Using the Internet for Social Science Research  

March 2- 4, 2005

  Organised by

Centre for Development Studies
Trivandrum

and

Indian Institute for Information Technology and Management-Kerala
Trivandrum

  at

Indian Institute for Information Technology and Management-Kerala

Park Centre, Technopark

Trivandrum-695581

The Context  

New technologies such as improvements in computing power and the Internet has made social science research easier and less time consuming. While technology has been progressing very rapidly a typical graduate student’s knowledge of it has not kept pace with this rapid progress. Much more than lack of access or resources, it is the lack of knowledge about these useful tools that has been the main problem. While there has been a significant improvement in the price-performance ratio in respect of computing, the World Wide Web (www) has now blossomed into a repertoire of useful literature, data and indeed analytical tools; most students still rely on older technologies much to their peril and productivity. In the context, the purpose of this short-duration programme is to take students by hand through the various logical steps in doing social science research and then acquaint them with Internet resources that can make these steps much more easy and rich.

Course objectives:  

Given a research topic, after attending the course, the participant should be able to:

  ·        Prepare a comprehensive but issue-specific bibliography using freely    available resources on the www;

·        Identify secondary source datasets;

·        Sensistise to different techniques of data analysis and measurement

·        Familiarise with different methods of dissemination (of output) and networking

Participants

The course is targeted at a typical social science (Economics, Political Science, Sociology and Social Work) student at the Ph.D., M.Phil and M.A. levels. 

Structure of the course 

The course will be taught through lectures in a workshop mode. The students will be seated before PCs with Internet connection while being taken through the various steps in conducting applied social science research. In essence, learning by doing method of instruction is envisaged. The programme will have lecture cum workshop sessions of unequal duration spread over three working days. Further, the second and final days end with a wrap up session in which the main issues/tools learnt are practiced. The detailed day- by-schedule is given below.

Material/Hands-on by Professor Chandan Mukerjee (CDS)
IndiaExports.xls
IndiaSavInvest.xls
worker.xls  

Note: KN- K. Narayanan Nair; SM- Sunil Mani; JM: J.Murali; CM: Chandan Mukherjee; KS- K. Srinivasan; 

Faculty: 

Mr J.Muralidharan Nair (CDS), Professor Sunil Mani (CDS), Professor Chandan Mukerjee (CDS) and Dr K.Srinivasan (IIITM-K)

Course co-ordination: 

The course will be jointly co-ordinated by Professor Sunil Mani and Dr K. Srinivasan.

Courseware:

 All participants will be provided with a CD-ROM containing MS-Power Point Slides of all lectures, a comprehensive list of resources on the WWW, copies of search and download tools freely available on the web.

Venue: 

The course will be held at the premises of IIITM-K

Timing: 

The course will be conducted during March 2-4 2005

Course Certificate: 

Participants will be issued with a Certificate of Course Completion  

Course fee: 

Rs 600 per person to cover the cost of lunches, refreshments and courseware. It does not include accommodation, travel costs etc. Selected participants need to pay this amount by February 4 2005. The mode of payment of the fee will be mentioned in the letter of admittance.

Travel and Accommodation:

  Out-station participants will have to make their own arrangements for travel and stay. However, both CDS and IIITM-K will be pleased to provide you with assistance in securing reasonably priced accommodation nearer to the venue of the programme.

Application: 

Application forms can be downloaded here (PDF) or filled in online as a Word document. For additional information, please write to:

Professor Sunil Mani

Centre for Development Studies

Prasantha Nagar Road, Ulloor

Trivandrum-695011, Kerala

E-mail: [email protected] 

Fax: 0471-2447137, Tel: 0471-2448881

   Or

Dr K Srinivasan

Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management-Kerala

Park Centre, Technopark, Thiruvananthapuram-695581, Kerala

E-mail: [email protected]

Fax: 0471-2527568, Tel: 0471-2527567

Completed applications may be sent to Prof. Sunil Mani

before January 24, 2005

Selected candidates will be informed by January 28^th  2005.