| CODE | PPG2002 | |||||||||
| TITLE | Researching Policy, Politics and Governance: Advanced Skills | |||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 02 - Years 2, 3 in Modular Undergraduate Course | |||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 5 | |||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 6 | |||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Policy, Politics and Governance | |||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | Research in politics and governance takes different forms and adopts a wide variety of methodological approaches. This study-units introduces students to research methods in the study of Politics and Governance with the aims of (a) preparing students to write their dissertation proposal, and (b) teaching students how to employ specific methods in their research work. The study-unit introduces both theoretical/desk-based and empirical/field approaches to research. Thus, key concepts in theoretical, qualitative and quantitative research, as well as a range of research methodologies and methods are presented. Theoretical approaches (e.g., conceptual, historical or critical research), qualitative research (e.g., interviewing, focus groups, thematic analysis, discourse analysis, ethnography) and quantitative research (e.g., surveys, experiments, and basic inferential statistics) are presented. In all modalities, three stances will be identified: (a) traditional vs. critical approaches, (b) desk-based vs. field approaches, and (c) data involving documents vs. data involving humans. The level of depth is adapted in accordance with the fields of policy, politics and governance. Apart from the lectures, the study-unit also consists of a seminar intended to guide the students in the writing of their undergraduate dissertation proposal. Study-Unit Aims: - Contextualise political research within different traditions of research; - Provide practical guidance on collecting and analysing different forms of data, ranging from documents to data obtained from human participants; - Guide students in the drafting of an undergraduate dissertation proposal; - Introduce different theoretical, qualitative and quantitative research methods and analytic protocols. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Explain the different epistemological stances in political research; - Understand what makes a coherent research proposal: wherein epistemology flows into a research design where methodology, method/s and research questions align; - Explain the different stages of research writing in terms of research design, research epistemology, methodology, method, research questions, data collection and analysis (knowing the role of each); - Conduct conceptual, desk-based, qualitative and quantitative studies. 2. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Apply knowledge on research epistemologies and methodologies to their dissertation topic; - Identify an area of research and apply a relevant research methodology to it, culminating in an undergraduate study in Politics and Governance; - Examine the strengths & weaknesses of the methodology adopted in their study; - Present a research proposal, delineating its research design, methodology adopted and key research questions; - Conduct specific studies, that is, those involving (a) conceptual/theoretical work, (b) discourse analysis, (c) argumentation analysis, and (d) inferential statistics (to the degree appropriate to the level of study). Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: Main Texts: - Halperin, Sandra & Oliver Heath, Political Research: Methods and Practical Skills, 3rd ed. (Oxford University Press, 2017). - Matthews, B., & Ross, L. (2010). Research Methods: A Practical Guide For The Social Sciences, Pearson education. Supplementary Readings: - Begum, Neema & Rima Saini, "Decolonising the Curriculum," Political Studies Review vol. 17, no. 2 (2019): 196-201. - Burnham, Peter et al. Research Methods in Politics, 2nd ed (Palgrave Macmillan, 2008). - Attride-Stirling, J., 2001. Thematic networks: an analytic tool for qualitative research. Qualitative research, 1(3), pp.385-405. - Brady, H.E., 2000. Contributions of survey research to political science. PS: Political Science & Politics, 33(1), pp.47-58. - Braun,Virginia & Victoria Clarke, Thematic Analysis: A Practical Guide (SAGE, 2021). - Brinkmann, S., 2007. Could interviews be epistemic? An alternative to qualitative opinion polling. Qualitative inquiry, 13(8), pp.1116-1138. - Brinkmann, S., 2014. Unstructured and semi-structured interviewing. The Oxford handbook of qualitative research, 2, pp.277-299. - Christoffersen, Ashlee, "Researching Intersectionality: Ethical Issues," Ethics and Social Welfare vol. 12, issue 4 (2018): 414-421. - della Porta, Donatella (ed), Methodological Practices in Social Movement Research (Oxford UP, 2014). - della Porta, Donatella & Michael Keating, Approaches and Methodologies in the Social Sciences: A Pluralist Perspective (Cambridge UP, 2008). - Fairclough, Norman, Critical Discourse Analysis: The Critical Study of Language, 2nd ed. (Routledge, 2010). - Field, Andy, Discovering Statistics Using IBM SPSS Statistics (SAGE, 2017), Fifth edition. - Flick,Uwe (ed.), The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Data Analysis (SAGE, 2014). - Glynos, Jason & David Howarth, Logics of Critical Explanation in Social and Political Theory (Routledge, 2007). - Hesse-Biber, Sharlene Nagy & Patricia Lina Leavy, Feminist Research Practice: A Primer, 2nd ed. (SAGE, 2014). - Buhagiar, L.J. and Sammut, G., 2023. The Minimal Model of Argumentation: Qualitative data analysis for epistemic speech, text and policy. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour. - J酶rgensen, Marianne & Louise Phillips, Discourse Analysis as Theory and Method (SAGE, 2002). - Barbour, R. and Kitzinger, J. eds., 1998. Developing focus group research: politics, theory and practice. Sage. - Kubik, J. (2009). Ethnography of politics: Foundations, applications, prospects. Political ethnography: What immersion contributes to the study of power, 25-52. - Terrell, Steven R., Writing a Proposal for Your Dissertation: Guidelines and Examples, 2nd ed. (Guilford, 2023). - Wodak,Ruth & Bernhard Forchtner (eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Language and Politics (Routledge, 2018). |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture and Seminar | |||||||||
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2025/6. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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