Undergraduate Course: Research Design in Politics and International Relations (PLIT10106)
Course Outline
| School | School of Social and Political Science |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | Research Design in Politics and International Relations will equip students with the skills necessary to understand, critically assess and undertake the research design process relevant to their PIR degree. Students will gain a good grasp of the behavioural assumptions in social science research, knowledge of a range of data collection methods (and how to assess the appropriateness of each), as well as the steps within a successful research project design. More specifically students will learn how to choose a topic, formulate a research question and hypotheses, select cases, navigate measurement issues, and undertake a range of data collection methods. |
| Course description |
The course will cover research design issues, including methodology and methods, for those addressing both empirical and more normative topics around Politics and International Relations
The course builds on courses offered in second year - Introduction to Political Data Analysis (IPDA) and Comparative Politics, which concentrate on methods of analysing evidence. This course focuses on how to structure your research project and how to collect your own evidence in response to your own research question. Beyond that it covers a range of issues which will be of use to political researchers: writing literature reviews, evaluating methodological choices, and ethical issues around political research.
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Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2019/20, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 0 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 20,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 10,
Summative Assessment Hours 2,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
164 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
85 %,
Practical Exam
15 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Interview assignment 1,000 words - 25%,
Data collection and research design project, 3000 - 3500 words - 60 %,
Tutorial participation 15%
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| Feedback |
Students will receive feedback on short tutorial assignments, which will strengthen their understanding of all elements of a research design for Politics and International Relations research.
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| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Understand, critically assess and undertake research design relevant to the study of Politics and International Relations
- Acquire knowledge of a range of data collection methods (and how to assess the appropriateness of these for different research questions)
- Identify and be able to critically reflect on the key steps within successful research design
- Understand how to how to select cases and navigate measurement and ethical issues in order to answer and assess research questions and hypotheses
- Understand how to undertake ¿ and acquire practice in undertaking ¿ data collection and learn how to describe the results in an academic context
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Skills and abilities in research and enquiry
Skills and abilities in personal autonomy
Skills and abilities in communication
Technical and practical skills
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| Keywords | Research design,methods,methodologies |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Corina Lacatus
Tel:
Email: |
Course secretary | Mr Euan Morse
Tel: 0131 (6)51 1137
Email: |
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