Dr Alasdair Jones COL8.12

This course is compulsory on the MSc in Social Research Methods. This course is available on the MSc in Gender (Research), MSc in Human Geography and Urban Studies (Research), MSc in International Migration and Public Policy and MSc in Statistics (Research). This course is available as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.

Research students please see MY500.

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 dissertations.

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 first assignment.

Robson, Colin and McCartan, Kieran (2015, 4th edition). Real World Research. London: John Wiley.

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

Research Proposal assignment (1000 words), submitted in week 11 of MT (30%).   Research Design (5000 words), submitted in Week 1 of ST (60%).