Module: Research Design

Module Specifications.

Current Academic Year 2024 - 2025

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Date posted: September 2024

Module Title	Research Design
Module Code	LG600 (ITS) / SBS1002 (Banner)
Faculty	Humanities & Social Sciences	School	Law & Government
Module Co-ordinator	Iain McMenamin
Module Teachers	-
NFQ level	9	Credit Rating	10
Pre-requisite	Not Available
Co-requisite	Not Available
Compatibles	Not Available
Incompatibles	Not Available

None
Students will be asked to submit their research prospectus.

Description

This module provides an overview of basic research skills for students engaging in empirical research in the area of politics broadly understood. This includes thinking about research questions, the purpose of the literature review, theory building, and strategies for empirical investigation.

Learning Outcomes

1. You should finish the semester with a firm grasp of research design in politics, public policy, and international relations.
2. You should be able to critically assess research undertaken by scholars in your field.
3. You will develop further the skills to identify the strengths and weaknesses in, and opportunities and challenges that arise from, existing research.
4. You will be able to present and defend an empirical research design in politics, public policy, or international relations.
5. You will be able to critically analyze any claim that research points public policy in a particular direction.

*Type*	*Hours*	*Description*
Workload	Full-time hours per semester
Lecture	12	Please see content
Seminars	12	Please see content
Independent Study	226	Please see content
Total Workload: 250

All module information is indicative and subject to change. For further information,students are advised to refer to the University's Marks and Standards and Programme Specific Regulations at: http://www.dcu.ie/registry/examinations/index.shtml

Indicative Content and Learning Activities

Staff-led seminars
Research Design in Empirical Social Research, Broad Methodological Traditions in Political Research, Quantitative Research, The Statistics-Inspired Approach to Qualitative Research, The Independent Qualitative Tradition, Is There a Constructivist Methodology or Methodologies?

Student-led Seminars
Critiques of Research Articles, Student Research Designs

Assessment Breakdown
Continuous Assessment	0%	Examination Weight	0%

Type	Description	% of total
Course Work Breakdown
Assignment	Research design critique of research article.	50%
Assignment	Written research design for student project.	50%

Reassessment Requirement Type
Resit arrangements are explained by the following categories: Resit category 1: A resit is available for both* components of the module. Resit category 2: No resit is available for a 100% continuous assessment module. Resit category 3: No resit is available for the continuous assessment component where there is a continuous assessment and examination element.
* ‘Both’ is used in the context of the module having a Continuous Assessment/Examination split; where the module is 100% continuous assessment, there will also be a resit of the assessment
This module is category -

Indicative Reading List

William Trochim and James P. Donnelly.: 2007, The Research Methods Knowledge Base,
Gary King, Robert Keohane, Sidney Verba: 0, Designing Social Inquiry,
W Phillips Shively: 0, The Craft of Political Research,
Henry Brady and David Collier: 0, Rethinking Social Inquiry: Diverse Tools, Shared Standards,

Other Resources

None

Yes! Lots of detail available on Moodle! http://moodle.dcu.ie/course/view.php?id=32045