290040 VU Empirical Social Research (2025W)

The course provides an introduction to central methods of empirical social research and shows how these can be applied in practice. The focus is on observation, surveys, media analysis, and the presentation of research results.
The overarching theme of the course is green-blue infrastructures in the city. Students choose their own topic, develop research questions, and apply the methods in a self-designed research project.

Learning Objectives: Students will be able to
- comparatively assess different approaches to empirical research;
- evaluate quality criteria of empirical research based on concrete implementations in practice;
- plan the steps of empirical research projects;
- identify and independently apply key points to consider when conducting observations and surveys;
- critically assess the applicability of central data collection and analysis methods;
- explain and independently apply basic techniques for analyzing surveys and a media analysis;
- critically classify different forms of presenting empirical results;
- contextualize and critically assess empirical research with regard to its methodology.

Methods: Preparation and discussion of basic literature, summarizing input from the course instructors, review through short online tests, submission of individual work assignments, interactive exercises in small groups in the seminar room, submission and presentation of a research project as a group work