Web-site for Survey Method

Guys,
Here is a useful link for learning survey method online.

http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/survey.php

Online source on quantitative method

http://ccnmtl.columbia.edu/projects/qmss/multiple_regression/the_regression_model.html

Open this website for quick reference to quantitative techniques.
Rajan

Methods & IR - Syllabus of IR at UCLA

http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/polisci/faculty/astein/Syllabi/220w07.pdf

One of the most exhaustive syllabi on IR. Methodological App to IR. You may find the list of all the essential readings here.

Open Book on Statistics

http://www.openintro.org/down/ch/OpenIntroStatistics.pdf

This is an open book on Statistics, often used as a textbook in some of the best American universities. This can be used as an additional book for the statistical section of the course.

SIS Research Manual 2006

http://www.jnu.ac.in/academics/schools/schoolofinternationalstudies/sis_research_manual.pdf

M.Phil Research Method Course Winter Semester 2011

                           

 

                     SE 611        RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Course Number        SE611, M.Phil

Course Title              Research Methodology

Course Instructor      Dr Rajan Kumar

Credits                       3

Instruction Method    Lectures/ Seminar

Evaluation Method    Research Paper/Presentation/Tests (Mid-term test 20 %, Research Paper 15 %, Final test-50%, Class Participation & Précis Writing 15 %)

Course Duration        One Semester

This is an introductory course on research methods. Keeping in mind the interdisciplinary nature of the Social Sciences and the background of the students in this School, this course introduces you to the basic methods used in history, political science, sociology and economics. This course is designed to provide an introduction to theory, philosophy and research methods in social science. It combines qualitative as well as quantitative research designs in a comparative framework. In the qualitative section, it discusses historical and case study methods. In the quantitative section, it introduces statistical methods of analysis. It deals with probability, hypothesis testing, confidence interval, linear and multiple regressions. A prior knowledge of statistics or statistical software is not essential as it begins from the basics of statistical methods. This course will compare the merits and lacunae of various methods and at the end each participant will be required to submit a 10 page term paper on research design adopting any single or a combination of methods.

Jan 12, 17, 19 & 24

An Introduction to the Philosophy of Science and Social Science

·         Paradigm? Theory? How to construct a theory? Integration of Theory and Empirical Data, Positivism, Post-Modernism

·         Debate on Objectivity vs. subjectivity, facts and interpretation, hermeneutics and positivism

1.      Kuhn, Thomas (1970), The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, University of Chicago Press

2.      Popper, Karl (1959), The Logic of Scientific Discovery, New York

3.      Lakatos, Imre (1970), “Falsification and the Methodology of Scientific Research  Programmes” in I. Lakatos and R. Musgrave, eds., Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge, Cambridge

4.      Charles Taylor, (1971) “Interpretation and the Sciences of Man”, in Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 25, No.1, Philosophy, Education and Society Inc

5.      Miller

Ch 1: Replacing Positivism

Ch 2: The Nature of Explanation

Ch 3:  Application: Value Freedom

Ch 4: Confirmation as Causal Comparison

6.      Bertens and Natoli (2002), Postmodernims: The Key Figures, Blackwell Publishers

7.       Foucault, Michael (1969), The Archaeology of Knowledge, Published by Routledge, 1972

8.      Bruce Caldwell  (1994), Beyond Positivism, Cambridge Univ Press

9.      Derrida, Jacques (1980), Writing and Difference, London: Routledge

 Feb 2,  7, 9

Models of Designing Research

Model 1- Research Question- Review of Literature- Theory- Explanation and argument-Hypothesis-Data collection- Data analysis and Hypothesis testing- Findings

Model 2- Research Problem- Review of Literature- Case Selection - Field Work for Data- Context Analysis- Findings

1. King, Gary, Robert O. Keohane and Sidney Verba, (1994), Designing Social Inquiry: Scientific Inference in Qualitative Research, Princeton, (Ch 1-3)

2. Srivastava, Vinay, (2005) Methodology and Fieldwork, OUP

3. Alexander L. George and Andrew Bennett (2005), Case Study and Theory Development in Social Sciences, MIT Press

Feb  14 & 21

Historical Methods of Inquiry

·         History ? Historiography? Historicism? Process Tracing? Linear and non-linear explanations?

1.       Carr, E. H., What is History, Vintage, 1967

2.      Bloc, Marc, Historian’s Craft, Vintage , 1964

3.      Sarkar, Sumit, “Post-Modernism and Writing of Indian History”, Beyond Nationalist Frames-Relocating Postmodernism, Hindutva, History, Permanent Black, Delhi, 2005, Chapter 6

4.      Collingwood, (1994), The Idea of History: With Lectures 1926-1928, OUP, 

     (Revised Edition)

Feb 23, 28, March 7

Case Study Method

  

1. Geertz, “Thick Description: Towards an Interpretive Theory of Culture”, 1973

2. Lisa Weeden, “Conceptualizing Culture: Possibilities for Political Science”, American Political Science Review, vol. 96, no. 4, Dec. 2002 

3. Alexander L. George and Andrew Bennett (2005), Case Study and Theory Development in Social Sciences, MIT Press

4. Srivastava, Vinay, (2005), Methodology and Fieldwork, OUP, Chapters 1-4

      5. Rudolph and Rudolph, Explaining India’s Democracy: A Fifty Year Perspective,   Vol. 1, OUP, 2008.

March 9-April 27

Statistical Methods for Social Sciences

March 9 and 14

Mean, Median, Mode, Standard Deviation

Wonnacot and Wonnacot, Introductory Statistics, Wiley, New York, 1990 (Chapter 1-2)

March 16, 21, 23

Probability

Wonnacot and Wonnacot, Introductory Statistics, Wiley, New York, 1990 (Ch 3)

March  28

Confidence Interval

Wonnacot and Wonnacot, Introductory Statistics, Wiley, New York, 1990 (Ch 8)

(MID TERM TEST –MARCH 30. This will be a 3 hours class room test consisting of short and long questions. This will constitute 20 percent of the total grade )

April 4 and 6

Hypothesis, Hypothesis Testing

Wonnacot and Wonnacot, Introductory Statistics, Wiley, New York, 1990 (Ch 9)

Pollock, The Essentials of Political Analysis ( Ch. 1-3)

L.D. Walker, “Hypothesis Tests and Proofs”, Encyclopedia of Social Measurement, Vol. 2, 2005

April 11

Correlation

Wonnacot and Wonnacot, Introductory Statistics, Wiley, New York, 1990 (Ch 15)

April  13, 18, 20 and 25

Regression

Wonnacot and Wonnacot, Introductory Statistics, Wiley, New York, 1990 (Ch 12-13)

April 27

Use of Statistical Softwares

SPSS and STATA

May 2

The Comparative Approach and Methodology

Alen Sica ed. (2006), Comparative Methods in Social Sciences, Vol. 1-IV, Sage Publications

Charles C. Ragin, The Comparative Method: Moving Beyond Qualitative and Quantitative Strategies, (Ch. 3-5)

John P. Frendreis, “Explanation of Variation and Detection of Co-Variation: The Purpose and Logic of Comparative Analysis”, Comparative Political Studies, 16, 2, July 1983

David D. Latin, “Comparative Politics: The State of the Subdiscipline”, Paper presented at American Political Science Association, 2000

Atul Kohli, et al, “The Role of Theory in Comparative Politics: A Symposium”, World Politics, 48, October 1995

Michael Coppedge, “Theory Building and Hypothesis Testing: Large-vs. Small-N Research on Democraticization”, Paper presented at MPSA, 2002

Important Dates:

·         Mid-term Test:         March 30, 2011 (20 percent of the total grade)

·         Last Date for Submitting Research Paper: May 02, 2011 (15 percent of the total grade)

·         Final examination: May 04, 2011 (50 percent of the total grade).

Additional General References

Stephen Van Evera, Guide to Methods for Students of Political Science, Cornell University Press, Ithaca and London, 1997

Alan Agresty and Barbara Finlay, Statistical Methods for the Social Sciences, Third Edition, Prentice Hall, 1999

Special Instructions:

·         Participants are advised to be extremely careful about plagiarism. For clarification, see the university rules or consult your instructor.

·         Assignments submitted after the due date will not be entertained

·         A master copy of all the assigned readings is available at the Sanjay Photostat Shop, SIS Basement. You may get a copy from there

·         Feel free to contact me for any academic problems. I will appreciate a prior appointment. You may contact me on 9868056552 or rajan75jnu@yahoo.co.in or walk in to 307, SIS.

M.A. Research Method Syllabus Winter Semester 2011

 

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Course Title              Research Methodology

Class                          MA, CPIS, SIS

Course Instructor      Dr Rajan Kumar

Credits                        4

Instruction Method    Lectures/ Seminar

Evaluation Method    Research Paper/Presentation/Tests (Mid-term test 25 %, Research Paper  and assignments 25 %, Final test-50%)

Course Duration        Winter Semester ( Total 26 Lectures)

This is an introductory course on research methodology. Keeping in mind the interdisciplinary nature of  Social Sciences and the variegated background of the students in this School, this course introduces students to the basic methods being used in history, political science, sociology and economics. This course has been designed to provide a prologue to integrating philosophy, theory and empirics. For the analysis of data, this course studies and evaluates qualitative as well as quantitative research designs in a comparative framework. In the qualitative section, it discusses historical, case study and post-modern methods. In the quantitative section, it studies the statistical methods of analysis. It deals with probability, hypothesis testing, confidence interval, linear and multiple regressions. A prior knowledge of statistics or statistical software is not essential as it begins from the basics of statistical methods. After a background in various methods and tools, this course focuses on comparative methods of analysis. A comparison of merits and lacunae of various methods will be analyzed.

Towards the end of the course, each participant will be required to submit a 10 page term- paper on research design adopting any single or a combination of methods.

(Two Lectures: Exact dates to be decided after consulting all the students …)

An Introduction to Research and Research Manual

• Writing a Term Paper, Synopsis and Research Proposal

• Structure of a paragraph and a research paper

1.      SIS Research Manual, May 2006

(http://www.jnu.ac.in/Academics/Schools/SchoolOfInternationalStudies/SIS_Research_Manual.pdf  )

(Three Lectures)

An Introduction to the Philosophy of Science and Theory in Social Sciences

·         Science and Scientific Method

·         Paradigm

·          Theory

·         Constructing  a theory

·          Integration of Theory and Empirical Data

·         Logical Positivism

·         Debate on Objectivity vs. subjectivity, facts and interpretation and hermeneutics

·         Post-modern Approaches

1. Kuhn, Thomas (1970), The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, University of Chicago Press

2. Popper, Karl (1959), The Logic of Scientific Discovery, New York (Chapter on Falsification)

3. Lakatos, Imre (1970), “Falsification and the Methodology of Scientific Research  Programmes” in I. Lakatos and R. Musgrave, eds., Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge, Cambridge, 1970

4. Foucault, Michael (1969), The Archaeology of Knowledge, Published by Routledge, 1972

(Three Lectures)

Historical Methods of Inquiry

·         History

·          Historiography

·          Historicism

·          Process Tracing

·          Linear and non-linear explanations in history

1.       Carr, E. H. (1967) What is History, Vintage

2.      Bloc, Marc (1964), Historian’s Craft, Vintage

3.      Sarkar, Sumit (2005), “Post-Modernism and Writing of Indian History”, Beyond Nationalist Frames-Relocating Postmodernism, Hindutva, History, Permanent Black, Delhi, Chapter 6

4.      Collingwood (1994), The Idea of History: With Lectures 1926-1928, OUP, 

     (Revised Edition)

(Two Lectures)

Case Study Method

·         Case Study

·          Selecting a case

·          Advantages and Disadvantages of Case Study

·          Case Study vs. Large-N analysis

·          Comparative Case Study

1. Geertz, Clifford (1973), “Thick Description: Towards an Interpretive Theory of Culture”, (NY: Basic Books), Chapter 1
2. Srivastava, Vinay, (2005) Methodology and Fieldwork, OUP, Chapter 1-4

(Two Lectures)

Models of Designing Research

·         Model 1- Research Question- Review of Literature- Theory- Explanation and argument-Hypothesis-Data collection- Data analysis and Hypothesis testing- Findings

·         Model 2- Research Problem- Review of Literature- Case Selection - Field Work for Data- Context Analysis- Findings

1. King, Gary, Robert O. Keohane and Sidney Verba, (1994), Designing Social Inquiry: Scientific Inference in Qualitative Research, Princeton, (Ch 1-3)

2. Srivastava, Vinay, (2005) Methodology and Fieldwork, OUP

Basic Statistical Tools to Analyze the Data

(Two Lectures)

Mean, Median, Mode, Standard Deviation

Wonnacot and Wonnacot (1990), Introductory Statistics, Wiley, New York (Chapter 1-2)

Kumar, Rajan (2008) “Uses of Statistics in Social Sciences”, Correspondence Course Material for MA Sociology, Punjabi University, Patiala

Kumar, Rajan (2008), “Measures of Central Tendency”, Correspondence Course Material for MA Sociology, Punjabi University, Patiala

(Two Lectures)

Probability Distribution and Confidence Interval

Wonnacot and Wonnacot (1990), Introductory Statistics, Wiley, New York, 1990 (Ch 8)

(Two Lectures)

Hypothesis, Hypothesis Testing

Wonnacot and Wonnacot (1990), Introductory Statistics, Wiley, New York, 1990 (Ch 9)

Pollock, The Essentials of Political Analysis ( Ch. 1-3)

Kumar, Rajan (2008), “Hypothesis”, Correspondence Course Material for MA Sociology, Punjabi University, Patiala

(MID-TERM TEST–Towards MARCH End . This will be a 3 hours class room test consisting of short and long questions. This will constitute 25 percent of the total grade)

(Two Lectures)

Regression

Wonnacot and Wonnacot (1990), Introductory Statistics, Wiley, New York (Ch 12-13)

(One Lecture)

Correlation

Wonnacot and Wonnacot (1990), Introductory Statistics, Wiley, New York (Ch 15)

(One Lecture)

Use of Statistical Softwares

SPSS and STATA

(Four Lectures)

The Comparative Approach and Methodology

·         We will study J. S. Mill’s ‘method of agreement’ and ‘method of difference’ as used in Comparative Politics and compare that with that of Weber, Durkhiem and Marx’s comparative approaches. An important component of this approach is to select relevant cases that should be compared. Significance of comparative methodology in theory building will also be discusses in this section.

Sica, Alan (ed.) (2006), Comparative Methods in the Social Sciences, SAGE Benchmarks in Social Research Methods Series

Atul Kohli, et al, “The Role of Theory in Comparative Politics: A Symposium”, World Politics, 48, October 1995

Charles C. Ragin, The Comparative Method: Moving Beyond Qualitative and Quantitative Strategies, (Ch. 3-5)

John P. Frendreis, “Explanation of Variation and Detection of Co-Variation: The Purpose and Logic of Comparative Analysis”, Comparative Political Studies, 16, 2, July 1983

David D. Latin, “Comparative Politics: The State of the Subdiscipline”, Paper presented at American Political Science Association, 2000

Michael Coppedge, “Theory Building and Hypothesis Testing: Large-vs. Small-N Research on Democraticization”, Paper presented at MPSA, 2002

(Final Lecture)

Designing Research Proposal and Writing Synopsis

Important Dates to Remember

Mid Term Examination: Last week of March (25 percent of the total grade)

Research Paper: Last date for the submission of the research paper is May 1st. (Research paper and assignments will constitute 25 percent of the total grade)

Final examination: First Week of May (50 percent of the total grade).

Additional General References

Stephen Van Evera (1997), Guide to Methods for Students of Political Science, Cornell University Press, Ithaca and London

Agresty, A. and Barbara Finlay (1999), Statistical Methods for the Social Sciences, Third Edition, Prentice Hall

Bhargava, Rajeev (1992), Individualism in Social Science, OUP

Special Instructions:

·         Participants are advised to be extremely careful about plagiarism. It is a moral as well as legal offence. For clarification, see the university rules or consult your instructor.

·         Assignments submitted after the due date will not be entertained.

·         A master copy of all the assigned readings is available at the Sanjay Photostat Shop, SIS Basement. You may get a copy from there.

·         Feel free to contact me for any academic problems. I will appreciate a prior appointment. You may contact me on 9868056552 or rajan75jnu@yahoo.co.in or walk in to 307, SIS.