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Research Methods

The Research Methods courses are designed to support students’ research and writing skills.

1. EUROGGO2 Research Methods course - specifically designed for Gender, Society and Representation students, 15 credit units (compulsory)

The purpose of this course is to provide students with the specific skills to research and write their course essays and dissertation.  A series of one-hour and two-hour sessions are held in the first and second term after the Core Course.

Means of assessment:

• 2 essays of 1,500 words each: First essay to be submitted on 21 January 2013; Second essay to be submitted on 29 April 2013.
• Oral presentation of the dissertation (May 2013).

Timetable:

FIRST TERM

Wednesday 3 October 2012 (2-3pm.)
Introduction to research method course – Federica Mazzara

Wednesday 17 October 2012 (2-4pm.)
Epistemology and Gender perspective in Research Design: Developing your research question, Hypothesis and Objectives integrating Gender Approach – Maria Villares
This session will present the main debates around integrating gender perspective into research design. During the first part of this session we will discuss if research methods are gendered through the debates concerting the quantitative and qualitative paradigms; the main feminist critiques towards the masculine production of knowledge; how men and women have been integrated back into research design and how to go beyond gender dualism in research. The second part of this session will cover how to integrate these approaches and critiques into the research design from a critical point of view.

Wednesday 31 October 2012 (2-3pm.)
Introduction to the dissertation process and identifying a research question – Ann Varley

Wednesday 14 November 2012 (2-3pm.)
Literature review – Judith Beniston

Wednesday 21 November 2012 (2-3pm.)
Literature review – Judith Beniston

Wednesday 5 December 2012 (2-3pm.)
Research design and research proposals: humanities and social science perspectives – Ann Varley

Wednesday 12 December 2012 (2-3pm.)
Writing your research proposal – Ann Varley


SECOND TERM
Wednesday 9 January 2013 (2-4pm.)
Gendering and Engendering. The Invention of Sex, 1500 – 1700 – Alexander Samson
As a recent book of popular history points out, there was a momentous ‘world-changing cultural shift’ during the early modern period in attitudes to sex, ideals of masculinity and femininity, attitudes to the body, courtship, marriage and love. This session will introduce students to the history of sex, sexuality and gender, looking at the rise of anatomy, the scientific revolution and the momentous social and economic changes that between 1500 and 1800 that created a landscape familiar to us and in which we have come to understand relations between the sexes, sexual relations and our relationship with sex, while underlining how foreign and unnatural this would have appeared to those living in the pre-modern world

Wednesday 23 January 2013 (2-3pm.)
Research Approaches to Social Sciences– Kamna Patel
This session will present an overview of different research philosophies, and their evolution, that define contemporary approaches to research in the social sciences.

Wednesday 6 February 2013 (2-4pm.)
Design Participatory Methods – Kamna Patel
This practice-based session begins with a discussion of key considerations when designing participatory methods. It will lead on to a practical example of a participatory method that students will demonstrate through role-play and thereafter critique.

Wednesday 20 February 2012 (2-4pm.)
Digital research skills – Ulrich Tiedau

Wednesday 27 February 2013 (2-4pm.)
Digital research skills – Ulrich Tiedau

Day/Time TBA
Citations and referencing – Cecile Renaud

Day/Time TBA
Dissertation presentation – Celice Renaud

Timetable available also on Moodle.

2. Arts and Humanities Research Skills Programme for Master's Students (not compulsory but strongly recommended)

This course, which is supported by the UCL Graduate School is a generalised skills component for students in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities. It consists of ten 60-minute sessions.

The aim of this course is to provide MA students in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities with a set of skills which they would be expected to develop during their MA, such as:

• Research Skills and Techniques
• Advanced Essay Writing Skills
• Referencing
• Library Resources and Research: Bibliographic Resources
• Electronic Journals, Web Resources
• Seminar Presentation Skills
• The M.A. Dissertation
• Research Management
• Communication Skills
• Networking and Teamworking
• Career management 

A detailed syllabus will be available at the start of Term 1 on the Skills Development Programme Website.