Bachelor 2020/2021

Research Methods

Type: Compulsory course (Foreign Languages and Intercultural Communication)

Area of studies: Linguistics

Delivered by: School of Foreign Languages

Where: School of Foreign Languages

When: 3 year, 1, 2 module

Mode of studies: offline

Instructors: Мошняга Елена Викторовна, Alexey Bakulev, Svetlana Victorovna Bogolepova, Irina Ubozhenko, Орехова Екатерина Андреевна, Аксенова Анна Алексеевна

Language: English

ECTS credits: 4

Contact hours: 52

Course Syllabus

Abstract

The course is based upon the knowledge and skills acquired by the students in the course “English language” during their first and second years at the university and requires at least Intermediate level of English Intermediate (B2 / IELTS 6,5). There are no specific prerequisites concerning the students’ academic background in the field of methodology as the course starts with the basics of research skills. The research seminar is designed for third year students of NRU HSE who study at the bachelor degree programme “Foreign Languages and Intercultural Communication”. The course is aimed at students of all majors and provides them with knowledge and academic skills needed for conducting research. It gives a comprehensive overview of: - different aspects of research theory and practice; - basic research methods for completing a successful research project; - methods of data analysis; - data collection techniques; - methods of sampling and measurement; - analytic frameworks and methods of contemporary linguistics.

Learning Objectives

• The research seminar is designed for third year students of NRU HSE who study at the bachelor degree programme “Foreign Languages and Intercultural Communication”. The course is aimed at students of all majors and provides them with knowledge and academic skills needed for conducting research. It gives a comprehensive overview of: - different aspects of research theory and practice; - basic research methods for completing a successful research project; - methods of data analysis; - data collection techniques; - methods of sampling and measurement; - analytic frameworks and methods of contemporary linguistics; - basics of academic writing and genre awareness.

Expected Learning Outcomes

• know principles of ethical research; the essence of scientific methods; design experimental research
• know types of approaches to research; the difference between Russian and Western traditions in research; set research aims.
• know the role of theory in research; basic concepts such as dependent/ independent variables, reliability, validity, median, mode, etc.
• be able to select relevant literature for review.
• know approaches to sampling; methods within qualitative and quantitative approaches to research; the tools of discourse/ cluster/ thematic/ interpretative analyses.
• know the analytical methods and frameworks of contemporary linguistics; the structure of a research report/ article; factors limiting research potential.
• know the analytical methods and frameworks of contemporary linguistics; the structure of a research report/ article; factors limiting research potential.
• know review literature on the topic; come up with relevant research questions; select appropriate research tools.
• analyse discourse; use sampling reasonably; the tools of discourse/ cluster/ thematic/ interpretative analyses.
• code qualitative data; use qualitative analytical methods (e.g. thematic analysis).
• know the basics of statistical analysis; approaches to sampling; methods within qualitative and quantitative approaches to research;
• be able to collect data relevant to the research purpose and questions; collect numerical data and analyse them statistically; implement methods of contemporary linguistics.
• know the principles of action research
• use appropraite methods in own research
• know research approaches used in intercultual communication research
• know the principles of ethnographic analysis
• write a research report in English
• describe own research, analyse and discuss the results

Course Contents

• Different approaches to academic research
  Different approaches to academic research: Russian vs. Western traditions. Empirical research. Experimental and nonexperimental studies. Quantitative vs. qualitative research.
• Introduction to the course
  Introduction to the course, course layout. The structure of projects, research design template; research hypotheses, purposes and questions.
• The role of theory in research.
  The role of theory in research: Literature review. Making references. Plagiarism.
• Sampling
  Sampling. Biased and unbiased sampling. Types of sampling: simple, random and systematic sampling; cluster sampling. Measurement: its reliability and validity.
• Planning and designing qualitative research
  Planning and designing qualitative research: interviews. Structured, semi-structured and unstructured interviews. Designing and piloting the interview guide.
• Planning and designing qualitative research
  Planning and designing qualitative research. The case studies: a research method or a research type? Its definition, some classifications, advantages and disadvantages.
• Qualitative analytic methods suitable for beginners
  Qualitative analytic methods: Foundational method: thematic analysis (TA), its strengths and weaknesses; interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA).
• Discourse analysis (DA)
  Discourse analysis. Various approaches to DA.
• Analyzing qualitative data
  Analyzing qualitative data. Familiarisation and data coding. Two main approaches to coding in qualitative analysis: selective and complete coding. Data-derived and researcher-derived codes.
• Designing quantitative research.
  Designing quantitative research. Understanding the basics of statistics. Scales of measurement and statistical tests. Understanding probability. The mean and standard deviation.
• Analytic frameworks and methods of contemporary linguistics
  Analytic frameworks and methods of contemporary linguistics: semantic analysis; comparative analysis; language description and linguistic typology.
• Research writing. Writing a research report. Methods, Results, Discussion – describing your research, analysing and discussing your results.
• Research in intercultural communication. Ethnographic analysis.
• Research in language teaching. Action Research.
• Analytic frameworks and methods of contemporary linguistics
  Analytic frameworks and methods of contemporary linguistics: Corpus-based and corpus-driven analyses of language variation and use. Corpus linguistics.

Assessment Elements

• Presentation
  each student in a pair with another student should prepare and give a presentation on one of the topics suggested by the teacher
• Test/Written response
  projected number – 3; weight – 10% each, the received mark is doubled
• Participation
  the instructor can assess students’ participation in discussions, homework completion, participation in groupwork; short quizzes and dictation tasks are also assessed; the average is calculated at the end of the semester
• Group project presentation
  students work in groups to plan, conduct, analyse and present a research project. May be done in the format of a video fragment
• Group project written report
  alongside the final presentation, each group submits a written research report following the structure: Introduction, Literature review, Methods, Results, Discussion

Interim Assessment

• Interim assessment (2 module)
  0.15 * Group project presentation + 0.15 * Group project written report + 0.3 * Participation + 0.1 * Presentation + 0.3 * Test/Written response

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

• Abbott, M., & McKinney, J. (2013). Understanding and Applying Research Design. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=531530
• Leavy, P. (2014). The Oxford Handbook of Qualitative Research. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=779511

Recommended Additional Bibliography

• Brewerton, P., & Millward, L. (2001). Organizational Research Methods : A Guide for Students and Researchers. London: SAGE Publications Ltd. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=251199