Research Design and Methodological Choices

Introduction

Research design is commonly defined as a program or a blueprint that guides researchers through the process of collecting, analyzing and interpreting observations. Its essentialness is rooted in its effects on the validity of knowledge claims. Research design is pivotal in affecting the strength, persuasiveness, and authoritativeness of claims concerning causality, external validity, and construct validity (to name a few). Research design is both a science and an art. While some of the major principles are firmly established, we continuously observe renovations, extensions as well as bold innovations.

Course content

The course will cover a wide range of issues including:

• Research designs
• Theory and theoretical contribution
• Validity and reliability
• Sampling
• Research with quantitative data
• Modeling relationships
• Moderation and mediation effects
• Issues of endogeneity
• Introduction to databases
• Overview of methods in quantitative research
• Research with qualitative Data
• Overview of methods in qualitative research