The course aims at preparing the student for writing a master’s thesis. The goal is that the student, after having passed the course, should be well acquainted with different, quantitative as well as qualitative, methods of conducting empirically based research in the social sciences. The course demonstrates how scientific method can be chosen and performed depending on different research questions. Against this background, the student should be able to design and carry out an investigation based on a chosen problem.

The course deals with the following main issues:

• Formulation of research questions
• Choice of method and research design
• Collection of empirical data
• Theory-based analysis
• Scientific writing
• Scrutiny of scientific investigations

The course contains lectures, seminars, group assignments, presentations and discussions of own work as well as critical scrutiny and discussion of the work of peer groups. In the course of the seminar work, the student will be given the opportunity for deepened knowledge in research methodology with different epistemological and methodological points of departure.

Intended Learning Outcomes
After completion of the course students are expected to be able to:

Knowledge and Understanding

1. Understand different scientific methods and approaches.

Competence and Skill

2. Formulate a scientific problem and the aim and research question for a scientific investigation.
3. Choose methodological design and carry out an empirical investigation to answer a research question.
4. Analyse collected data in order to draw empirical and theoretical conclusions.

Judgement and Approach

5. Evaluate strengths and weaknesses of different methods and empirical data depending on the research question.
6. Identify and judge ethical challenges and dilemmas in scientific research.