The course will provide students with the basic tools for the academic production of academic and non-academic research: reading, writing, craftsmanship, theory. Students will be offered an overview of both qualitative and quantitative techniques in the social sciences. The course also works as a platform for students to start reasoning about the MA thesis.

The course topics include: Overview of research strategies and un underlying epistemological and ontological considerations; Overview of research designs; Planning a research project; Reviewing the literature; Ethics in research; Introduction to quantitative research: Sampling; Structured interviewing; Self-completion questionnaires; Asking Questions; Structured observation; Content Analysis; Secondary analysis and official statistics; Introduction to qualitative research: Sampling in qualitative research, Ethnography and participant observation, Interviewing in qualitative research; Focus groups; Language in qualitative research; Documents as sources of data; Qualitative data Analysis; Mixed methods research