Time and Venue

Tutor: Wu Zongjie
8 x 4 hour sessions, Winter, 2007
Time: Tuesday and Thursday? (East Block 6, Room 402)
Assessment: 1 x 5000 word paper on any aspect of the course, related to students’ own research methodology (deadline of submission: 1st March 2008) , plus several one-page ‘reaction’ papers to selected reading assignments

Aims and Objectives

The course will introduce PhD students to research issues in social sciences and humanities, emphasizing different methodological approaches drawn from multiple disciplines. It is intended for helping students develop their own PhD research methodology. We will examine major paradigms and perspectives in social sciences (positivism, postpositivism, phenomenology, critical theory, constructivism) to obtain general views about the nature of scientific knowledge， and how science changes and develops. We will then discuss how different research strategies may be operationalized to help students make their own investigation relating to practical issues of research design, data collection and analysis, and theoretical conceptualization. The course will provide a forum in which research students can not only discuss some of the general issues which all research must confront but also present their own research ideas and PhD proposals relating to these issues. Students are expected to introduce the cutting-edge research of your own filed on research design and data for studies.

The Goals for this course are:
- To develop an understanding of contemporary and emerging paradigms that guide theory construction and investigation in social sciences and humanities
- To identify and describe major research strategies in the scientific study of social phenomena.
- To develop competence in question formation and research design sufficiently to structure empirical data collection efforts that meet the rigorous requirements of academic research.

本课程从哲学、文化学和社会学角度探讨社会科学和人文科学研究的本质及其历史演变。在了解社会科学研究重要范式基础上学生结合自己博士论文选题，从方法论的角度探讨各自研究的深层哲学理念、研究价值以及具体的研究方法（如研究问题、研究设计、材料的收集和分析方法、理论阐释等）。课程强调跨学科多元化的研究思路，要求学生从各自的领域出发总结出最适合自己的研究设计和方法。课程是博士生讨论自己研究计划和研究进展的一个重要论坛。学生应该从自己学科介绍并总结前沿的研究方法论。

Calendar

Teaching Mode

Each session will be structured as follows:
Part One: Topic presentation based upon the essential readings
It will be important to relate the material we discuss to your own research. You are expected to write on ideas discussed in class and from the texts we read for the course.  You are responsible for the class discussions on the text; any further insight you may bring from the readings that we may have not discussed in class will be highly appreciated. 

Part Two: Cases studies
These will be determined in part by the interests and backgrounds of those in the class. Each student will be asked to give a presentation on the connections between some of the things we read and issues in your own field.

Textbooks and References

1. Archer, M., R. Bhaskar, A. Collier, T. Lawson, and A. Norrie, eds. 1998. Critical Realism:Essential Readings. London: Routledge.

2. Atkinson, Paul & Hammersley, Martyn (1994). Ethnography and Participant Observation. In Norman Denzin and Yvonna Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of Qualitative Research. Thousand Oaks: Sage, pp.249-261.

3. Audi, Robert (ed) 1995. The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy. Cambridge University Press

4. Barton, D. 2007. Literacy : an introduction to the ecology of written language. 2nd ed. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell Publishing.

5. Bloome, David et al. 2005. Discourse Analysis and the Study of Classroom Language and Literacy Events. A Microethnographic Perspective. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

6. Cazden, C. B. 2001. Classroom discourse : the language of teaching and learning. 2nd ed. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

7. Chouliaraki, L., and N. Fairclough. 1999. Discourse in late modernity : rethinking critical discourse analysis. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

8. Crotty, M. (1998). The foundations of social research : meaning and perspective in the research process. St. Leonards, Allen & Unwin.

9. Denzin, N. & S. Lincoln. 1998. The Landscape of qualitative research: Theories and issues. London: SAGE Publications.

10. Denzin, N. & S. Lincoln, 2005. The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research. Oaks, CA: SAGE. 1994

11. Flyvbjerg, B. 2001. Making Social Science Matter. Cambridge

12. Fontana, Andrea, and Frey, James H. "Interviewing: The Art of Science." In Denzin, N.K., and Lincoln, Y. S. Handbook of Qualitative Research. Thousand

13. Hodder, Ian (1994) The Interpretation of Documents and Material Culture. In: N.K.Denzin and Y.S.Lincoln (eds) Handbook of Qualitative Research, pp. 393-402. London: Sage.

14. Holstein, JA, and Gubrium, JF. 1998. Phenomenology, ethnomethodology, and. interpretive practice. In: Denzin, NK, and Lincoln, YS, eds. Handbook of Qualitative Research. Thousands Oaks, CA: Sage

15. Jardins, 1995 How to Succeed in Graduate School: A Guide for Students and Advisors ACM Student Magazine, issues 1.2

16. Johnson & Suhr,2003. From ‘political correctness’ to ‘politische Korrektheit’: discourses of ‘PC’ in the German newspaper, Die Welt Discourse & Society 14(1)

17. KILBOURN, BRENT 2006.The Qualitative Doctoral Dissertation Proposal. Teachers College Record Volume 108, Number 4, pp. 529–576

18. Kuhn, T. S. 1962. The Structure of scientific revolutions. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

19. Le, E. 2006. The spiral of 'anti-other rhetoric' : discourses of identity and the international media echo, Discourse approaches to politics, society and culture, v. 22. Amsterdam ; Philadelphia: J. Benjamins.

20. Liu Lydia, 1995 Translingual Practice: Literature, National Culture, and Translated Modernity China

21. Louden, W. 1991. Understanding teaching : continuity and change in teachers' knowledge. New York: Teachers College Press Teachers College Columbia University.

22. Mill, J.S.1843 The logic of the moral sciences.? Chapter 9 of A System of Logic, 1843. ?http://www.la.utexas.edu/research/poltheory/mill/sol/index.html

23. Peter, Meyer? 1999. An Essay in the Philosophy of Social Science (online article at http://www.hermetic.ch/compsci/pss1.htm)

24. Sacks, Peter 1999 Standardized Minds: The High Price of America's Testing Culture and What We Can Do To Change It:. Cambridge, Mass.: Perseus Books

25. Smith, D. 1990. Texts, Facts and Femininity: Exploring the Relations of? Ruling. London: Routledge.

26. Taylor, Bron,2001. Earth and Nature-Based Spirituality (Part I): From Deep Ecology to Radical Environmentalism Religion (2001) 31, 175–193

27. Wu, Z. 2005. Teachers' Knowing in Curriculum Change: A Critical Discourse Study of Language Teaching. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.

28. Xu, S. Connelly, He & Phillion 2007 Immigrant students’ experience of schooling:
    a narrative inquiry theoretical framework Journal of Curriculum Studies VOL. 39, NO. 4, 399–422

Links:
Association for qualitative research:
http://www.latrobe.edu.au/aqr/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=21&Itemid=40

---

Assignment Topics

One research paper (5000 words), that MUST include a selective review of the literature recommended in this course.

Option 1
Write a methodology chapter for your PhD research proposal (thesis) if you have already decided your research topic.

Option 2
A critical review on the research paradigms and tendency in the area of your interest (literature, translation, linguistics etc.)

Option 3
Do a mini investigation (pilot research). Write a report on the process and results of this inquiry, and comment on your methodological consideration

Option 4
Select two published English academic papers (empirical or dada based) in the area of your interests. Make a critical review of the research methodology from the perspectives of inquiry paradigm (ontology, epistemology and methodology).

Option 5
Any topic combining the above perspectives