Research Methods

Full course description

The module consists of two parts, both held in Maastricht. The initial two days are held during the Personal Leadership module in July and then the final three days of the module are held in September allowing time between the sessions for students to develop and present their research ideas, which ultimately form an integral part of the research process towards writing an autonomous academic thesis or thesis internship project. During the first of the two days of the opening part of the module, students are introduced to research methodology with the vision of providing students with a clear passage through which they can navigate themselves towards successfully completing their thesis or internship project - which forms the final module in the executive master programme. At the introductory meeting during the first session of the module students are taught what it takes to write an academic thesis, or if embarking on the internship route, to successfully complete at professional internship project. The vision and mission for the thesis are covered, so that students understand how to structure and write an academic thesis, as well as understand the aims and objectives of the research required. Time-management issues are also discussed. During these first two days in July students are introduced to the alternative approaches to conducting rigorous analytical research. This includes a broad introduction to both leading qualitative (day 1) and quantitative (day 2) methods. During group sessions, students discuss different qualitative and quantitative methods and how they can be adopted to conduct objective independent and unbiased research. Students learn to describe research results, the implications and limitations of research. The second part of the module takes place after a period of a few weeks, giving students time to develop their research ideas and work on their individual research projects, which form the basis of their thesis. During the first meeting of the second part of the course students are required to present their thesis proposals and will obtain feedback on their ideas. During the second part of the module, students will learn to develop more advanced research skills to aid in the successful completion of their final thesis. There is the choice to write an academic thesis, or conduct an internship in combination with a thesis internship project. Either trajectory is open to students to choose from during Module 10, however during the research methods module all students are required to follow both sessions on qualitative and quantitative methods.