Analysing and interpreting events and data in political science requires a proper understanding of epistemology, methodologies and methods. Social science research can be conducted in many different ways; depending on the epistemological stance, research aim, and stage of the research process different tools are required and appropriate. A researcher may tend more towards a neopostivist position, while another prefers an interpretivist approach, which may lead to very differently constructed truth claims. Moreover, depending on whether the goal is theory-centered (theory is used to advance a general theory), or case-centred (theory is instrumental to explain a specific case), different research strategies are appropriate.
Finally, the research process may be required to gather new data (methods for data gathering are required), or it may draw on existing data (‘only’ methods supporting data analysis are required). Due to the size of the field, POLI116 will be highly focused and cannot claim to comprehensively cover all possible methods. The goal of POLI116 is meant, firstly, to provide a guidance on how conduct research project aimed at detecting regular causal relationships through theory-centered (hypothesis testing) investigations. Against this backdrop, this module will familiarise students (PGT and PhD) with descriptive statistics and qualitative case study design. Secondly, the module is meant to provide support for the dissertation (POLI119), assist students in designing a viable research project, and choose appropriate methods.