Admission requirements
Mandatory course for students enrolled in the bachelor’s programme Security Studies. Only students of the Bachelor Security Studies can take this course.
Description
This course provides an introduction to doing social science research on a safety and security related matter. In seven modules you are challenged to critically engage in the different research traditions in social science research and you will explore the research cycle from design to analysis and reporting. You will learn about the foundations of research, the different methods that can be utilised to answer a specific research question and research ethics. This course will also introduce you to basic data collection and analysis techniques.
This course forms the starting point for the other research methods courses in year 2. This course as well as the research methods courses in year 2 will help you develop important research skills that will help you prepare for your bachelor thesis. For this reason, this course is compulsory for all students following the bachelor Security Studies. No prior knowledge or experience in research is required to take this course.
Course Objectives
At the end of this course you will be able to:
Understand the fundamental concepts in social science research;
Acquire basic knowledge on a variety of research methods;
Identify appropriate research techniques and methods of analysis to answer specific research questions;
Reflect on research design choices, identify their limitations, and critique their execution;
Gain an understanding of the importance of ethical scholarship.
Timetable
On the right side of the programme front page you will find links to the website and timetables, uSis and Brightspace.
Mode of Instruction
This course has a blended learning course format. Students follow 7 online modules and 7 lectures.
Total study load is 140 hours:
Contact hours (lectures): 21
Self-study hours (including following the online modules and working on the mid-term assignment): 116 hours
Examination (end-term exam): 3 hours
Assessment method
Mid-term assignment
30% of the final grade
Grade must be compensated
Resit not possible
End-term exam
70% of the final grade
Grade must be 5.5 or higher
Resit of a fail is possible
Resit will take the same form
Students will be permitted to resit the end-term exam (75%) if they have a calculated overall course grade lower than 5.5
In the case of written assessment methods, the examiner can always initiate a follow-up conversation with the student to establish whether the learning objectives have been met.
Transitional arrangements
Passed partial grades obtained in year 2023-2024 remain valid during year 2024-2025. The weighting of the year 2023-2024 will apply for the two assignments (i.e. 25% for the mid-term assignment and 75% for the end-term exam).
Reading list
Compulsory literature for this course is:
Grønmo, S. (2019/2023). Social research methods: Qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods approaches (First/Second ed.). SAGE.
Other (suggested) literature will be listed on Brightspace in due course.
Registration
Register yourself via MyStudymap for each course, workgroup and exam (not all courses have workgroups and/or exams).
Do so on time, before the start of the course; some courses and workgroups have limited spaces. You can view your personal schedule in MyTimetable after logging in.
Registration for this course is possible from TBA
Leiden University uses Brightspace as its online learning management system. After enrolment for the course in MyStudymap you will be automatically enrolled in the Brightspace environment of this course. Furthermore, announcements and modifications will be communicated via Brightspace. Students have the responsibility to stay informed and are thus advised to regularly check Brightspace for updates.
More information on registration via MyStudymap can be found on this page.
Please note: guest-/contract-/exchange students do not register via MyStudymap but via uSis.
Contact
[Dr R. Ganohariti] (mailto:r.j.premaratne.ganohariti@fgga.leidenuniv.nl)
Remarks
For exceptions, please contact the Board of Examiners.
A pass is required for this course in order to be admitted to the Thesis course in year 3.