Expand+POL10170 Foundations in Political Research
Academic Year 2021/2022
Most courses you will take in your undergraduate studies relate to politics itself—about politics in different regions, or about particular aspects of political systems. This cour...

Hide-POL10170 Foundations in Political Research
Academic Year 2021/2022
Most courses you will take in your undergraduate studies relate to politics itself—about politics in different regions, or about particular aspects of political systems. This course, however, is about political science, about doing research on politics and in the social sciences more generally. How do we design our research? How do we collect data? How do we draw valid conclusions from these data? While the focus in many other modules will be on knowledge of theories and knowledge of political systems, as well as basic analytical and critical skills, this module will provide you with very relevant practical skills and increased analytical skills that will benefit you throughout your career, both academically and professionally.

While there will be a more in-depth exploration of survey research methods and the visual inspection of survey results, this merely functions as an example to the core components of the course. Other topics will include practical and ethical considerations of political research; general types of research design; core elements of any research design; brief overview of the main methods in use in political science today. Special attention will be paid to writing and reading political science research.

Learning Outcomes:
On completion of this module you should:
• Be familiar with core terminology (jargon) in political science research;
• Understand the underlying principles of good research design in politics;
• Have a basic understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of a number of methodological approaches;
• Be able to critically evaluate the empirical basis of findings in published research;
• Be able to produce and interpret statistical visualisations;
• Appreciate the practicalities of ethics and dissemination in politics research.

Indicative Module Content:
What is political science research?
Paradigms in social science
Elements of a research design
Defining and measuring social science concepts
Visualising statistical data
Looking at statistical relations
Survey questions and questionnaire design
Analysing text
Ethics of social science research
Writing social science research