Also open for students from: MA African Studies, MA South and Southeast Asian Studies, MA Central Asian Studies, MA Global History, MA Global Studies, MA Research Training in Social Sciences, MA International Relations, MA Gender Studies (with adjusted ECTS requirements and thus portfolio assignments if required)
Course contents:
This RDL course will provide students with an in-depth training on research design processes and key skills, being composed of (1) specific, interactive skill-training sessions with inputs and exercises provided by the faculty team; as well as (2) multiple mentoring / reflection spaces to discuss and present the various stages of conceptualizing, developing, presenting and peer-reviewing student research projects on self-selected case studies. The final component is (3) the “Museum Walk” where students present their research design or work in progress in a poster format while the remaining participants serve as discussants and provide constructive feedback (either as part of an IAAW Study/Research Day or a similar event, to be confirmed later on).
Following a New Area Studies approach (see Knorr et al. 2022, Fleschenberg/Baumann 2020, Houben 2013), we will thus prepare for, reflect up on as well as discuss the following important steps in a research design as well as subsequent knowledge production process:
- from research idea to research question,
- identifying and reviewing the state of the art,
- making theory work / operationalising concepts,
- negotiating research ethics,
- selecting and triangulating methods,
- data and time management,
- presentations skills,
- Do’s and Don’ts in Academic Writing,
- Do’s and Don’ts in Dissemination of Findings, with a particular focus on academic publishing (drafting a publication strategy, identifying publishing formats and outlets, Open Access formats, copy rights, navigating peer review and copy-editing processes).
Learning objectives:
1) Students will be enabled to develop critical and reflexive thinking in relation to key methodological as well as research ethics literature for the their respective study projects.
2) Students will gain an understanding of the key steps within a research design as well as subsequent knowledge production and dissemination processes, from the drafting of a research question to the dissemination and peer reviewing of its findings.
3) Students will be able to apply critical (e.g. decolonial, indigenous and feminist) approaches as well as the related methodology in the conceptualization of case study-based research projects. This includes a particular concern for a decolonial praxis of research ethics apart from offline as well as online research contexts and methodological challenges thereof.
Course evaluation: Portfolio: Mindmap, annotated bibliography, poster with research design and subsequent presentation (either as part of an IAAW Study/Research Day or similar event, to be confirmed later on).
Thematic reference to column and module:
Afrika trans/regional; Asien trans/regional; Gesellschaft und Politik; Sprache und Kommunikation; Kultur und Identität; Lokale und globale Herausforderungen
Requirements: Good English Language proficiency
MAP: Conference presentation & research project proposal (i.e. research design outline)
Contacts:
Andrea Fleschenberg (andrea.fleschenberg@hu-berlin.de)
Daniel Fuchs (dan.fuchs@hu-berlin.de)
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