Admission requirements
None.
Description
This course offers a hands-on introduction to research methods prevalent in the interpretive social sciences. Emphasizing the epistemological and ethical dimensions of social inquiry, it invites students to understand the backstage process of how practitioners in fields such as anthropology, sociology, and human geography gather and process data. Interpretive social science methods allow researchers to use a structured process that empirically addresses conceptual questions. Students in this course will understand how methods relate to social science investigation, and are an essential component of research design.
The course is designed as a hands-on sequence of conceptual reflection and empirical experimentation built around an individual project. Students will conceptualize a social science topic in The Hague. Over the course, they will try out different interpretive and qualitative methods in the field, assess their practical and ethical dimensions, and conducting post-fieldwork data analysis.
Learning this process enables a comprehensive and empirically grounded understanding of the social world we study. In the interpretive social sciences, methods may include participant-observation, life-history narrative interviews, and focus groups.
Students in this course will learn how to actually do social science research, to reflect on interpretive and ethical choices, and to understand how fieldwork variables condition data analysis. The methods discussed will include interviewing, mapping, and participant observation. This course will emphasize the epistemological and ethical aspects of interpretive social science research, as well as the practicalities of design and implementation.
Course Objectives
Skills:
By the end of this course, the students will be able to:
Describe the ethical and epistemological dimensions of interpretive social science
Explain and assess various qualitative research methods
Operationalize research questions and determine which qualitative approach is suitable for addressing particular topics
Reflect on the design and execution of a self-guided social science project.
Knowledge:
Students will become acquainted with different methods of data collection, processing, and analysis within the interpretive social sciences. They will be able to make judgments regarding the reliability and pitfalls of various investigative approaches, and to assess the ethical and epistemological aspects of carrying out their own project.
Timetable
Timetables for courses offered at Leiden University College in 2025-2026 will be published on this page of the e-Prospectus.
Mode of instruction
This course will consist of interactive seminars and draw on both lectures and practical exercises. Interactive, hands-on, and reflective activities will be implemented to highlight the course material. Practical exercises will touch on participant observation, interviewing, and mapping material culture. The seminars will help students to recognize and apply research methods in fields such as anthropology and sociology.
Students will, in the spirit of a practical methods course, individually engage in a fieldwork project in The Hague. This will involve using methods that enable students to think as social science researchers.
Assessment Method
Students are assessed on different parameters that correspond to discrete learning aims.
In this course, students are assessed with 2 interpretive social science methods assignments that are each worth 30% of the overall grade. The first one is due in Week 3 and the second one will be submitted in Week 6. A final essay by each student on their individual research project is worth 40% and due in Week 8.
Reading list
Students will be given access to the course readings by the first week of classes.
Registration
Courses offered at Leiden University College (LUC) are usually only open to LUC students and LUC exchange students. Leiden University students who participate in one of the university’s Honours tracks or programmes may register for one LUC course, if availability permits. Registration is coordinated by the Education Coordinator, course.administration@luc.leidenuniv.nl.
Contact
Dr. Ajay Gandhi, a.gandhi@luc.leidenuniv.nl
Remarks
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