Master
2021/2022
Research Seminar "Human Rights Policy Analysis"
Type:
Elective course (Political Analysis and Public Policy)
Area of studies:
Political Science
Delivered by:
Public Policy Department
Where:
Faculty of Social Sciences
When:
1 year, 1-4 module
Mode of studies:
offline
Open to:
students of one campus
Master’s programme:
Political Analysis and Public Policy
Language:
English
ECTS credits:
10
Contact hours:
120
Course Syllabus
Abstract
The research seminar aims both methodological and substantive goals. The first one is to provide students with analytical and research skills required for writing academic articles, essays, reviews, reports, course papers and dissertation research on the public policy analysis, human rights and democratic governance. The second goal is to teach to students contemporary approaches to the research of public policy and human rights issues. Students will learn, explore and practice relevant methods of organization of public policy analysis & monitoring in various fields. They will be able to present their research results in the form of individual course paper or master thesis.
Learning Objectives
- To help students specify the issues of their prospective research and formulate research topic by giving them the opportunity to get acquainted with the professors of the department, particularly with the scope of their research interests, publications, research papers themes of the department
- To familiarize students with the research and analysis methods, to introduce them the rules of drafting and developing of academic research texts of various genres clarifying the language peculiarities of academic writing
- To develop professional skills and competences required for the preparation of course papers, master's theses, academic papers, reviews, etc. on public policy & human rights issues
- To develop the students' skills of academic discussion, expert debate, presentation of the research work results to the expert community, critically reviewing the comments and defending their point of view
- To teach students the techniques and skills of scientific analysis of empirical data needed for their further professional activities
Expected Learning Outcomes
- Be able conduct an independent research in the field of public policy & human rights, both singly and within the group
- Be able to develop independently the program of the research in the field of public policy & human rights and draft and present in public the results of the academic research
- Be able to use academic literature properly, involving results of previous studies and other sources of data to develop their own research
- Be able to use different data, apply different analysis methods in the public policy & human rights research and monitoring
Course Contents
- Preparing to conduct a research: problem formulation, literature review, research design, conceptualization, operationalization, working with data
- Term paper preparations
- Academic Writing
- Practicum research methods: Application to the term paper
- Practicum: case studies, group work and research projects
Assessment Elements
- Research proposal
- Term paper pre-defenseDue to COVID19 situation, this year's pre-defenses will be held in online format. We will use Zoom for videoconferences, students will be provided with a link to join the conference and must paticipate in accordance with the schedule announced by the study office. Students need to make sure that their Internet connection is stable enough to have a videoconference. The commision will tolerate disconnects, but a student must return to a conference in not more than 3 minutes. If connection problems persists, the commision will consider a possibility to reschedule the defense for a student. Reexaminations will be held in a standard for such kind of control form.
- Term paper defense
- Group work
- Preliminary literature review
- Research outline and draft of the 1st chapter
- Reflection paper
- Homework (Toulmin's model)
- Homework (Academic writing)
- Research proposal 2nd year2000 words (without bibliography), Times New Roman 12, 1.5 line spacing. Your paper must include: Preliminary topic of the research; Background information on the issue; Explicit statement of the research problem, Research question, which states the particular intriguing aspect of the problem the research is supposed to deal with; Research goal; Research tasks which are needed for achieving the goal; Preliminary methodology and theoretical foundation
- Literature reviewYou need to conduct a review of the literature related to the problem that you will cover in a master's thesis. Include at least 10 different academic sources (books, reports and articles) and summarize their content in a coherent way to clearly present what the state of the research is in this field and where the research gap that you want to study
- Progress report■The purpose of this report is to ensure that you are on track to complete your thesis within the timeframe. It is an assignment where you must explain how far you’ve gone towards the completion of your research: what was planned for this period of time, what was achieved, what were the problems/challenges and what must be done to finalize your research. ■General requirements: Timeframe - November 2022 - March 2023 You must reflect on 4 main points (2-3 slides on each): -What was planned for this period of time? (i.e to complete the first half of your thesis; to collect particular data; to develop final structure of the thesis, etc) -What has been done during this period (follow your plans mentioned in the first point, i.e have you begun collecting data for your project? If not yet, and you plan on doing so, please provide a timeline for your research or data collection efforts. What kind of data you already collected, what is the ratio between primary/secondary data. If you are working with an existing dataset, describe it. How many pages are already written/in development, etc) -What were the problems/challenges? (I hope it is more or less clear - what issues you've faced in your work) -What must be done to finalize your research (how much work is left, what are the priorities, when the final cut will be ready?)
- 1st chapter draft
- Pre-defense
Interim Assessment
- 2021/2022 1st module0.6 * Research proposal + 0.4 * Group work
- 2021/2022 3rd module0.2 * Homework (Academic writing) + 0.4 * Term paper pre-defense + 0.2 * Research outline and draft of the 1st chapter + 0.2 * Homework (Toulmin's model)
- 2021/2022 4th module0.5 * Group work + 0.5 * Reflection paper
- 2022/2023 1st module0.4 * Literature review + 0.6 * Research proposal 2nd year
- 2022/2023 3rd module0.2 * Progress report + 0.5 * Pre-defense + 0.3 * 1st chapter draft
Bibliography
Recommended Core Bibliography
- Bailey, S. (2017). Academic Writing : A Handbook for International Students (Vol. Fifth edition). London: Routledge. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1650435
- Ethridge, M. E. (2015). The Political Research Experience: Readings and Analysis : Readings and Analysis (Vol. Third edition). London: Routledge. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=955843
- Gangl, M. (2016). Counterfactuals and Causal Inference. Methods and Principles for Social Research. Stephen L. Morgan & Christopher Winship, 2007. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.C94AE197
- Gideon, L. (2012). Handbook of Survey Methodology for the Social Sciences. New York: Springer. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=534934
- May, T. (2011). Social Research : Issues, Methods and Process (Vol. 4th ed). Maidenhead, Berkshire, England: McGraw-Hill Education. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=375113
- Thissen, W. A. H., & Walker, W. E. (2013). Public Policy Analysis : New Developments. New York: Springer. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=537663
Recommended Additional Bibliography
- Holland, J., & World Bank. (2007). Tools for Institutional, Political, and Social Analysis of Policy Reform : A Sourcebook for Development Practitioners. Washington, DC: World Bank Publications. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=187269
- Johnson, A. P. (2016). Academic Writing : Process and Product. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1222793