SIW4210 Knowledge Production in Social Sciences - Quantitative Methods Emneplan

Dag Jenssen

The course consists of lectures, seminar group- and individual exercises.

Course meetings are divided into lecture and seminar portions. In the seminar, student project groups and/or individual students work with practical exercises. The seminars will be supervised on demand. Students will complete practical exercises in each seminar, which will be collected in a "project portfolio". Portfolio work will receive feedback from the instructor and at specified times throughout the semester and a selection of the work will comprise a portion of the final exam.

The exam consists of two parts: the Master thesis itself and an oral examination.

A thesis should be approximately 50 pages (+ / - 10 percent), in Calibri 12 with line spacing 1.5 (excluding table of contents, foreword, summary, references and appendix). The thesis is to be written in the APA style.

Alternatively, the student can write an article based master’s thesis consisting of one ready to submit article manuscript intended for a peer reviewed journal (level one or two). Theses in article form written by two students should consist of two such article manuscripts. Along with the article(s) there must be an introductory chapter (in Norwegian referred to as "kappe") consisting of around 14 pages (excluding table of contents, foreword, summary, references and appendix). The introductory chapter must be in the APA style. The article should be in the style of the journal.

The Master thesis must receive a passing grade before the student can sit for the oral examination. The oral examination begins with the student presenting their Master thesis in lecture format (30 minutes, 45 minutes if co-authored with another student). Following this, the student will participate in an individual, oral discussion and assessment (of approx. 45 minutes).

The student can choose to receive the grade on the written master's thesis before the oral presentation of the thesis (the lecture) commences.

The oral presentation (the lecture) and the subsequent individual, oral discussion and assessment can change the grade that is given for the Master thesis. After the oral examination, the final grade is set. The final grade is entered into the diploma.

When two students co-author a Master thesis, both will receive the same grade for the written thesis. Each individual student will, however, individually present their part of the thesis in lecture form and subsequently participate in an individual, oral discussion and assessment. The presentation and oral discussion and assessment will be evaluated as the individual student’s contribution and will be used for possible adjustment of the final grade.

A student can deliver a new or revised Master thesis one time if the Master thesis does not receive a passing grade. The student in this case will receive an offer of three-hours further supervision before delivery of the new thesis. Students receiving a passing grade on their Master thesis do not have the right to have their thesis re-evaluated within the same study program.

Grade scale A - F.

Simon Innvær

Erika Gubrium

School exam: No aids are allowed.  

Semester assignment: All aids are permitted, as long as source citation rules are complied with.  

Grade scale A - F. 

The exam papers are assessed by an internal and an external examiner. A random selection consisting of at least 25% of the exam papers will be graded by two examiners which will form the basis for determining the level for all the exam papers.

Mats Eirik Lillehagen