Postgraduate course 2024/2025

Postgraduate seminar

Type: Compulsory course

Delivered by: School of Politics and Governance

When: 1 year, 1 semester

Open to: students of one campus

Instructors: Olga Y. Malinova

Language: English

Course Syllabus

Abstract

The postgraduate seminar is held throughout the entire period of study and includes modules aimed at mastering the skills of developing the design of a political science research and preparing a dissertation research program, mastering the skills of academic writing and preparing scientific articles, discussing the theoretical and empirical part of a dissertation research. The seminar introduces modern approaches and methods for conducting political science research in line with the positivist and interpretive paradigms, teaches the basic principles of academic writing, develops practical skills in planning research and presenting its results in the form of texts and oral presentations. Within the framework of the seminar, graduate students have unique opportunities to discuss dissertation research at different stages, from the formation of an idea and the development of methodology to testing the results.

Learning Objectives

• The Research Seminar provides a setting for discussing and elaborating the design of PhD research and its results on various stages of 3 years PhD course

Expected Learning Outcomes

• A student knows the main approaches in the field and can use the main methods in political science
• Know the formal structure of research work;
• Students will be able to summarize and paraphrase pieces of academic writing in their research field
• can critically access the academic relevance of the research problem;
• is able ro formulate a research problem for the future thesis. It able to support the statement of research problem by relevant arguments based on analysis of the literature;
• knows the principles of analysis of relevant literature; can do its screening to reveal the research problem;
• is able to access critically an academic relevance and originality of the research problem proposed by colleagues;
• is able to provide arguments for the proposed research problem;
• is able to chose the strategy for the proposed research;
• is able to elaborate a design of the proposed research;
• is able to formulate the research problem and research question;
• is able to write a research proposal as text;
• knows how types of research questions correspond to research strategies;
• is able to discuss the choice of research question, strategy, theories, concepts, methods proposed by colleagues;
• is able to distinguish between different kinds of theory. Understands their role in research;
• is able to explain the functions of concepts, theories, hypothesis and models in different types of social research;
• is able to discuss the design of research for future thesis;
• is able to access critically designs of research proposed by colleagues;
• can formulate a correct research question;
• understands what kind of data is relevant for unswering the proposed research question;
• Know the basic difference between ‘positivist’ and ‘interpretivist’ research traditions
• Understand the notion of ‘causality’ in the framework of Rubin causal model
• Understand how experimental research designs work and how one can go about designing an experiment for a specific research question
• Understand quasi-experimental research designs, such as difference-in-difference and regression discontinuity
• Understand how observational studies differ from experimental and quasi-experimental studies and what can be learned from observational studies
• Understand how and why Weberian ‘ideal types’ define a debate within political science over what research can understand and can (and cannot) explain
• Understand the presuppositions of arguments, questions and narratives about the practice of politics and how these have been applied in interpretive research design
• Understand the presuppositions to a ‘positivist – interpretivist’ choice with regards to the evaluation of ‘case study research’ in political science
• Understand and evaluate, by way of comparison, the research design of ‘case studies’ on the politics of legitimation
• Being able to produce a consistent chapter covering theorical background and methodological choices of the PhD research
• Able to present and discuss a research in progress

Course Contents

• С чего начать, или нулевой цикл исследовательского проекта / How do we start, or Doing pre-research
• Постановка исследовательской проблемы / Statement of the research problem
• Разработка дизайна исследования. Исследовательский вопрос и стратегии исследования. Подготовка программы исследования / Research design. Research question and research strategy. Writing a research proposal
• Инструменты научного исследования: понятия, теории, гипотезы, модели / Analytic tools of a social research: Concepts, theories, hypothesis, models
• Presentation of research proposal for PhD dissertation
• Эмпирические данные и дизайн исследования / Data and research design.
• ‘Positivist’ research
• Experiments
• Quasi-experiments
• Understanding Ideal Types
• Questions, Arguments & Narratives
• Evaluation of Case Studies
• Особенности научной статьи / How to write an article for an academic journal
• Научные статьи бывают разными / Different types of academic articles
• Структура научной статьи / The structure of an academic article
• Коммуникация с журналом. Двойное слепое рецензирование / Communication with the journal. Double blind peer review
• Редактирование и стилистические ошибки ? Copyediting.
• Теоретические и методологические основания диссертационного исследования / Theoretical background and methodology of PhD research
• Обсуждение предварительных результатов исследования / Discussing preliminary results of the PhD research

Assessment Elements

• Refining a research question
  Understanding of the ways of refining of a RQ suggested by the recommended literature. Ability to apply this knowledge to the constructed RQ
• Constructing theoretical framework
  Understanding the role of theory in the type of research one is going to conduct. Selecting appropriate concepts and theories, constructing convincing arguments and prospective hypothesis.
• Research proposal for PhD thesis
• Peer-reviewing research proposal prepared by a colleague
• Seminar Participation
• Seminar Written Answers
• Research Design Response Paper
• План-проспект статьи
• Peer-review (рецензия) статьи коллеги
• Написание статьи по результатам диссертационного исследования
• Theoretical framework of the PhD research
• Peer-reviewing of the theoretical framework prepared by a colleague
• Presentation of prelimonary resault of the PhD research

Interim Assessment

• 2024/2025 1st semester
  0.05 * Constructing theoretical framework + 0.05 * Peer-review (рецензия) статьи коллеги + 0.05 * Peer-reviewing research proposal prepared by a colleague + 0.05 * Refining a research question + 0.2 * Research Design Response Paper + 0.2 * Research proposal for PhD thesis + 0.05 * Seminar Participation + 0.1 * Seminar Written Answers + 0.2 * Написание статьи по результатам диссертационного исследования + 0.05 * План-проспект статьи
• 2025/2026 1st semester
  0.3 * Peer-reviewing of the theoretical framework prepared by a colleague + 0.7 * Theoretical framework of the PhD research
• 2026/2027 1st semester
  1 * Presentation of prelimonary resault of the PhD research

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

• A sequence for academic writing, Behrens, L., 2005
• Academic writing and publishing : A practical handbook, Hartley J., 2010
• An introduction to the philosophy of science, Bortolotti, L., 2008
• Contemporary debates in philosophy of science, , 2004
• Designing social inquiry : scientific inference in qualitative research, King, G., 1994
• Designing social inquiry : scientific inference in qualitative research, King, G., 2021
• Handbook of research design and social measurement, , 2002
• Philosophy of science : a contemporary introduction, Rosenberg, A., 2012
• Philosophy of science : a new introduction, Barker, G., 2014
• Philosophy of science : key concepts, French, S., 2016
• Philosophy of science : the central issues, Curd, M., 2013
• Philosophy of science and sociology : from the methodological doctrine to research practice, Mokrzycki, E., 2009
• Principles of comparative politics, Clark, W. R., 2013
• Политология. Методы исследования, Мангейм, Д. Б., 1999

Recommended Additional Bibliography

• Academic writing : a handbook for international students, Bailey, S., 2011
• Encyclopedia of research design. Vol.1: A-G, , 2010
• Encyclopedia of research design. Vol.2: H-P, , 2010
• Encyclopedia of research design. Vol.3: Q-Z, Index, , 2010

Authors

• Malinova Olga Iurevna