Dr Alasdair Jones COL8.12

The course is available to all research students.

Research design necessitates trade offs between the strengths and weaknesses of different feasible options.  This course aims to introduce the broad range of design options and to foster an appreciation of these alternatives for particular research objectives.  Drawing on a variety of examples from the social scientific literature, this course will explore design considerations and options across quantitative and qualitative research, including issues of data quality, analysis, reporting and reproducibility.  At the end of the course, students will be able to read a wide variety of empirical social science with a critical and balanced perspective and will be better equipped to implement and make arguments defending the methods they use in their PhD theses.

20 hours of lectures and 8 hours of seminars in the MT.

Week 6 is a Reading Week during which students work independently on their formative assignments.

Robson, Colin (2011, 3rd edition). Real World Research. London: John Wiley. 

Research proposal (30%) in the MT.
Other (60%) in the ST.
Class participation (10%).

Research Proposal (1000 words) submitted in Week 9 MT (30%). Provisional Research Design (5000 words) submitted in Week 1 in ST (60%).