Researching European Planning

Overview

This module develops students’ capacity to undertake and understand research within Environmental Planning. The aim is to encourage students to think about planning issues/problems in a structured and coherent methodological way. To this end, students will first obtain a solid grounding in the philosophy of research, for example, an engagement with key ontological and epistemological issues in how we view, understand and make sense of the world around us (e.g. objectivism, social constructionism, positivism, realism, interpretivism etc.). The module then moves on to furnish students with key skills required to undertake quantitative and qualitative research. From this module, students will be in a position to make confident choices between quantitative, qualitative and triangulation methodologies, and how to undertake a theoretically informed and methodologically rigorous research project.

Learning Objectives

On successful completion of the module, students should be able to:

1. Understand key philosophical and research tools that enable them to understand the ‘what exists’ and ‘how do we understand’ questions in the research process;
2. Understand the importance of theory in guiding and structuring the research question(s) and how it/ they drive the research process;
3. Understand the use of these research tools in making appropriate and informed choices between different research design and methodologies;
4. Understand the differences and connections between theory and empiricism in a research project;
5. Be able to analyse and evaluate scholarly work linked to a specific research inquiry;
6. Be able to create a research plan and design appropriate data collection tools;
7. To have the capacity to critically reflect on the validity and reliability of quantitative and qualitative research methods;
8. Have the capacity to manipulate and analyse data using appropriate statistical and IT software;
9. Have appreciated the ethical dimensions to social science research on particular use groups;
10. Understand the role of strategic thinking, policy analysis and presentational skills in the delivery and management of an independent research project.

Skills

Development plan research; policy analysis and strategic thinking; presentational skills especially linked to technical report writing; numeracy and IT skills; project management skills.

Assessment

Students must pass all assessment components.