Sure, “do your own research,” but how? What does it even mean to ‘do research’? Is all research scientific? What if the answer just seems obvious to me because of common sense – is that research? How do I know if the research I’m reading is any good? Does the fact that human did this research mean it’s inevitably biased? Why are there numbers all over this research paper about depression, and what’s a p-value? What do these authors mean when they say “themes emerged”? How on earth do we even know what we know?
This program will introduce students to research methodology, and so it will provide students with knowledge and skills necessary for research in and understanding of human sciences such as psychology and sociology. We will explore the rationale, ethics, and process associated with social science research. We’ll learn to ask meaningful questions, practice research design, understand and evaluate published research, and get our feet wet with some data collection and analysis using both qualitative and quantitative approaches. We’ll study statistical analyses including calculating and interpreting descriptive statistics, as well as an overview of inferential statistics. We’ll practice taking observational field notes and interviewing, and we’ll discuss how to approach analyzing and interpreting that data. We’ll also briefly touch on how to thoughtfully combine both quantitative and qualitative approaches in a mixed methods project.
Class activities will include workshops, lectures, seminar, and film screenings. Some of this will be completed during class time, and some will be completed asynchronously. Other asynchronous learning will include discussion and collaborative reading and analysis. Students will demonstrate their learning through writing, group work, and a major project involving practicing the research skills developed in class to design and begin to execute a small-scale research project.
The statistical component of this program meets the prerequisites of Master in Teaching and Master of Public Administration.
Anticipated Credit Equivalencies:
4 - Social Science Research Methods
2 - Quantitative Analysis and Statistics
2 - Critical Qualitative Research & Analysis
Registration
Academic Details
Graduate school in the social sciences or healthcare/helping professions (Psychology, Sociology, Anthropology, Social Work, Counseling, Public Health, Public Administration, Public Policy, Nonprofit Management, etc.); Potential careers include public policy, research assistant/project management, nonprofit sector, etc.