Prospectus

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Fieldwork NL

Course
2020-2021

Important Note on the Course Fieldwork NL

Fieldwork NL is a regular course and expenses of Fieldwork NL are covered neither by the tuition fee for the bachelor’s programme nor by additional grants. In choosing a topic and writing the research design, and in their choice of research methods and research location, students are therefore strongly advised to anticipate the budgetary aspects of their proposed research.

Admission Requirements

The following two categories of students are entitled to participate:

1. Bachelor's students of CADS who have passed the following first-year courses:

  • Social Scientific Research in Practice

  • Statistics in Practice

  • Academic Writing and (Re-)Presentation

  • Data Management and Research Ethics/Ethics in Contemporary Ethnographic Research

  • Academic Discourse

2. Archaeology students from the bachelor’s programme Heritage and Society who have successfully passed Social Scientific Research in Practice.

Language of Instruction

This course is taught in English and uses English as its language of communication. Students are however permitted to write their Fieldwork NL research reports in Dutch.

Registration

  • Registration in uSis for this course is required only for the lectures (and not for tutorials). On the faculty website you will find the registration periods and further information about the procedure.

  • Attendance at the first lecture on 3 September is mandatory. During this meeting, different themes will be explained and students will be instructed how to sign up for thematic tutorials.

Course Description

In the first week of September students will make their choices based on themes suggested by the supervisors. They will work in small groups to develop a research design on the basis of mandatory tutorials and assignments. After their research designs have been approved, students will undertake research for three weeks in the Netherlands. Ideally, students will be accommodated during their research by host families. Each student will write a research report and present their findings to the closing Fieldwork NL conference. More detailed information to follow on Brightspace.

Course objectives

The objective of this course is to learn how to undertake research independently but within a team. Participants in this programme will complete all phases of the research, which means that among other things they must:

  • elaborate a chosen research theme

  • develop a theoretical framework

  • write a design

  • collect research data

  • analyse and report on their data

  • present their work to a one-day conference

Schedule

  • The course has two mandatory lectures: an introductory lecture and the post fieldwork lecture

  • The course has mandatory tutorials, divided over two semesters

  • The course closes with a conference

  • Fieldwork itself takes place in weeks 2 to 4 of 2021.

Dates and times of the lectures, tutorials and the conference can be found on the website.

Mode of Instruction

This is a 10 ECTS course, which means 280 hours of study (1 ECTS is equivalent to 28 study hours or sbu's). These 280 study hours are composed from the following components:

  • Lectures: 2 x 2 = 4 hours x 1,5 = 6 sbu

  • Tutorials: 10 x 2 = 16 hours x 2 = 32 sbu

  • Closing conference = 8 sbu

  • Assignments resulting in the research design and final report = 114 sbu

  • Fieldwork (three weeks full-time) = 120 sbu - see also* Important Note* on top of this page

Assessment Method

In addition to the written work described below attendance is mandatory at all tutorials, lectures, and the closing conference. There are two assessment moments for the written work in this course:

1) Testing of research design:

  • Joint contribution: 20% of final mark

  • Individual contribution: 25% of final mark

N.B.: Permission to begin fieldwork will be given only if both marks are satisfactory

2) Review of research and final report:

  • Joint contribution: 30% of final mark

  • Individual contribution: 25% of final mark

A printed version and a digital (PDF) version of the final research report must be submitted to the Secretariat CADS.

Only the final mark is registered in uSis and tests may be re-taken if grades are inadequate (grade 5 and lower).

Each year, the Prof. Dr. J.D. Speckmann Prize is awarded to the best Fieldwork-NL report.

Brightspace

Brightspace is the digital learning environment of Leiden University. Brightspace gives access to course announcements and electronic study material. Assignments will also be submitted in Brightspace. announcements about and changes to courses are given in Brightspace. Students are advised to check Brightspace daily for information about rooms, schedules, deadlines, and details of assignments. Lecturers assume that all students read information posted on Brightspace.

  • How to login

The homepage for Brightspace is: Brightspace

Please log in with your ULCN-account and personal password. On the left you will see an overview of My Courses.

For access to courses in Brightspace you must be registered for those courses in uSis.

Contact

Dr. Anouk de Koning - Coördinator