Admission requirements
This course is for Master students of Public Administration only.
Description
The aim of this course is to provide students with an understanding of the basic principles of research design in the social sciences, and public administration in particular. Students will get the fundamental skills needed to critically evaluate existing research. They will also learn how to discover interesting and doable research questions, sharpen the theories they use, and develop sound designs for empirical research.
The course will provide an overview of experimental, comparative, large-N, and various case study designs. Case-selection strategies and common threats to internal and external validity of different research approaches will also be covered. Students will have ample opportunities to discuss and critique the research design of state-of-the-art academic articles in public administration and related fields, and to develop their own research proposal.
The course will review different research methodologies and discuss their strengths and weaknesses but this is not a course in any specific method. The end product of the course is an individual research proposal that can serve as a basis for writing the master thesis.
Course objectives
The main goals of the course are:
to learn how to write a proposal for an empirical research project / master thesis
to learn to critically assess empirical public administration research
to understand the advantages and disadvantages of different designs for empirical research in public administration
Labour market
The course contributes to analytical skills that are crucial for effective participation in the labour market. The students learn to plan and execute research projects, as well as to critically assess existing research.
Timetable
On the right side of programme front page of the e-Prospectus you will find links to the website and timetables, uSis and Brightspace.
Mode of instruction
The course is based on a combination of (online) lectures, class discussions and some practical exercises. The lectures will focus on selected issues from the material for each session.
Assessment method
- Final exam (100%)
Students need to receive a passing grade for the final exam to complete the course. There is a retake opportunity for the final exam.
Reading list
Toshkov, Dimiter. 2016. Research Design in Political Science. Palgrave Macmillan.
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 for semester 1, block 2 from Wednesday 16 July 13.00h
Registration for this course is possible for semester 2, block 4 from Wednesday 10 December 13.00h
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.
More information on registration via MyStudymap can be found on this page.
Please note 1: Registration for the resit of an exam is mandatory, this has to be done by the student and can be done from Monday 1 December 2025 (semester 1) and from Monday 4 May 2026 (semeter 2) until 10 days before the exam. Until 5 days before the exam you can email OSC and fill in a form.
Please note 2: guest-/contract-/exchange students do not register via MyStudymap but via uSis. Registration via uSis is possible from Thursday 17 July 2025 (semester 1) and from Thursday 11 December (semester 2).
Contact
Block 4: Dr. D.D. Toshkov d.d.toshkov@fgga.leidenuniv.nl
Block 2: Dr. B.J. Carroll b.j.carroll@fgga.leidenuniv.nl