Overview

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Offers a tip-to-all approach to researching urban public policy problems, from imagining projects, to gathering interpreting data and presenting findings to the public. The emphasis of this program is for students to be able to understand the work of others and design their own studies. In addition to this, students are trained in how to apply descriptive statistics such as means, measures of spread and cross-tabulation. Students wishing to deepen their quantitative skills, such as multivariate, qualitative or spatial analysis, will be encouraged to take advanced programs offered in affiliated departments.

COURSE DETAILS:

The objectives of this course are: 

• to develop an understanding of urban research
• explore the relationship between urban issues and research design and method choices
• introduce a range of urban research methods, and
• provide hands-on experience with a range of research tools and techniques.  

The course is structured in three parts:

• Part 1 introduces research methods and develops an appreciation of the different ways to approach research praxis. This section will be evaluated through a critical reflection (How would you research it?).
• Part 2 exposes a range of social research methods, tools, and techniques, as applied in the field of urban studies. These range from quantitative to qualitative methods, and include exposure to analytical software. This section will be evaluated through four exercises designed to give exposure to a range of data collection and analysis methods.
• Part 3 considers research in practice, including topics such as evaluation research and mixed methods approaches. You will also submit your final research paper (How will you research it?) during this section of the course.

Grading

Materials

REQUIRED READING: