INTERNSHIP: SOCIAL RESEARCH METHODOLOGY LABORATORY

The course is organized in a laboratory format to enable students to concretely implement what they have studied theoretically, particularly regarding Big Data (BD) analysis and representation techniques. Specifically, the internship aims to provide students with an in-depth understanding of the potential offered by BDs and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the social sciences. Students will acquire essential skills in capturing, organizing, analyzing, and interpreting text and learning how to represent data strategically. The course will cover text analysis techniques, such as sentiment analysis and emotion detection, and the use of specific software to collect and analyze opinions, judgments, and emotions from major social media. Through group work, students will experience these techniques in practice, improving their collaboration skills and applying theoretical knowledge to actual cases. Upon completion of the course, students will be able to use AI tools to interpret complex data and effectively communicate the results of their analysis.

The course has laboratory mode. After a few introductory lessons, students will read the assigned texts and carry out practical activities. They will work in small groups to experiment what they learned and solve the assigned exercises.

Knowledge of the methodology of social research is required

Compulsory

The course will cover Big Data, AI, and Social Science, techniques and software for capturing and analyzing opinions, judgments, and 'emotions' from major social media, textual analysis (e.g., sentiment, emotion detection) from digital sources, application of these tools to actual cases, and group work.

Texts and handouts will be distributed to attendees 

Di Franco G., (2015)  EDS: Esplorare, descrivere e sintetizzare i dati. Guida pratica all'analisi dei dati nella ricerca sociale. Franco Angeli, Milano. Only the chapters that the professor will specify in the classroom.

Divided into groups, students will tackle specific problems and present the results of their work in the classroom. The results will constitute outcomes of the activity performed.