YRM-21306 Research Methodology for Human Environment Interactions

Course

Credits 6.00

Language of instruction:

Dutch and/or English

Assumed knowledge on:

BIL: SLM-10806 Design in Land and Water Management 1; WRM-21312 Design in Land and Water Management 2.
BLP: LAR-28306 Studio Urban Design or LUP-24306 Planning Theory Ethics.

Continuation courses:

BBN: PEN-80812: BSc Thesis Forest and Nature Conservation;
BIL: BSc Internship; BSc Thesis International Land and Water Management;
BLP: BSc Thesis Landscape Architecture or BSc Thesis Spatial Planning

Contents:

In the domains of landscape architecture and planning, forest and nature conservation and land and water management, research projects inevitably touch on combinations of social and environmental sciences, and focus on ever changing realities, policies and interventions, often requiring and combining different research strategies and methods for data collection. In addition, professionals in the above mentioned domains often need to adopt participatory methods for research and design, since they are required to propose interventions, draft designs, offer alternative management strategies or contribute to policy development. The final goal of the course is that students learn to develop a proposal for a research project in the aforementioned domains. The course consists of a generic part on research methodology and specific feedback on the research proposals will be organised by lecturers from the specific domains.

Learning outcomes:

After successful completion of this course students are expected to be able to:
- explain the difference between a conceptual and a technical research design and the steps in compiling them;
- apply the tools and criteria for formulating a research objective and research questions that guide the rest of the research design;
- apply the tools and criteria to operationalize the concepts in the research questions;
- explain the various research designs, including experiment, cross sectional study, before-and-after study, longitudinal study, case study;
- apply the strategies for random and non-random sampling;
- apply and design methods of data collection, including basic knowledge of interviewing techniques, questionnaire construction and content analysis;
- formulate a research objective and a set of research questions that guide the rest of the research design;
- formulate coherently following from the conceptual design, a technical research design for their research project; feasible to carry out within the timeframe set for the appropriate BSc or MSc thesis;
- write a logic, coherent and understandable proposal for this research project in the given timeframe.

Activities:

This course consists of:
- lectures;
- tutorials in which interactive learning takes place.
Part of the learning consists of receiving and processing feedback on students' research proposals provided by peers as well as lecturers.

Examination:

The examination of the course consists of two separate parts:
- written exam (multiple choice);
- research proposal that has been written during the course.
The final mark for this course will be based on the written examination score (50%) and the score for the research proposal (50%).
Both the written exam and the research proposal will have to be valued at least a 5.5.

Literature:

Kumar, R. (2019). Research Methodology. A step-by-step guide for beginners. Fifth edition. Sage, London. ISBN 978-1-5264-4989-4.