PINS9200 Research Methodology and Research Design for Sustainability Course description

The students need to complete four online quizzes. One at the beginning of the course, then three quizzes during the course. Each one of them following each of the three weeks of classes.

Completed Master’s degree (120 ECTS credits) or equivalent education level.

Upon completing the course, the candidates are expected to have gained the following learning outcomes (knowledge, skills, and general competence).

Knowledge

The candidate:

• has advanced knowledge about opportunities and challenges of inter- and transdisciplinary research
• has comprehensive knowledge about research ethics
• has a good understanding of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) and how to translate this into new, responsible practices.

Skills

The candidate:

• can reflect critically on strengths and weaknesses of various methods for production of knowledge
• can make a valid interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary or multidisciplinary research design
• has advanced skills in co-creation of knowledge
• can contribute to advanced collaboration in inter- and transdisciplinary disciplinary projects
• can analyse and reflect on ethical dilemmas in data collection

General competence

The candidate:

• can communicate in inter- and transdisciplinary teams
• can identify transfer value from empirical studies to other areas
• can translate the principles of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) into practice for socially and environmentally robust science and innovation

Lectures, workshops, fieldwork, group work, and individual work.

Active participation in the seminars is necessary to adequately understand the course material and themes. Participation is therefore mandatory, and candidates are expected to attend all days of teaching and required to attend at least 80 percent of teaching days. In special cases of documented illness, the course leader may accept exceptions to this requirement. In these cases, lack of participation can be substituted with alternative arrangements such as writing a reflection note.

Course requirements are assessed as confirmed or not confirmed. The course requirement must be completed and confirmed within the given deadline in order to have the right to submit a final essay.

The course requirements are:

• A plenary presentation on a subject decided in collaboration with the course lecturer.
• A prepared opposition to at least one other presentation.
• 80 % attendance is required

The course will introduce central theories and research traditions in media production and developments in the media field in the Norwegian and international contexts. "Media field" encompasses journalism, non-fiction writing, and other forms of media production and use, including in communication work.

The course is mandatory for all candidates in the specialization of Journalism and Media Studies, but candidates can apply for an exception if they have been admitted to another PhD course that gives an equivalent introduction to the theories and research traditions within the field of specialization and the doctoral dissertation’s subfield. It is recommended that the candidate completes the course as early as possible in their doctoral period.

After completing the course, the candidates are expected to have the following knowledge, skills and general competence.

Knowledge

Candidates have sufficient knowledge on

• Theories and research connected to political, economic, technological, cultural, and social developments in the media field

• The development of the different media professions and their practices

• Theories and research traditions connected to media production

Skills

Candidates can

• Place their own research project in a journalistic and/or media studies theoretical and research tradition

• Reflect over the relationship between media development and media production as a research field and practice field

General competence

Candidates are capable of

• Communicating with researchers in the field and other students conducting projects in other (sub)fields than their own

• Identifying foundational theoretical issues of relevance to media development and media production

The course consists of seminars, lectures, and independent study. The pedagogical approach involves active participation in seminars and lectures, presentation of one’s own work, and providing feedback to others’ presentations on the basis of the research literature and lecture topics.

The seminar form supports the candidates’ practical training in presenting their own research and commenting on others’.

Active participation in the seminars is necessary to adequately understand the course material and themes. Participation is therefore mandatory, and candidates are expected to attend all days of teaching and required to attend at least 80 percent of teaching days. In special circumstances, such as documented illnesses, the course leader may accept exceptions to this requirement. In these cases, lack of participation can be substituted with alternative arrangements such as active reading of the relevant syllabus literature.

Course requirements are assessed as confirmed or not confirmed. The course requirement must be completed and confirmed within the given deadline in order to have the right to submit a final essay.