Research Methods

By Dr. Komal H Shah | Department of Communication and Journalism Gujarat University

Learners enrolled: 235

The present course has been specially designed for under graduate students in their application of social science research methodology and their underlying philosophical foundations. As we all know, an under-graduate course focuses on building critical thinking skills needed to analyse complex public policy issues. Graduate students need to know how to assess the validity of research in their field and how to produce scholarly work. Researchers have a variety of “tools” that can be used to measure program outcomes, public opinion, and the efficacy of program interventions. In this course, you will learn the variety of tools available to researchers and how to use them in research.

Summary

Course Status :	Upcoming
Course Type :	Core
Language for course content :	English
Duration :	16 weeks
Category :	Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit Points :	5
Level :	Undergraduate
Start Date :	06 Jan 2025
End Date :	27 Apr 2025
Enrollment Ends :	28 Feb 2025
Exam Date :	18 May 2025 IST
NCrF Level	5.5
Exam Shift :	Shift II

Note: This exam date is subject to change based on seat availability. You can check final exam date on your hall ticket.

Page Visits

Course layout

W1M1_Research Methods in Public Administration: Introduction & Overview

W1M2_Meaning, Objectives, Scope and Importance of Social Science Research

W2M3_Research Process in Public Administration

W2M4_Types of Research

W2M5_Human Inquiry and Science in Public Administration Research

W3M6_Methods of Research: A) Scientific Method

W3M7_Methods of Research: B) Case Study Method

W3M8_Methods of Research: C) Survey Method

W4M9_Methods of Research: D) Content Analysis (Part-1)

W4M10_Methods of Research: D) Content Analysis (Part-2)

W4M11_Trends on Research in Public Policy and Governance

W5M12_Philosophical Foundations of Research Design and Introduction to Research Design

W5M13_Research Design: Preparation of Research Design

W5M14_Research Design: Types (Part 1)

W6M15_Research Design: Types (Part 2)

W6M16_Research Design - Identification of Research Problem

W6M17_Introduction to Experimental Designs & Causality

W7M18_Research Design: Variables in Social Research

W7M19_Application of various types of Research Designs in Public Administration

W7M20_Problems of Research Design

W8M21_Hypothesis - Meaning, Importance, Sources, Qualities & Difficulties

W8M22_Hypothesis Testing

W8M23_Methods of Data Collection: Primary and Secondary Sources

W9M24_Methods of Data Collection - Secondary sources of Data Collection

W9M25_Use of Library and Internet in Research

W9M26_Methods of Data Collection: Observation Methods

W10M27_Methods of Data Collection: Questionnaire Design

W10M28_Introduction to Observational Studies

W10M29_Methods of Data Collection – Interview

W11M30_Method of Data Collection: Case Study

W11M31_Sampling - Meaning, Merits and Demerits

W11M32_Sampling -Types and Procedure of Selecting a Representative Sample

W12M33_Sampling Design & Techniques

W12M34_Processing and Organizing Data

W12M35_Data Classification and Tabulation

W13M36_Data Measurement & Analysis in Public Administration

W13M37_Statistical Tools for Data Analysis and Measures of Central Tendency

W13M38_Qualitative Research Methods

W13M39_Qualitative Evaluation

W14M40_Qualitative Data Analysis in Public Research Methods & Techniques

W14M41_Survey Design & Measurement

W14M42_Survey Administration and Quantitative Analysis

W14M43_Statistical Sampling and Survey Administrator

W14M44_Building an internet survey with Qualtrics

W15M45_Citing and Ethics of Research in Public Administration

W15M46_Report Writing Pedagogy for Research

W15M47_Citation in Academic Writing

W15M48_Theory Building in Social Sciences

W15M49_Objectivity in Social Science Research

Books and references

1. Kothari, C. R. (2014). Research methodology: Methods and techniques. New Age International.

2. Goddard, W., & Melville, S. (2004). Research methodology: An introduction. Juta and Company Ltd.

3. Panneerselvam, R. (2014). Research methodology. PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd..

4. Mohajan, H. K. (2018). Qualitative research methodology in social sciences and related subjects.

5. Journal of Economic Development, Environment and People, 7(1), 23-48. Pandey, P., & Pandey, M. M. (2021).

6. Research methodology tools and techniques. Bridge Center.

7. Newman, M., & Gough, D. (2020). Systematic reviews in educational research: Methodology, perspectives and application.

8. Systematic reviews in educational research, 3-22.

9. Zangirolami-Raimundo, J., Echeimberg, J. D. O., & Leone, C. (2018).

10. Research methodology topics: Cross-sectional studies.

11. Journal of Human Growth and Development, 28(3), 356-360.

Instructor bio

Dr. Komal H Shah

Department of Communication and Journalism Gujarat University

Dr. Komal Shah, Assistant Professor at Department of Communication & Journalism, Gujarat University. She is a Media and Communications faculty and scholar with experience of more than fourteen years. She holds a PhD and Master’s degree in Development Communication and is UGC NET qualified in Mass Communication and Journalism. She has earlier worked in the capacity of Research Officer at Educational Multimedia Research Centre (EMRC), Ahmedabad and has been deeply involved in training academicians for production of educational Television programs and digital content creation. Dr. Shah has been involved in various research projects funded by national and international organizations'. Her research areas include Impact study of Digital and Online media, Disruption studies in Digital media, Media and Communication Effects, Social and Behavioural Change Communication (SBCC). Shah is a four time recipient of Asian Research Center (ARC), Bangkok support to present research papers in the international round table held in 2012, 2014, 2016 & 2017. Shah is one of the founding members of the Association of Development Communication (ADC). At Dr. Shah’s credit are several publications in national and international journals related to digital media, television news channels, social media and religion. She has also authored books on ‘Urban Indian Society through Television’ and ‘Television Revolution in Rural India’. Dr Shah is currently pursuing her second PhD in Media Literacy from Gujarat University.