This course provides a broad introduction to social science methodology. The main goal is to prepare students for writing their master’s thesis by guiding them through the various steps of the research process. Students will learn how to define a research problem, use theories, and translate them into testable hypotheses. Additionally, they will learn to conceptualize research problems in terms of variables, select appropriate cases to answer their research questions, and make descriptive and causal inferences.

The course focuses primarily on the essential logic underpinning social scientific research rather than introducing students to specific methodological techniques, although brief introductions to the most commonly used research techniques will be provided.

Throughout the course, students will have the opportunity to present their ongoing research projects and receive feedback from their peers and the professor. This feedback can be integrated into their research projects. The final goal of the course is to develop a research proposal for the master’s thesis.

There is very little set reading for this course. However, students need to prepare for each class (as per the instructions below) and in most of the first six sessions this usually includes reading at least one article related to their own dissertation topic. This reading is essential to building a good research design (and hence essential to most of the assignments in the course).

Assessment

Graded Elements:

The final grade will be determined by several elements.

• Class participation: Class attendance is not mandatory, but the degree of class participation will be graded (10% of the final grade).

• Grade for draft research proposal: Before session 5, students have to submit on the virtual campus a first draft of their research proposal. This proposal needs to include a research question and hypotheses based on at least six academic sources (10% of the final grade).

• Feedback on draft research proposal: Every first draft research proposal is evaluated in written form online by three peers, who give anonymous feedback. The quality of this feedback will be evaluated (10% of the final grade).

• Presentation of draft final research proposal: In one of the final six sessions, students have to give an oral presentation about their research proposal to the other students. This presentation will be evaluated (10% of the final grade).

• Discussion of other draft final research proposal: Every student has to prepare written feedback on the draft final research proposal of another student and explain these comments in one of the final sessions. The quality of this feedback will be evaluated by the professor (10% of the final grade).

• Final research proposal: At the end of the course, the students have to submit a final research proposal of about 1,200 words (excluding bibliography). A template will be provided on the virtual campus (50% of the final grade).

Competences, learning outcomes and teaching activities (PDF)