In this course, students will learn a variety of qualitative research methods to investigate the social world and to comprehensively understand the use of qualitative methods in sociological research. Through the exploration of the topics covered in the course, students will be introduced Academic to the various tools that scientists use to conduct research within a given society to produce knowledge. They will explore theoretical meaning and underlying principles of qualitative inquiry in sociological research. The course will address several of the basic issues of the qualitative research process, ethical dilemmas and procedures for collecting and analyzing data. The definitive goal is to provide students with practical research experiences that will allow them to critically examine the process and methods of qualitative research in their social world.
This course allows students to understand the various interconnections between the methodologies used in survey design and reliability findings. Students gain hands-on-experience with the computer, as it relates to data entry of the actual survey that the student conducts in a test of understanding of phenomena and research.
This course is a general introduction to the fundamental principles of population studies (demography). The major focus of the course will be on population growth, trends and its distribution. Interrelations between demographic, social, cultural, and economic factors will be examined. The hallmark of population studies includes the study of fertility (births), mortality (deaths), and migration (geographic mobility).
This course is premised on the rationale that ethics can be learned. Ethical literacy is a critical priority in a world where some of the greatest challenges graduates will face will not be matters of fact but rather matters of value and judgement. Knowledge of the ethical rules associated with the Behavioural Sciences will equip students with the necessary tools to engage the moral self with professional rules of ethics. Included in the concept of a psychologically literate citizen, for instance, is an expectation that undergraduates will learn to behave ethically and humanely at work and in other everyday contexts. The same holds true for other Behavioural Science areas. Learners will therefore be given the opportunity to relate practical solutions to ethical dilemmas. Students will be able to distinguish ethics from ethical literacy, apply ethical skills to current situations and issues, use ethical actions to resolve conflict.
This is a Level 2 course. It covers the concepts, principles, objectives and practical applications of sustainability and sustainable development from an environmental, social, economic, corporate and political perspective. There is a natural environmental orientation to an overarching course of this nature, however, it seeks throughout to identify and analyze relationships between environmental sustainability and socio-economic factors, most centrally, the relationship between resource consumption (individual and collective) and sustainable livelihoods. The course examines, inter alia, the origins of sustainability, sustainability concepts, terms, standards and indicators, economic activity/output and sustainability, the role of industry and issue of waste, the issues of energy, water and clean air; environmental issues, political implications and decision-making and discourse/policy trends in energy, resource use, pollution, climate change and water; the three ‘E’s’ – environment, economics and equity; the environmental-social nexus – current and future resource availability and constraints, livelihoods and policy-making; sustainability in the business world – resource allocation, investment, stakeholders, shareholders, public and/v private-sector actors, the role of NGOs, multilaterals, bilaterals. The course also examines the global political economy of sustainability: individual versus collective state action, the tragedy of the commons, sustainable development, rights, obligations, sacrifices, opportunity costs as viewed by the developed and developing world.
When we allow ourselves to be curious about life around us we are doing social exploration. We are discovering the substance and fabric of our social reality. Social exploration is an iterative
process of learning, reflecting and documenting our observations. Deep social exploration makes us a student of life. Sociologists must practice deep social exploration so that we will
have a body of knowledge about how we live in society. This course will help you to enjoy the art and practice of research as deep social exploration. The course is designed to give students an appreciation for conceptualizing contemporary issues from a sociological perspective and the opportunity to integrate sociological theories and research methods to investigate selected issues. The course covers the three main components involved in doing research: preparing a research proposal, completing the research, presenting the findings to the audience. Using an iterative process, learners will be supported through the steps involved in moving from a research idea to a research project. Learners will design a research study, collect and analyse information gathered and share that information with different audiences. The chosen topic has to be relevant, important, and have a sociological perspective.
SOCI 3008 Industrial Sociology 1 is concerned with the interrelationship of society and industry or industrial activity. It involves the application of sociological theory and method to the problems that arise in the process of producing goods and services in modern society. These arrangements emerged with the industrial revolution and marked the beginning of the societal form that we have come to call industrial society. The course begins by locating industrial society in the context of human development. Associated with this is the emergence of sociology as a way of understanding the profound changes in human relations and social organization associated with the industrial revolution. In the sections that follow, the course examines the sociology of work, the sociology of industrial relations, industrial and post industrial society, the sexual division of labor in the Caribbean, industrialization in the Caribbean, technology
and its effect on relations at the workplace and the impact of the technological revolution of the late twentieth century on the organization of industrial production.
This course seeks to equip students with an in-depth understanding of core aspects of Caribbean culture. Topics which will be covered include: nationalism and identity, belief systems, religion, the arts, sports, family and kinship, and gender roles.
