Research Design in Social Sciences

This module prepares participants for the more advanced methods classes that train students in a particular methodological approach to test their theory. Participants are not assumed to have any prior knowledge of quantitative data analysis or the use of statistical software.

Dates

This two-week, 35-hour course runs Monday-Friday, July 1-12, 2024. The course is scheduled for 1.30-5.30 pm.

Instructor

Risa J. Toha, Wake Forest University

Detailed Description

Social problems and issues are often messy and difficult to answer. This module is designed to introduce participants to the building blocks of creating an executable research design that can answer questions in social sciences. Over the course of the 2 weeks, students will learn to formulate testable questions, situate them in existing literatures and debates, articulate an argument and its observable implications, select an appropriate methodological approach and how to identify cases/data to test their hypotheses, and identify ways to collect and analyze their data/materials, while paying close attention to issues that often plague social science research, such as selection problems, measurement errors, biases, endogeneity, small sample sizes, among others.

By the end of the two weeks, participants are expected to submit and present their research designs.

Prerequisites

There are no formal prerequisites. However, the course assumes that participants are familiar with core questions and themes commonly explored in political science and other social science disciplines.

Requirements

Participants are expected to have access to an internet-connected computer. Participants also need to have access to peer-reviewed journals in the social sciences.

Core Readings

Booth, Wayne, Gregory Colomb, Joseph Williams, Joseph Bizup, and William Fitzgerald. 2016. The Craft of Research. Fourth Edition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

King, Gary, Robert Keohane, and Sidney Verba. 1993. Designing Social Inquiry: Scientific Inference in Qualitative Research. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.