Entry requirements

For exchange students only.

Learning outcomes

After completion of the course, students are expected to have acquired the following abilities:

• to critically examine scholarly research from a methodological perspective which includes among other things: basic knowledge about the research process, what is required to establish causality and different criteria for solid research such as validity, reliability and generalisation

• to formulate and motivate their own research questions, to make a research design that help answer the research questions, and to discuss relevant problems of methodology in their study

• to conduct basic empirical investigations and discuss relevant problems of methodology in data collection

• to improve their abilities during the process of the course - and formulate a researchable study

Content

This is a course about scientific methods, with a focus on qualitative methods, and it provide students with the tools they need to write academic papers. The underlying idea is that scientific method is best understood through application, and designing our own study is an effective way of learning about relevant methodological problems and the different ways of solving them. This also provides the students with the proper methodological tools for analysing academic research in general.

We emphasise the importance of posing new and interesting research questions, and students are reminded of the central role of the research question throughout the course. The research question shall guide the choices we have to make in the research process. The focus is on qualitative methods and students practice making their own research design to answer the research question. They will also try out different types of data collection, such as interviews, surveys, focus groups, and direct observation. Some seminar assignments are especially relevant for students of development studies, such as participatory methods which apply a bottom-up perspective and are commonly used in development cooperation.

For this course, student will not write a full academic paper but will instead practice on different parts of any research project and academic product. For the last assignment, students write a dissertation memorandum where all parts of the research process are put together into a whole: in the dissertation memo students therefore formulate a research question, make a research design, analyse the empirical data at hand, and suggest possible results of the study. With the different parts put together in the dissertation memo, we are in a better position to discuss how well the research question fits with the other parts, and to discuss the relevant method problems when we have an indication of the results.

One of the course aims is that students are to improve their abilities during the process of the course, and this is also a basis for examination. The idea is that students through concrete application of the various steps of the research process will deepen their learning and understanding of academic research. Students will receive comments and feedback from the instructor and participating students during the seminar assignments that will assist the student to either overcome methodological challenges or to discuss remaining problems in an insightful way in the final dissertation memo so that a manageable research task is formulated.

Instruction

The course begins with introductory lectures on the overall research process, and each seminar assignment will be introduced by a lecture. In order to introduce students to concrete examples of how research may relate to development cooperation work, at least one of the assignments will follow processes and applied research methods relevant for development cooperation and associated consultancy work.

Additional information regarding instruction and examination will be handed out before each course.

Assessment

Examination of this course is through seminar assignments and the formulation of a dissertation memo. Grades are awarded according to the scale “failed”, “pass” or “pass with distinction”. Examination is based on the written seminar assignment as well as on active participation in the seminars. For the grade “pass” it is required that the student will have handed in all assignments and acquired the grade “pass” and actively participated in all the seminars.

Other regulations

This course is for exchange students only. Teaching in English.