Interdisciplinary Research: Methods and Design.

Catalog description

This course is for approved IDS majors, facilitating preliminary work on integrative research projects, which will be qualitative, quantitative, or creative, depending upon each student’s program of study (POS). IDS majors will acquire an understanding of the representative research methods of their chosen academic disciplinary areas, along with the assumptions made about the nature of knowledge in each discipline, write a proposal including the tentative thesis and organizational design of their chosen project. They will conduct a topical literature review, gathering and annotating a body of research in preparation for their capstone course. In addition, they will examine their respective “wicked problems,” “vital questions,” and “sticky ideas,” characteristic of their training in interdisciplinary research methods. This course is required of all IDS majors and is only offered in the fall. It should be taken in the student’s junior year. Prerequisite: IDS 291 .