Research Methods for Environmental Management and Development

This course is available for in-person and remote (online) learning. The course introduces students to quantitative, qualitative and mixed research methods used by the social sciences to study environment and development issues and problems. The course will increase students’ knowledge of how scholarly and applied research is designed and implemented, and will enable them to assess the quality of research required as an input into policy making. The course considers questions of epistemology and the philosophy of science, and the implications of theory for the design of research. The course critically engages with the main features and methods for conducting quantitative and qualitative research. Understandings of the ethics of conducting and publishing scholarly research will be integrated throughout the course lectures and discussions. Active student participation in learning will be promoted through teaching methods that include lectures, class discussions, computer lab sessions, tutorials, practical peer interactions, and an extended essay. There is a 50% research component to this course.