PhD Seminar: Research Design

This is a course in research design. We discuss some issues in the philosophy of science, then analyze questions of conceptualization, proceeding to problems of descriptive inference, objectivity, and causal inference, including the role of causal mechanisms. The seminar continues with analysis of how to avoid bias, then tackle issues of historical change. Students present their own research designs and critique those of their colleagues. Emphasis is on qualitative research, but the argument underlying the seminar is that the same basic principles of inference apply to qualitative and quantitative research.