To provide courses for PhD and MSc students and LSE staff in the design of social research and in qualitative and quantitative analysis;
To host degree programmes for MSc Social Research Methods and MPhil/PhD in Social Research Methods.

The Department also provides a walk-in 'methods surgery' where staff and students can drop in for advice on methods-related problems they may have. This service is offered weekly during term time on Thursdays 10-12 in the PhD Academy (4th Floor of the Library) on a first-come, first-served basis: no appointment necessary.

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Methodololgy Seminar Series

Date: 17 November 2016
Time: 16:15 - 17:45
Title: Managing open-ended style
Speaker: Professor Vaughn Tan (pictured), Assistant Professor at the School of Management, UCL

The next Department of Methodology Seminar will go into the details of a qualitative, ethnographic field study on open ended style in cutting-edge cuisine. Read more...

Alasdair Jones to speak at the RCA

Alasdair Jones (pictured) will be speaking at the final conference of the EU Marie Curie research project ‘TRADERS: Training Art and Design Researchers for Participation in Public Space.’ The conference – entitled MEDIATIONS: Art & Design Agency and Participation in Public Space – will be taking place at the Royal College of Art, London (21-22 November 2016). At the conference Alasdair will be speaking about the curation of public space on London’s South Bank. If you are interested in attending the conference you can register for it here.

What can demography tell us about democracy?

Demographic transition is often welcomed, because it enables improved life opportunities and economic circumstances for societies across the world. But a new study by Dr Ben Wilson (Fellow in the Department of Methodology) and Professor Tim Dyson has found that demography is also a useful indicator of democratisation, the process where countries make the transition from authoritarian regimes to democracy. Read more... October 2016.

Flora Cornish speaks at Keynote debate

Dr Flora Cornish, Department of Methodology, spoke in a keynote debate on measurement at the Development Studies Association of Ireland annual conference in Dublin on Thursday 19 November. She argued that the evidence paradigm is producing misuses of social scientific research in the service of policy and donor interests, drawing on her recent paper on systematic reviews, published in Anthropology & Medicine. November 2015.

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, including courses run as part of the LSE's Doctoral Training Centre. We also run a MSc Social Research Methods programme and a MPhil/PhD Social Research Methods programme.

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

Featured publication

Flora Cornish, and her co-author, Morten Skovdal, have published a new qualitative methods textbook for practitioners in international development. The book offers practical ‘how to’ guides, examples, and learning activities, to help development practitioners to make use of qualitative research in monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning. Chapter One is open access.

A selection of the most recent publications by Department of Methodology staff are below:

Quasi-citizenship as a category of practice: analyzing engagement with Russia’s Compatriot policy in Crimea
Knott, Eleanor (2016) Quasi-citizenship as a category of practice: analyzing engagement with Russia’s Compatriot policy in Crimea. Citizenship Studies . pp. 1-20. ISSN 1362-1025

Transition to parenthood during the transition to modernity in Jordan: new parents' views on family and healthcare support systems
Mrayan, Lina, Cornish, Flora, Dhungana, Nimesh and Parfitt, Barbara (2016) Transition to parenthood during the transition to modernity in Jordan: new parents' views on family and healthcare support systems. Applied Nursing Research, 32 . pp. 139-143. ISSN 0897-1897

Empty rituals? A qualitative study of users’ experience of monitoring & evaluation systems in HIV interventions in western India
Shukla, Anuprita, Teedona, Paul and Cornish, Flora (2016) Empty rituals? A qualitative study of users’ experience of monitoring & evaluation systems in HIV interventions in western India. Social Science & Medicine, 168 . pp. 7-15. ISSN 02779536

Female genital mutilation/cutting in Mali and Mauritania
Cetorelli, V., Wilson, B., Batyra, E. and Coast, E. (2016) Female genital mutilation/cutting in Mali and Mauritania. In: BSPS Annual Conference , 12-14 Sep 2016, Winchester, UK. (Unpublished)

Cluster sampling bias in government-sponsored evaluations: a correlational study of employment and welfare pilots in England
Vaganay, Arnaud (2016) Cluster sampling bias in government-sponsored evaluations: a correlational study of employment and welfare pilots in England. PLOS One, 11 (8). e0160652. ISSN 1932-6203

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