Navigating Research: Research Training and Methods

Description

This course provides post-graduate students of different levels with strategies to develop a knowledge base and basic skills in research. This is a highly interactive course which introduces the basics of research practices on a post-graduate level, thus, could be deemed useful and interesting for the students of various disciplines. All post-graduate students who major in European and EU Studies -- EURO BA Honours, MEURO, MA (thesis) and PhDs -- are asked to complete this “Research Training” course.

The course in Research Training and Methods has as its primary goal to increase and improve the students’ level of research skills.  The attainment of this aim will have the effect of more research competent students and a higher level of a quality research output. Course content will focus on the basic building blocks of any research project – research question and hypothesis formulation; formulation of novelty, importance and relevancy of research; the place and role of theoretical models; philosophical positioning of a research inquiry; concerns around validity and reliability; and ethics matters in social science research. Students will have an opportunity to practice writing literature review; conduct and discuss their recorded interviews; present at the post-graduate conference; participate in weekly research colloquia; and establish practice and culture of regular consultations with their research supervisors.  Student will have an opportunity to learn about diverse methods in data collection, analysis and interpretation, such as interviewing, surveying, content analysis, case study, archival method, direct and indirect observations, etc., and about qualitative and quantitative approaches.  Students will have the opportunity to develop skills suitable for refereed publications and academic presentations.

This course will provide skills on a non-discriminatory interdisciplinary basis allowing students to participate in their Honours, Masters and PhDs degrees equally. Students will acquire skills in developing a research approach, understanding and using a theory-informed approach and diverse methods for strengthening research findings and supporting methodological choices.