS AND AREAS OF RESEARCH OFFERED BY TUTORS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF MASTER'S THESES (in the Catalan and Spanish versions of this guide).
Software
No specific software is required.
Groups and Languages
Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2025. You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject.
| Name | Group | Language | Semester | Turn |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (PEXTm) Pràctiques externes i pràcticum (màster) | 1 | Catalan | second semester | morning-mixed |
| (TEm) Theory (master) | 1 | Catalan | second semester | morning-mixed |