Research methods are critical to university. No student will be able to complete an academic degree program without substantial knowledge of how to do research. But it’s more than that, and it’s also useful outside of academia.
Proper research rests on a set of concepts and applies tools that help generate insight. Once mastered, we can apply these principles to almost any professional field. For me, research methods are a means, not an end in itself.
I generally start with concepts and then move on to practical details. My courses and workshops are oriented towards practical applicability. Whenever participants already have a research project or ideas we integrate these into the sessions to give everybody a hands-on experience and make content immediately useful.
I have taught research methods to groups of students at Frankfurt School in different formats—as a half-day or full-day workshop, as a face-to-face course throughout a semester, and as a 10-session online course with the following topics:
- What is research and why do we need it?
- Getting from an idea to a proper research question
- Quantitative methods
- Qualitative methods
- How to find and research material
- Assembling your work I: Writing
- Assembling your work II: Referencing and other research conventions
- Make ideas “stick” – how to communicate your results and ideas clearly
- The final touches
- Oral presentation of results