Research Methodologies for International Studies

2022/2023

Academic Year

ENG

Instruction in English

9

ECTS credits

Delivered at:

Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs

Course type:

Compulsory course

When:

4 year, 1-3 module

Instructors

Varpahovskis, Eriks

Kuteleva, Anna

Course Syllabus

Abstract

This course covers the basic techniques for collecting, interpreting, and analyzing qualitative and quantitative data. It is intended to introduce students to unifying ontological and epistemological perspectives that will help them to integrate diverse approaches originating in different areas of social sciences. The course opens up with a discussion of conceptualization, theory, research design, and strategies for framing research questions. Further, the course invites students to reflect on the usage of quantitative and qualitative methods in international studies. We will also cover comparative methods and discuss research ethics and culture. Theoretically, we will consider questions such as the following: What are ways of assessing empirical or theoretical significance? What is qualitative and quantitative research? By what criteria do different methodologies meet or fail to meet the standards of scientific evidence? When is generalizability necessary? What are surveys best suited for? Can qualitative research verify hypotheses, or only generate them? Can qualitative research explain social phenomena, or only interpret them? In what ways is ethnographic research “grounded”? Is replicability possible in interview-based research? Practically, we will consider questions such as the following: How does one go about starting a project? How does one connect theory, research design, and data collection? How should one structure an interview schedule? How many interviews are enough? How does one ensure reliability? How does one write good fieldnotes? How does one determine the best sampling strategy? What is coding? How does one write an ethnographic paper?

Learning Objectives

• The primary goal is to teach students how to build research, using appropriate quantitative and qualitative methods. The course also will help students to become critical and conscious consumers of social science evidence and research that they are exposed to, especially in the media.

Expected Learning Outcomes

• - Distinguish between qualitative and quantitative research methods;
• - Choose a research strategy to conduct an academic study;
• - Operate with key terminology necessary to design and describe an academic research;
• - Master skills in designing and writing academic research proposals, framing research questions, developing hypotheses, and preparing literature reviews;
• - Collecting, analyzing, documenting, and reporting research clearly, concisely, logically, and ethically;
• - Effectively match research question with relevant research methods;
• - Evaluate primary and secondary sources;
• - Collect primary and secondary sources, following research objectives;
• - Collect data, using qualitative and quantitative methods;
• - Interpret and evaluate research results;
• - Use e-library and other Internet sources to find relevant data;
• - Understanding the standards for legitimate interpretations of research data within the academic community.

Course Contents

• WEEK 1: Introduction
• WEEK 2: Qualitative: Interviews
• WEEK 3: Qualitative: Discursive methods
• WEEK 4: Qualitative: Case studies & QCA
• WEEK 5
• WEEK 6: Qualitative: Ethnographic methods
• WEEK 7: Activist research: Feminist Methodologies, queer theory, and critical race theory
• WEEK 8: Mid-term I
• MODULE 2 WEEK 9: Transition: Literature review - I
• WEEK 10: Transition: Literature review - II
• WEEK 11: Choosing a research question, case(s), and research strategies
• WEEK 12: Quantitative: Surveys & sampling
• WEEK 13: Quantitative: Descriptive statistics
• WEEK 14: Quantitative: Introduction to Inferential Statistics
• WEEK 15: Quantitative: Experiment
• WEEK 16: Transition: Comparative week
• WEEK 17: Midterm exam II: quantitative research proposal, Dec 21 - Dec 26
• MODULE 3 WEEK 18: Policy analysis
• WEEK 19: Ethics
• WEEK 20
• WEEK 21
• WEEK 22
• WEEK 23-24
• WEEK 24

Assessment Elements

• Assessment (1 module)
• Assessment (2 module)
• Assessment (3 module)

Interim Assessment

• 2022/2023 3rd module
  0.33 * Assessment (2 module) + 0.33 * Assessment (1 module) + 0.34 * Assessment (3 module)

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

• A Vyacheslavovna Kuteleva. (2015). A Critical Survey of the Field of Comparative Politics. RUDN Journal of Political Science, 4, 85–108.
• Belcher, W. L. (DE-588)103278413X, (DE-627)739934139, (DE-576)380287447, aut. (2009). Writing your journal article in 12 weeks a guide to academic publishing success Wendy Laura Belcher.
• Cambridge handbook of experimental political science ed. by James N. Druckman; Donald P. Greene; James H. Kuklinski; Arthur Lupia. (2011).
• Gerardo L. Munck. (2006). The past and Present of Comparative Politics. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.583E2E94
• Mark Israel, & Iain Hay. (2006). Research Ethics for Social Scientists. SAGE Publications Ltd.
• Nachmias, C., & Leon-Guerrero, A. (2000). Social Statistics for a Diverse Society: Vol. 2nd ed. Sage Publications, Inc.
• Peters, B. G. (2013). Strategies for Comparative Research in Political Science. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1522713

Recommended Additional Bibliography

• Fleming, W. G. (1970). The Logic of Comparative Social Inquiry. By Adam Przeworski and Henry Teune. (New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1970. Pp. 153. $8.50.). American Political Science Review, 4, 1255.
• Lijphart, A. (1971). Comparative Politics and the Comparative Method. American Political Science Review, (03), 682. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsrep&AN=edsrep.a.cup.apsrev.v65y1971i03p682.693.13
• Ruppert, E., Law, J., & Savage, M. (2013). Reassembling Social Science Methods: the challenge of digital devices.