Field Research Methods

Catalog description

Credits 3. 3 Lecture Hours. An introduction to the interpretation and application of social science research methods and critical thinking. The course emphasizes the comparison of alternative philosophies of research, ways of formulating research questions/hypotheses, research plans, data collection and approaches to analysis. Students evaluate existing studies and investigate a range of research approaches. Students learn how to think critically and develop their way of knowing through conceptual and theoretical frameworks. A major emphasis throughout this course is to learn how to write clearly and coherently and apply this knowledge to practice within government or the private sector. Students learn to prepare an academic research paper or capstone proposal. Statistical software for exploring and analyzing data is introduced. Prerequisite: Graduate classification.