Department of Methodology

Department of Methodology Seminar Series|

Thursday 23 May, 4.30-6pm, COL8.13

Dr Oliver Heath (Royal Holloway, University of London)

Policy Representation, Social Representation and Class Voting in Britian

Why does the strength of class voting vary over time? Recent research has emphasized factors to do with the structure of political choice at the party level. This article examines different aspects of this choice, and investigates whether voters are more likely to respond to the social cues or political cues that parties send voters. The results from the British context suggest that the former are more important than the latter. The central implication of this finding is that social representation matters, and that the social background of political representatives influences the ways in which voters relate to political parties.

New Department of Methodology Research Project

Communicating Chronic Pain: Interdisciplinary Methods for Non-Textual Data
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Dr. Jen Tarr, PI
Co-investigators Dr. Aude Bicquelet, Dr. Flora Cornish, Dr. Elena Gonzalez-Polledo

Funded by the NCRM Methodological Innovations| Project scheme

1 May 2013-30 September 2014

The research adapts interdisciplinary methods from the arts, humanities and social sciences to examine how chronic pain, as a non-verbal experience, can be communicated through non-textual data, and how it circulates socially. It will do this through a three stage process involving analysis of existing textual and non-textual pain expressions online and in social media such as YouTube; a series of five workshops exploring non-textual expressions of pain by mapping physical and bodily, sound (aural), spatial, social and technological elements, and development of an evaluation methodology for exploring of the efficacy of non-textual communications of pain. Workshops will be interdisciplinary, involving chronic pain patients, visual and performing artists, and clinicians researching chronic pain, as well as the members of the research team. The evaluation phase of the research will look at ways of modelling the outcomes of the workshops and evaluating the relative success of non-textual modes of pain communication for patients, clinicians and other interested professionals. Methodologically, the research will contribute to development, systematisation and evaluation of non-textual research methods and to useful interdisciplinary collaborations between contemporary practices in the arts, humanities and social sciences. It aims to develop and enhance chronic pain sufferers’ ability to communicate their pain and to work with clinicians to better understand pain expressions from a non-linguistic perspective.

The Department of Methodology YouTube channel
|Now available, software training videos covering SPSS, STATA and Alceste on Methodology LSE| YouTube channel.

A key function of the department is to provide training for PhD and MSc students across the LSE in the design of social research and in qualitative and quantitative analysis.

We run a number of courses |for Masters and PhD students. We also run a MSc Social Research Methods| programme and a MPhil/PhD Social Research Methods| programme.