Welcome to IST 608: Research Methods

Previous Semesters Examples

Course Instructor
Logan Rath, PhD

Adjunct instructor
Office hours by appointment
Email

Course Description

This class is designed to introduce you to the logic of research methods and the major methods used to conduct academic research. Throughout this semester, we will explore many facets of this topic, including the process of research, how to conduct a literature review and develop an addressable research question, quantitative and qualitative methods, descriptive and inferential statistics through correlation and regression, and the creation of grant or research proposals.

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Required Materials

This course uses open educational resources (OER) meaning that electronic copies of the texts are free.

Research Methods for the Social Sciences
Social Science Research: Principles, Methods and Practices (Revised edition)

Assignments

  1. Participation
    Significant contributions to class discussions and meaningful contributions to on-line activities (which may include a quiz, short responsive writing, a discussion board or an article deconstruction).
    40%
  2. Research Proposal
    You will write a complete research/grant proposal. This assignment is completed throughout the semester.
    60%

Calendar

This is a tentative calendar for the semester.

Module Topic
0 Getting Started
1 What is Research?
2 Ethics in Research
3 Research Questions
4 Literature Reviews
5 Data Collection & Sampling
6 Quantitative Research & Statistical Tests
7 Qualitative Research
8 Methods & Instruments
9 Unobtrusive Research
10 Writing Up Your research
P Research proposal