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Course syllabus Research Design and Methods, War Studies

Swedish name: Forskningsdesign och analysmetoder, krigsvetenskap

Course code:
2KR030
Valid from semester:
Autumn Term 2023
Education cycle:
Second cycle
Scope:
15.0 credits
Progression:
A1N
Grading scale:
Three-grade scale
Main field of study:
War Studies
Department:
Department of War Studies and Military History
Subject:
War Studies
Language of instruction:
The teaching is conducted in English.
Decided by:
Forsknings- och utbildningsnämndens kursplaneutskott (KUS)
Decision date:
2022-08-23

Entry requirements

Officer's degree or bachelor's degree of 180 credits, of which 90 credits are in War Studies or an equivalent subject. English skills equivalent to English B or English 6.

Course content and structure

Designing coherent and consistent research is essential for studying political and social phenomena. Good research plays a fundamental role in understanding and explaining war and peace, as well as crisis management, security and defence policies. This course offers the student a broad overview of existing approaches, methods and research tools in war studies and political science. In addition to learning specific analytical methods, the course aims to provide students with the necessary skills to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of various approaches to research, including ethical considerations when conducting research. The course is divided into two parts. The first part is dedicated to various ways in which knowledge can be produced and how to approriately construct research designs. In the second part, the student develops the necessary skills to analyze and apply various neopositivist and interpretivist methods.

Type of Instruction
  • Lectures
  • Seminars

Objectives

After completing the course, the student is expected to be able to:

Skills and abilities
  • apply relevant social science concepts related to various research traditions,

Judgment and approach
  • compare and contrast different research methods,
  • independently assess the strengths and weaknesses of different research designs,
  • critically evaluate methodological choices in published research,
  • develop an appropriate research design to address a given research problem.

Examination formats

Assessment is done individually through the submission of individual written assignments and active participation in mandatory seminars.

The examiner may decide to allow supplementation in order to achieve a passing grade.

The examiner may decide that absence from mandatory seminars may be compensated by submitting a written supplementary assignment.

Grading
To earn the grade Pass with Distinction in the course, the student must actively participate in the mandatory seminars, and earn a

grade of Pass with Distinction for all the written assignments, with no assignment receiving a grade below Pass.

To earn the grade Pass in the course, the student must actively participate in the mandatory seminars, and earn a grade of Pass or

better for all written assignments.

Grading criteria are presented no later than at the start of the course.

There is no limit on the total number of examination opportunities.

Transitional provisions

When a course is no longer provided or when the content of a course has been significantly altered, the student has the right to be examined in accordance with this course syllabus twice per academic year over a period of two years.

Other regulations

The course cannot be part of a degree with course whose content matches the content of this course in whole or in part.

On completion of the course, an evaluation will be conducted under the auspices of the course director and serve as the basis for any changes to the course.

If the Swedish Defence Univerity has formally decided that the student is entitled to receive special educational support due to disability, the examiner may decide on alternative forms of examination for the student.

This is an edited version of the syllabus, created to transfer the original to the education database Ladok education planning. For originals, refer to the archive.
Reading list decided date: 2022-08-23
Auchter, J (2016) “Playing war and genocide: Engame: Syria and Darfur is Dying” In Hamilton, C and LJ Shepherd (eds) Understanding popular culture and world politics in the digital age. London: Routledge, pp. 121-136.

Asal, V., Conrad, J., & Toronto N. (2017). I Want You! The Determinants of Military Conscription, Journal of Conflict Resolution 61(7), 1456-1481.

Beach, D & Pedderson, R.B. (2019). Process tracing methods: Foundations and guidelines. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan press, pp.1-12

Bennett, A. (2010) Case study methods: Design, use and comparative advantages. In Nahmias-Walinsky, Y, ed. Models, Numbers and Cases: Methods for Studying International Relations, pp. 19-48. Ann Arbor: Michigan University Press

Bevir, M. & Rhodes, R.A.W. (2016). Interpretive Political Science: Mapping the field. In M. Bevir and R.A.W. Rhodes, eds. Routledge Handbook of Interpretive Political Science, pp. 3-29. London; New York: Routledge.

Bleiker, R. (2016). Pluralist Methods for Visual Global Politics. Millennium, 43(3), 872-890.

Butler, J (2009) Frames of War: When is life grievable? London: Verso Books. Chapter 1 “Precarious Life, Grievable Life” (pp. 1-32).

Campbell, D. (2018) “Famine” In Bleiker, A (ed.) Visual Global Politics. London: Routledge, pp. 127-133.

Carson, A. (2016). Facing Off and Saving Face: Covert Intervention and Escalation Management in the Korean War. International Organization 70(1): 103-131. (26 pages)

Crilley, R (2016) “Like and share forces: Making sense of military social media sites” In Hamilton, C and LJ Shepherd (eds) Understanding popular culture and world politics in the digital age. London: Routledge, pp. 51-67.

Der Derian, J (2018) “War” Lee-Koo, K (2018) “Children” In Bleiker, A (ed) Visual Global Politics. London: Routledge, pp. 328-331.

Ekengren, M. (2002). The Time of European Governance. Manchester University Press. Ch 3

Ekengren, M., & Hollis, S. (2019) Explaining the European Union’s Security Role in Practice, Journal of Common Market Studies.

Gentry, CE & Whitworth, K (2011) The discourse of desperation: The intersection of neo-orientalism, gender, and Islam in the Chechen struggle, Critical Studies on Terrorism 4(2): 145-161.

Harding, S. (1986). The Science Question in Feminism. Ithaca; London: Cornell University Press., Ch. 8: “The Birth of Modern Science as a Text: Internalist and Externalist Stories (pp.197-216).” & Ch. 9: “Problems with Post-Kuhnian Stories (pp.216-243)”.

Haste, H., Jones, J., & Monroe, K. (2018). Political Psychology. In Bevir, Mark and R.A.W. Rhodes (eds.). Routledge Handbook of Interpretive Political Science. New York, NY: Routledge. Ch. 22

Hollis, M. (1994). The Philosophy of social science: an introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Ch. 1 & 9

Infantino, F. (2016). State-bound Visa Policies and Europeanized Practices. Comparing EU Visa Policy Implementation in Morocco, Journal of Borderlands Studies, 31:2, 171-186

Jackson, P.T. (2011). The Conduct of Inquiry in International Relations: Philosophy of science and its implications for the study of world politics. New York; London: Routledge. Chapter 3, pp.41-72.

Kaempf, S “Digital Media” In Bleiker, A (ed) Visual Global Politics. London: Routledge, pp. 99-103.

Käihkö, I. (2016). Bush Generals and Small Boy Battalions: Military Cohesion in Liberia and Beyond. Phd. diss.: Uppsala University., pp. 47-61. http://uu.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A918765&dswid=614
Käihkö, I. (2018). Conflict Chatnography: Instant messaging apps, social media and conflict ethnography in Ukraine. Ethnography, https://doi.org/10.1177/1466138118781640.
Kellstedt, P. M., & Whitten. G.D. (2013). The fundamentals of Political Science Research, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (chapters: 1,3-4, 6-7; 8-9; 10-11)

Kuus, M. (2013) ‘Foreign Policy and Ethnography: A skeptical Intervention’. Geopolitics, No. 18, pp. 115-131.

Lacina, B. (2006). Explaining the Severity of Civil Wars, Journal of Conflict Resolution50(2), 276-289

Lee-Koo, K (2018) “Children” In Bleiker, A (ed) Visual Global Politics. London: Routledge, pp.48-54.

Lynch, Cecilia (2014) “Critical Interpretation and Interwar Peace Movements. Challenging Dominant Narratives” In Yanow, Dvora and Peregrine Schwartz-Shea (eds.) Interpretation and Method Empirical Research Methods and the Interpretive Turn. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe. Ch. 16, pp. 300-308.

McBride, K & ATR Wibben (2012) The Gendering of Counterinsurgency in Afghanistan, Humanity 3(2): 199-215.

Moeller, SD (2018) “Compassion fatigue” In Bleiker, A (ed) Visual Global Politics. London: Routledge, pp. 75-80 .

Pouliot, V (2012) Methodology: putting practice theory into practice. In: Adler-

Nissen, R (ed.) Bourdieu in International Relations: Rethinking the Key Concepts in IR. London: Routledge, pp.46–58.

Robinson, P (2018) “The CNN effect” In Bleiker, A, ed. (2018) Visual Global Politics. London: Routledge, pp. 62-67.

Schwartz-Shea, P., & Yanow, D. (2012) Interpretive Research Design. Concepts and Processes. New York, NY: Routledge. Ch. Introduction, 1-3. Pp. 1-53., Ch. 6 pp.91-112.

Seawright, J., & John G. (2008) Case selection techniques in case study research: A menu of qualitative and quantitative options”. Political Research Quarterly 61(2): 294-30.

Tuhiwai-Smith, L (2012) Decolonizing methodologies. London: Zed Books. Chapter 2: “Research through imperial eyes” pp. 44-60.

Weldes, J., (2014) High Politics and Low Data. Globalization Discourses in Popular Culture. In Yanow, Dvora and Peregrine Schwartz-Shea (eds.) Interpretation and Method Empirical Research Methods and the Interpretive Turn. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe. Ch. 12, Pp. 228-238.

Whyte, W. F. (1993). Street Corner Society: The Social Structure of an Italian Slum. Fourth edition. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, pp. 279-373.

Wibben, A.T.R., ed. (2016). Researching War: Feminist Methods, Ethics and Politics. London; New York: Routledge.

Wight, C. (2012). Philosophy of the Social Science and International Relations. in: Carlsnaes, W., Risse, T., & Simmons, B., eds. (2012). Handbook of international relations. (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.