210134 VO EC: Mixed Methods - The joy of research (2025S)

The course offers an introduction to research methods in the social sciences with a particular focus on how different methods can be combined to answer a wide range of research questions. That’s the formal description. The informal description is that this course is about the joy of doing research
In our methods courses we sometimes forget that doing research is, like painting, ambitious cooking, or creative writing, one of the great pleasures in life. When we do research we have an opportunity to learn in depth about a topic that interest us or that we are passionate about. Take a look at this video where I explain the approach to this course and you can hear the experiences of a student who attended the course before: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yETu0UmT0sQ.
In research, methods are important of course, but they are not what research is about. That would be the same as saying that the written notes are what music is about. Of course, we need notes to make music, and people who read notes usually make better music than those who don’t. But note reading is at best a condition of music making (and not even always that) and not its essence. Ask any jazz musician. Good music, like good research is about imagination, creativity, and, as I already said pleasure.
The question of how to conduct meaningful research using robust designs is at the center of the course. It begins with an overview of the philosophical underpinnings of social science research. (No heavy-duty philosophy, I promise) Students are then introduced to a range of issues (formulating a research question, research design, data collection and analysis, writing up your research), as well as methods such as interviews, focus groups, statistical methods, case studies, ethnography, and grounded theory. The course includes applications of quantitative and qualitative research to real world problems as well as empirical investigations of current social and political problems.
The course has four aims. First, to enable students to think creatively about social problems. Differently put, to help students to convert interesting or pressing social issues into researchable problems. Second, to introduce students to a range of methods that researchers, policymakers and analysts use in answering social, political and economic questions. Third, to help students understand the uses, benefits, and challenges of various methodological tools for their own research projects. And fourth, at the end of the course students should be able to evaluate the quality of empirical social science research.
This course is a lecture series. Regular attendance is recommended, especially because the lectures will not be recorded. The PowerPoint slides and reading material will, however, be uploaded onto Moodle on a weekly basis.