Admission requirements
This course is only available for students in the BA International Studies programme.
The number of participants is limited to 24.
Some topics may have more than one group to choose from.
Description
Why do we conduct research and what are the possibilities and limitations of research in international studies? What does a good research question look like and how can I make sure I am designing and conducting a research project properly and ethically? These are common questions that students have and this course is designed with these questions in mind.
Understanding and conducting research are key components of the BA International Studies programme and this course introduces students to research methods within a specific theme. Building on skills gained in courses such as Academic Reading and Writing, the aim of this course is threefold: to provide a basic understanding of the philosophical assumptions and ethical principles of academic research; to equip students with key practical strategies and techniques for different types and processes of data collection, analysis, and interpretation; and to merge theory and practice by having students design, conduct, and write-up a small research project.
The course utilises a combination of knowledge clips and seminars. The knowledge clips are watched by all students and are broadly applicable to research in the humanities and social sciences. They are meant to provide an overview of academic research, the logic and limitations of qualitative and quantitative methods, and a brief introduction to the philosophy of science and research ethics. The seminars provide a focused engagement based upon the research expertise of the seminar leader. The seminar meetings are meant to assist students in designing a small research project and writing up the tentative results in a research report. While each seminar is unique, all students will be introduced to field specific research design issues, multiple data collection and analysis methods, operationalising research questions, and how to structure and write a research report.
Theme of Seminar
This seminar takes stock from an extensive body of research in both humanities and social science on issues of environmental justice. Historians, urbanists, sociologists, political scientists, and many others working on uneven ecological developments have produced eye-opening accounts of the conditions in which millions of people lived and continue to live across the globe, as well as of their struggle for recognition and inclusion. This seminar is meant to help our students to better understand the ecological consequences of natural resources’ extraction, waste disposal, and industrial modernization, with a focus on the intersectional marginalization of groups of citizens. The seminar, indeed, stresses the interconnected nature of issues such as class, gender, race, and the environment, locating patterns of injustice not only in different times and spaces, but also across different cultures and institutions. The seminar also sheds light on the (historical) impact that environmental degradation and climate change have on indigenous peoples and on the genesis and evolution of toxic landscapes and sacrifice zones worldwide. Finally, the seminar invites further research into varied forms of ecological resistance and their long-lasting legacies.
Course objectives
The purpose of this course is to prepare students to understand, design, and conduct academic research. After successfully completing the course students will:
Understand the importance of academic research in acquiring knowledge and how this relates to the philosophy of science and the position of the researcher.
Be able to explain the logic and limitations of qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods research.
Possess the practical skills necessary for designing research, conducting research, and writing up a research report.
Understand how to formulate and operationalise research questions, address issues in research ethics, collect different types of data, and learn how to analyse and interpret collected data.
Timetable
The timetables are available through My Timetable.
Mode of instruction
Lectures
The Knowledge Clips will be viewed by students during weeks 36 and 37.
Seminars
There are seven seminar sessions in this course (typically weeks 38, 39, 40, 41, 45, 46, and 50). Attending all seminar sessions is compulsory. If you are unable to attend a session, please inform your tutor in advance. Being absent at more than two of the seminar sessions will result in a lowering of your Research Report grade (75% of the end grade) with 0,5 point for each session missed after the first two sessions.
Assessment method
Assessment & Weighing
| Partial Grade | Weighing |
|---|---|
| Research Design | 25% |
| Research Report | 75% |
End Grade
To successfully complete the course, please take note of the following:
The End Grade of the course is established by determining the weighted average of the Research Design and Research Report.
Please note that if the Research Report is lower than 5.5, you will not pass the course, regardless of the Research Design grade.
Resit
If the End Grade is insufficient (lower than a 6.0), or the Research Report is lower than 5.5, there is a possibility of retaking the 75% of the Research Report. No resit for the Research Design is possible.
Please note that if the Resit Report grade is lower than 5.5, you will not pass the course, regardless of the Research Design grade.
Students who score an overall insufficient grade for the course, are allowed resubmit a reworked version of the Research Report. The deadline for resubmission is 10 working days after receiving the grade for the report and subsequent feedback. In case of resubmission of the report, the final grade for the report will be lowered as a consequence of the longer process of completion.
Students who fail to hand in their Research Report on or before the original deadline, but still within 5 working days of that deadline, will receive a grade and feedback on their report. This will be considered a first submission of the report, however, the grade will be lowered as a consequence of the longer process of completion.
Students who fail to hand in their Research Report on or before the original deadline, and also fail to hand in their report within 5 working days of that deadline, get 10 working days, counting from the original deadline, to hand in the first version of their report. However, this first version counts as a resubmitted report with consequential lowering of the grade, and there will be no option of handing in a reworked version based on feedback from the lecturer.
Retaking a passing grade
Retaking a passing grade is not possible for this course.
Please consult the Course and Examination Regulations 2024 – 2025.
Exam review and feedback
How and when an exam review will take place will be disclosed together with the publication of the exam results at the latest. If a student requests a review within 30 days after publication of the exam results, an exam review will have to be organised.
Reading list
Martin V. Melosi, “Environmental Justice, Political Agenda Setting, and the Myths of History,” Journal of Policy History, 2000, Volume 12, Issue 1, 43-71
Rob Nixon, Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2011)
https://uwosh.edu/sirt/wp-content/uploads/sites/86/2017/08/Bullard_Environmental-Justice-in-the-21st-Century.pdf
One text to be chosen among the following ones:
Robert Bullard, Dumping in Dixie: Race, Class, and Environmental Quality (Boulder: Westview Press, 1990)
Elizabeth D. Blum, Love Canal Revisited: Race, Class, and Gender in Environmental Activism (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2008)
Luke W. Cole, Sheila R. Foster, From the Ground Up: Environmental Racism and the Rise of the Environmental Justice Movement (New York: NYU Press, 2000)
Eileen McGurty, Transforming Environmentalism: Warren County, PCBs, and the Origins of Environmental Justice (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2007)
Dario Fazzi, Smoke on the Water: Incineration at Sea and the Birth of a Transatlantic Environmental Movement (New York: Columbia University Press, 2023)
Dina Gilio-Whitaker, As Long as Grass Grows: The Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice, from Colonization to Standing (New York: Beacon Press, 2020)
Ellen Griffith Spears, Baptized in PCBs: Race, Pollution, and Justice in an All-American Town (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2014)
Amy M. Hay, The Defoliation of America: Agent Orange Chemicals, Citizens, and Protests (Tuscaloosa: University Alabama Press, 2021)
Max Liboiron, Pollution Is Colonialism (Durham: Duke University Press, 2021)
Richard S. Newman, Love Canal: A Toxic History from Colonial Times to the Present (New York: Oxford University Press, 2019)
Julie Sze, Environmental Justice in a Moment of Danger (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2020)
Dorceta E. Taylor, Toxic Communities: Environmental Racism, Industrial Pollution, and Residential Mobility (New York: NYU Press, 2014)
Carl Zimring, Clean and White: A History of Environmental Racism in the United States (New York: NYU Press, 2015).
Registration
Registration occurs via survey only. Registration opens 15 July 2024:
1) On 15 July 2024 you will receive a message with a link to the survey.
2) Indicate there which are your 5 preferred Research Methods courses, in order of preference.
3) Based on preferences indicated by 29 July 2024 the Coordinator will assign you to one specific Research Methods course by 19 August 2024.
4) Students will then be enrolled for the specific groups by the Administration Office.
5) All students are required to enrol for their group in Brightspace to access all course information.
Students cannot register in uSis for the Research Methods courses, or be allowed into a Research Methods course in any other way.
Contact
For substantive questions, contact the lecturer listed in the right information bar.
For questions about enrolment, admission, etc, contact the Education Administration Office: Student Affairs Office for BA International Studies
Remarks
The deadline for submission of the Research Report is Friday, 3 January 2025.