Methods and project development in interdisciplinar sustainability research

This course is comprised of seminars and individual guidance. The aim is to support individual project development and to facilitate students to develop a master’s project that can be undertaken in the second year of the program using the methodological knowledge and skills that students either already have or will acquire over the course of the semester. In the course, students receive targetted teaching in selected methods and skills and are supported to develop individual project sketches.

The course builds on SDG310 Introduction: Interdisciplinary approaches to sustainable development; and SDG311 Ways of knowing.

Upon completion of the course, the student should have the following learning outcomes:

Knowledge

The student

• Has an overview over relevant research methods in sustainability research across academic cultures
• Has in-depth knowledge about a selection of research methods of particular interest for their individual master project
• Has an overview of principles and norms of research ethics
• Has an in-depth knowledge of norms of research ethics of particular relevance for their master’s project

Research skills

The student can

• Develop an independent research design at the master’s level
• Delimit, formulate, and discuss a research problem and conduct a systematic search for relevant research literature
• Make decisions and judgements related to the selection of theory and method that are relevant for the research problem
• Plan, use, and critically evaluate the use of a selection of research methods of particular interest for the individual research project

General academic skills

The student can

• Develop, plan, and critically evaluate a project design
• Critically evaluate sources and academic argumentation
• Implement research ethical norms and principles in practice, including the management of personal data