Conducting International Comparative Research

Catalog description

APLNG 280N Conducting International Comparative Research. (3) (Gen Ed;IL; Integrative) (BA) This course meets the Bachelor of Arts degree requirements and may also serve as a methods course in the Global and International Studies (GLIS) major. The goal of this course is to equip students with effective methods for conducting international and cross-cultural research that addresses issues and problems occasioned by an increasingly globalized world. Students will acquire the background knowledge and skills necessary to analyze and evaluate existing international comparative literature and to design and propose new cross-national and cross-cultural research. The course focuses on projects in five key, contemporary domains of globalization: human rights, culture and identity, global conflict, wealth and inequality, and health and environment, and it draws on multidisciplinary methods from across the humanities and social sciences - including qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods. Particular attention is paid to working with international datasets and the issue of translation and interpretation. As a result of the course, students will be able to: (1) locate and understand the structure and import of existing international databases, (2) design comparative, cross-national and cross-cultural research projects, (3) evaluate the validity, reliability, and significance of published international comparative research, (4) conduct basic comparative analyses of social, political, and cultural texts (documents) and oral interview data and other audio and visual data, (5) evaluate comparative quantitative data from cross-cultural surveys and other quantitative instruments, and (6) design reports and multimedia presentations of international comparative research.