We never calculate the cost of our methods; we believe they are free

(Serres, 1995, p. 147)

RCID 8030 : Empirical Research Methods

DESCRIPTION

This course will introduce you to the idea of research as inquiry and as a knowledge making enterprise. By examining methodologies, methods, and practices associated with empirical research, we’ll learn how researchers develop an idea, plan a research project, go about gathering empirical data (whatever “data” may be), and perform analysis. (The presenting of that is often included, but there’s no way to get to that in a single course.) In short, we will be investigating how researchers create knowledge. The emphasis will be on honing research questions and aligning those questions with empirical methods and methodologies.

You need to leave the course being able to understand how to make a reasonable case for your conceptual and practical choices as a researcher. To do that, the course builds on the assumption that research is connected to context, and what information is included/excluded and how that information is interpreted/discussed impacts the eventual reception of the research. Throughout the course, our central questions will be

• What constitutes a good research question/problem?
• What are some of the fundamental assumptions underlying research methodologies?
• What are types and kinds of research methods available and which ones are best for different types of questions?
• How do I maintain research ethics?

And throughout the term as we work through these general questions, we will consistently ask

• Who is left out? what is the ramification of that absence for the knowledge you hoping to create? for the field? for practice?
• What is at stake in regard to power, structures, policies, practices?
• How can I/we ensure that we are enacting a sense of research justice and ethics within our methodologies, methods, and practices?

Finally, we will also focus on exposing the hidden curriculum of research, that is answering questions about the nuts and bolts that often people think you should already know. When you finish the course, you will be a more confident, inclusive and just researcher.

RCID 8030 is a required course in the RCID program.

Prerequisites: RCID major or consent of instructor.