Back to Understanding Research Methods
University of London

Understanding Research Methods

This MOOC is about demystifying research and research methods. It will outline the fundamentals of doing research, aimed primarily, but not exclusively, at the postgraduate level. It places the student experience at the centre of our endeavours by engaging learners in a range of robust and challenging exercises befitting SOAS, University of London's status as a research-intensive university and its rich research heritage. The course will appeal to those of you who require an understanding of research approaches and skills, and importantly an ability to deploy them in your studies or in your professional lives. In particular, this course will aid those of you who have to conduct research as part of your postgraduate studies but do not perhaps have access to research methods courses, or for those of you who feel you would like additional support for self-improvement. There is no expectation that you already have a research topic or project in mind when you begin the course. No prior knowledge or experience in research is required to take this course and as such, the course is for everyone. This MOOC draws on a wealth of existing course material developed to support research training across SOAS, University of London and particularly drawing from the Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy (CISD). In 2015, the course was nominated for the prestigious Guardian University Award for its innovative approach to online learning. Participation in or completion of this online course will not confer academic credit for University of London programmes.

Status: Research
Status: Qualitative Research
Course6 hours

Featured reviews

DM

5.0Reviewed Dec 15, 2022

It is worth to add research knowldge via different approaches like using these well framed Online courses. Congratulation to the team who designed and made it work for the majority of needy groups.

MU

5.0Reviewed Aug 18, 2023

best platform for learning. Teaching method of tutors is very good I learnt alot about research method through this course. I am very thankful to coursera who provide me such a wonderful platform

AB

5.0Reviewed Sep 9, 2019

very good course. The last e-activity was proposal preparation. It will be good if they add something about sampling in reading materials. Very good experience for me.....I will recommend this course

RK

4.0Reviewed Sep 9, 2020

Quite new form of learning to me. Ways i use to choose for research was quite bad like after understanding thing i know i can perform good with respect to any research is concerned.Happy Learning :)

JV

5.0Reviewed Apr 28, 2021

The readings were excellent, and readable 0 which is a plus for a course such as this.The 1 or zero peer-review rating was 'rough' and maybe 0 to 5 to differentiate effort and results in the e-tivity.

AS

5.0Reviewed May 29, 2021

This is wonderful course especially for research scholars. It helps me a lot, thanks to the University of London and Coursera for providing this opportunity to enhance our Knowledge in research.

GV

5.0Reviewed Jun 17, 2020

This is very helpful if you want to refresh your ideas about research particularly on the methods used. Thank you Coursera and University of London for bringing this material for free. More power.

A

5.0Reviewed Jul 26, 2017

This is wonderful course especially for research scholars, one suggestion is instead of giving articles from books, please provide a PPT which will be more effective ! thank you for wonderful session.

CD

5.0Reviewed Jan 24, 2017

I got to learn a lot about various research methods which i did not know previously. The timing of presentation of various ideas was excellent. Reviewing classmates was a good learning experience.

AD

5.0Reviewed May 12, 2020

I love the course content and time flexibility of this course. The assignments are very good and especially the open discussion and review processes are great. Overall I like this kind of course.

SC

5.0Reviewed Aug 1, 2020

This is truly a great lesson for a biggner to learn and understand what is about "Research". The 4 -week lessons helped me to build a clear structure for the procedure of a research purpose.

JV

5.0Reviewed Nov 28, 2020

A well made lesson with focus of what matters the most in research. The university of London along with Coursera did a great job at pointing out how research topics should be approached.Thank you

All reviews

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Armin Sarhangzadeh
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