RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Course Description

Academic degree: Bachelor's /Undergraduate/ degree
Master degree

The aim of the course is to familiarize students with the logic, norms, possible applications, and opportunities of academic texts and work. The course is composed of two classes: a weekly organized lecture and a weekly organized seminar. Throughout the lecture the students will get a complex picture about the theoretical principles on which scientific research is based. They will also see how these principles are reflected in the established techniques for doing research. And finally, they will be prepared to make appropriate compromises whenever field conditions do not permit the routine application of established techniques. However, the course of Research Methodology is useful not only for PhD students and scholars but for everyone who wants to make a professional work on a subject. If you are familiar with academic standards, your way of thinking and your performance may be more professional. Why? Anacademic essay, thesis, or research project should demonstrate that its author(s) has

a critical, perceptive and constructive analysis of the subject;
skills in the gathering and analysis of information and report presentation;
surveyed literature relevant to the topic;
carried out original and significant work in a field.

By the end of the course students will develop a research paper defending their opinion on an academic topic. They will demonstrate the ability to properly organize a paper, conduct academic research, synthesize their ideas, and correctly cite sources.

Outline

Below, I list the main topics to be covered during the semester.

I. Introduction: The scientific way of thinking

Scientific Orientation
What Does It Mean to Be Scientific?
IR as Interdisciplinary Study
Make a difference: Science and Technology, Science and Ideology

II. On Research

Research: From Idea to Theory/Paper
Research Types And Their Purposes
On Research Question

III. Literature Review

Why Literature Review?
Exploration of Sources
Source Criticism
How to make a Literature Review?

IV. Conceptualisation

On Conceptualisation
On Operationalisation
Hypotheses

V. The ”Methodology” of Data

From Concepts to Measurement
Validity and Reliability
The Coding of Data
Beyond our study…. Selection Issues and Big Data

VI. Research Design

Theories and Explanations
The forms of Explanation
Types of Research Design

VII. Relevant research methods

Historical Research
Deductive-Analytic method
Comparative Research and Case Studies
Textual Analysis
Quantitative Analysis

Educational Resources

Lecture Notes:

József Zoltán Málik: Research Methodology (Master). Budapest: Metropolian University, 2019. (in pdf version

)

Textbooks:

Nicholas Walliman: Research Methods - The Basics. London: Routledge, 2011.
W. Lawrence Neuman: Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. Harlow, Essex: Pearson, 2014.

Some articles that demonstrate different research methods (c.f. Lecture Notes):

Historical Research Methods:

James Liu - Denis Hilton: How the past weighs on the present: Social representations of history and their role in identity politics. British Journal of Social Psychology, 44, 2005.
Timothy Snyder: On Tyranny. Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century. New York: Tim Duggan Books, 2017.

Example for using Deductive-Analytic Method:

Véronique Pin-Fat: How do we begin to think about the world? In: Global Politics (ed. J. Edkins and M. Zehfuss). London: Routledge, 2014.

Comparative Method:

Gerardo L. Munch - Carol Skalnik Leff: Modes of Transition and Democratization: South America and Eastern Europe in Comparative Perspective. Comparative Politics, Vol. 29, 3, 1997.

Theda Skocpol: States and Social Revolutions: A Comparative Analysis of France, Russia, and China. Cambridge: CUP, 1979, Chapter 1.

Content Analysis:

Davidsson-Jurgell-Nilsson: A qualitative content analysis of social media influencers' credibility. Thesis work, Linnaeus University, Sweden.

Video recordings:

What is Critical Thinking? click here
On Ideal Type: click here
Independent and Dependant Variables: click here
Kenneth Cukier: Big data is better data. Lecture at TED Academy, Berlin, Germany, 2014.

Assessment

Seminar:

Make a presentation with some (cc. 3-10) slides, just follow the instructions below:

Pick up a research topic and present it briefly.

Why did you choose it?

Why is it worthy of attention?

Create a research question and justify why you posed the question.

Some aspects: theoretically significance, practical relevance, originality.

Choose and explain a concept, typology, or an ideal type related to your chosen topic.
Develop two hypotheses
Present an appropriate Research Design/Methods.
Create an annotated bibliography using at least 2 resources.

Write a Literature Review that is based on your presentation.

You can download a template here in doc for MicrosoftOfficeWord and here in odt for LibreOffice Writer.
Here you can find some samples: Sample1, Sample2, Sample3, Sample4 (These were made by some ex-students of this course who got high points of their awesome works. In favour of anonymity, the names were deleted, of course.)

Lecture:

There will be a written exam at the exam period, which will contain some questions covering the whole subject of the course.

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