Admission requirements
Not applicable
Description
Applied research methodology bridges theoretical methodology courses and the master thesis research. The course is geared towards empirical studies in ICT-related settings.
During the lectures and assignments, a research problem is addressed with the purpose of increasing hand-on experience with working on research problems. Generally, a research objective (including associated research questions) is decided on in the first session. Then, two sessions are spent on development of the measurement instrument (in past years we used a grounded theory approach in combination with interviews and, e.g., a survey). The two last sessions are used for testing of the measurement instrument by gathering data and integrating the results.
All sessions contain lectures on theoretical foundations of the applied scientific methods as well as group debates regarding implementation-specific challenges. Literature consist of a variety of scientific articles. The objective is to become better prepared for the master thesis project.
Course objectives
Students will be able to
1. develop a research questions suitable for an MSc. thesis
2. identify literature relevant to their topic of inquiry
3. prepare and hold interviews
4. apply the grounded theory to interview transcripts
5. identify concepts in interview transcripts
6. visualize concepts and their interrelationships
At the end of this course, students are able to apply a qualitative data analysis method on data obtained chiefly by the interview method.
Timetable
You will find the timetables for all courses and degree programmes of Leiden University in the tool MyTimetable (login). Any teaching activities that you have sucessfully registered for in MyStudyMap will automatically be displayed in MyTimeTable. Any timetables that you add manually, will be saved and automatically displayed the next time you sign in.
MyTimetable allows you to integrate your timetable with your calendar apps such as Outlook, Google Calendar, Apple Calendar and other calendar apps on your smartphone. Any timetable changes will be automatically synced with your calendar. If you wish, you can also receive an email notification of the change. You can turn notifications on in ‘Settings’ (after login).
For more information, watch the video or go the the 'help-page' in MyTimetable. Please note: Joint Degree students Leiden/Delft have to merge their two different timetables into one. This video explains how to do this.
Mode of instruction
8 lectures (2 hours each) spread over one semester. All sessions contain lectures as well as group debates.
Assessment method
The course assessment consists of five assignments:
Assignments 1 and 2 take the form of short papers. Each is graded on a scale of 1 to 10 and each counts towards 20% of your final grade.
Assignments 3a and 3b take the form of interview transcripts. These are graded pass or fail. You need to pass handing in these two assignments as they form the basis for assignment 4.
Assignment 4 takes the form of annotated and enhanced interview transcripts (3a and 3b). The assignment is graded on a scale of 1 to 10 and counts towards 40% of your final grade.
Assignment 5 takes the form of a short presentation. The presentation is graded on a scale of 1 to 10 and counts towards 20% of your final grade.
All assignments can be redone once.
Reading list
Literature (scientific papers) is handed out during the course.
Book: Gary Thomas "How to do your research project" (4th Ed), Sage
Registration
Every student has to register for courses with the new enrollment tool MyStudyMap. Please see this page for more information.
Please note that it is compulsory to register your participation for every exam and retake.
Extensive FAQ's on MyStudymap can be found here.
Contact
Programme Co-ordinator: ms. Esme Caubo
Remarks
Also register for every course in Brightspace. Important information about the course is posted here.
There is only limited capacity for external students. Please contact the programme Co-ordinator