Undergraduate Module Descriptor

POC3072F: Politics of Protest (Fieldwork)

This module descriptor refers to the 2016/7 academic year.

Please note that this module is only delivered on the Penryn Campus.

Module Aims

This module provides you with the opportunity to learn about and test theories of social and political protest using data that you collect yourselves. You will learn basic quantitative data analysis skills and how to test hypotheses derived from the social movements’ literature. Your employability, verbal and oral communication and general research skills will be strengthened.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
This module's assessment will evaluate your achievement of the ILOs listed here – you will see reference to these ILO numbers in the details of the assessment for this module.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to:
Module-Specific Skills	1. demonstrate competence in survey design and implementation; 2. use intermediate statistical techniques to analyse quantitative data using SPSS; 3. test hypotheses derived from careful reading of social movement theories;
Discipline-Specific Skills	4. demonstrate the ability to effectively use analytical skills in both written and oral work; 5. appraise theories of social movements using quantitative evidence;
Personal and Key Skills	6. design a survey in groups; 7. present coherent arguments; 8. demonstrate the ability to communicate effectively in your written and oral work; and 9. critically apply knowledge of the research process to test hypotheses.

Module Content

Syllabus Plan

Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics:

1. Measuring social movement dynamics

2. Old and new social movements compared

3. Structural and biographic availability

4. Emotions and motivations

5. Protest as anti-politics

6. Survey design

7. Entering and cleaning data in SPSS

8. Assumptions of parametric data

9. Measures of association

10. Basic regression

Learning and Teaching

This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:

Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities	Guided independent study	Placement / study abroad
28	122	0

...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:

Category	Hours of study time	Description
Scheduled Learning and teaching activity	5	5 x 1 hour lectures
Scheduled Learning and teaching activity	5	5 x 1 hour seminars
Scheduled Learning and teaching activity	10	5 x 2 hour computer workshops
Scheduled Learning and teaching activity	3	Group survey design workshop
Scheduled Learning and teaching activity	5 (plus travel time)	Field trip for data collection
Guided Independent study	43	Private study: reading material set on reading list
Guided Independent study	15	Preparing review of method
Guided Independent study	64	Preparing research report

Online Resources

This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).

ELE – http://vle.exeter.ac.uk/