Research Design and Methods

This course teaches you how to independently develop a scientific research proposal. The course consists of lectures on ontology, epistemology, research ethics, and research design, focusing on how to formulate research questions, the role of theory, and an overview of research methods explaining the different forms of knowledge that various methods can provide. Conceptual, procedural, and ethical considerations as well as gender, class, and cultural biases in research are also highlighted. In addition to developing your own research proposal, you will also take part in a seminar on positionality, in which you are encouraged to reflect on your own identities and assets from a research perspective.

The course will give you the tools to assess your own and others’ research endeavours, including the important question of research ethics and your own position vis-a-vis the research subject and project as a whole. In an increasingly polarized society, a solid knowledge of research design and methods is imperative and enables you to critically take part in and scrutinize research results, reports, and public debates.

During the course, you will develop your own research proposal. You will present different drafts of the proposal, receive feedback from peers and teachers, and rework the proposal until the final seminar. You will reflect on the relationship between theoretical frameworks, methodological approaches, research questions, and analysis and you will learn how to assess the most adequate relation between research questions, methods, techniques, and different types of empirical material. One of the assignments in the course is formulated as an exercise where you choose one of the methods presented in the course and try this out in practice, for example, conduct an interview, do participant observation, or carry out a discourse analysis.