Doing sociology: active learning in research methods education

Nind, Melanie and Meckin, Robert (2025) Doing sociology: active learning in research methods education. In, Foster, Liam, Mason, Will and Nichols, Kitty (eds.) Teaching Research Methods in Sociology. (Elgar Guides to Teaching) Edward Elgar Publishing, pp. 12-27. (doi:10.4337/9781035320226.00010).

Record type: Book Section

Abstract

In this chapter, we share some thinking on how the subject matter of social research methods can be taught and learned in the social sciences and in sociology in particular. In doing so we draw on our perspectives as a pedagogue, methodologist and researcher of pedagogy (Melanie) and a quasisociologist-cum-science and technology studies (STS) researcher (Robert). We begin with some of the challenges teachers and learners often encounter before addressing ways in which active learning can be used to address some of these challenges. The practical experiences of the methods classroom, we argue, is where we articulate and embody sociological knowledge, values and culture, and where we can address sociological inquiry, making methods learning a crucial site in which students can be engaged sociologists.

Text

Chapter 2 Doing sociology - Accepted Manuscript

Restricted to Repository staff only until 11 December 2026.

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