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Politics
The Research Toolkit for Politics and International Relations
Module POC2083 for 2016/7
Module POC2083 for 2016/7
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Undergraduate Module Descriptor
POC2083: The Research Toolkit for Politics and International Relations
This module descriptor refers to the 2016/7 academic year.
Please note that this module is only delivered on the Penryn Campus.
Module Content
Syllabus Plan
Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics:
Term 1
- Why research skills are important inside and outside of academia
- Crafting research questions and the research process
- Identifying local political organisations with which to work
- Conducting an academic literature search
- Organising notes and thematising reviewed literature
- Writing a literature review
- Scoping out a research project
Term 2
- Building a collaboration with a local political organisation
- The nuts and bolts (ontology and epistemology) of research
- Experiments
- Surveys / secondary data analysis
- Documentary / archival research
- Case studies
- Participant observation
- Qualitative interviews
- Communicating research findings
- Presenting to local political organisations
- Reflecting on feedback and drafting a policy brief
Learning and Teaching
This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 64 | 232 | 4 |
...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching activities | 16 | 8 x 2 hour workshops (Term 1) |
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activity | 11 | 11 x 1 hour lectures (Term 2) |
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching activities | 11 | Seminars 11 x 1 hour (Term 2) |
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching activities | 6 | 1 x 2 hour session at which organisations present the policy briefs to students; 1 x 2 hour session to provide feedback on research synopsis; 1 x 2 hour session at which students present their preliminary findings to the organisations that set the policy briefs |
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching activities | 20 | 10 x 2 hour timetabled sessions for group work (to delegate tasks, communicate etc.) and to produce synopsis |
| Guided Independent study | 40 | Preparing for and producing literature review |
| Guided Independent study | 40 | Producing independent contributions to the scoping report |
| Guided Independent study | 42 | Private study; reading material set on reading list, including journal articles which show how research methods have been used in practice |
| Guided Independent study | 12 | Watching and reflecting on guest speaker videos |
| Guided Independent study | 7 | Listening to and evaluating interviews with political scientists |
| Guided Independent study | 47 | Preparing policy brief |
| Guided Independent study | 22 | Preparing group presentations |
| Guided Independent study | 22 | Preparing critical reviews |
Online Resources
This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).
