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To prepare students for the dissertation they are required to complete as part of the MA programme. Research in international relations and political science can be done well and it can be done poorly. This course is about how to do good research, which entails identifying interesting puzzles, formulating good and 'doable' questions, gathering the right data in the right way, carefully defining and measuring concepts and variables, constructing and developing arguments, and structuring the thesis in a coherent manner. In all likelihood, if students focus on a specific and narrow topic of their choice and study it in depth, they will know more about this topic than anybody else, including their supervisor. However, it is research design that usually makes a difference between a good and bad dissertation, and the final mark will primarily be based on how the research is conducted and communicated, rather than on what. The dissertation counts for one-third of your total marks for the programme and it is extremely imortant to design it well. The aim of this module is to guide students toward appropriate research methods, and enable them to produce a good thesis. Classes will present a range of techniques which may be relevant for some theses, and will encourage students to begin devising their research question and strategy.
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