Textbook -A Course in Research Skills (original) (raw)

2019 Course outline: Research Skills

Course outline for a joint Master's of Theology course (half-semester) in research skills, to be taught at the Pacific Theological College in April/May/June 2019.

Syllabus: Research Methods (300-level)

This course introduces students to the logic of social inquiry. The first half covers the fundamentals of research. Students learn how to identify puzzles, formulate research questions, and review the literature for the answers previous studies offer. The second half focuses on how scholars design new research to build on existing works to advance knowledge further. Accordingly, the weekly classes in the second half assist students in writing their own research proposals, which employ qualitative, quantitative, experimental or mixed methods. The classes cover the philosophies that underlie each method, and demonstrate how methods can often complement each other. Students thus learn how to utilize the strengths of each method, while developing a more encompassing perspective on social research.

A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO RESEARCH(1)

It was Samuel Johnson that said, "Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves or we know how we can find information upon it" Research is defined as an investigation involving the systematic collection, collation, analysis and interpretation of data to answer certain questions or solve some problems. ' Science itself has been defined as the systematic application of procedures directed at finding something new, confirming that which is suspected to be true or repudiating same altogether"1 .

Course Syllabus: Introduction to Research Methods

This course will introduce students to the premier method of empirical research in cultural anthropology: participant observation, and associated informal dialogue and interviewing. We will study techniques for planning and carrying out such research, and for recording, checking validity and reliability, storing, coding, analyzing and writing up of ethnographic data. Students will undertake "mini" research projects, and become familiar with basic ethical issues, informed consent, writing of research proposals, formulating research contracts, and sharing results with cooperating individuals and groups.