Dr D Weinhold, V409 and all other DESTIN staff.

For MSc Development Studies, MSc Development Studies (Research) and MSc Development Management students only. Students from other programmes may audit the course, but they may not take it for credit.

The course consists of ten two-hour lectures introducing students to the basic ingredients of modern social science research, with an emphasis on methods commonly employed in studies of development. In the process we will briefly cover quantitative and qualitative methods of investigation, including basic data collection and analysis, sampling and surveying, ethnographic methods and participant observation. Where appropriate, other aspects of development research such as those relating to gender and ethical issues will be considered.

Teaching will consist of ten two-hour lectures in the MT.

R Ramanathan, Introductory Econometrics with Applications; A Deaton, The Analysis of Household Surveys: A Microeconomic Approach to Development Policy; B Pratt & P Loizos, Choosing Research Methods: Data Collection for Development Workers; M Bulmer & D P Warwick (Ed), Social Research in Developing Countries: Surveys and Censuses in the Third World; S Devereux & J Hoddinott (Eds), Fieldwork in Developing Countries; R Ellen (Ed), Ethnographic Research: A Guide to General Practice; M Agar, The Professional Stranger: An Informal Introduction to Ethnography; P Bardhan (Ed), Conversations between Economists and Anthropologists: Methodological Issues in Measuring Economic Change in Rural India.

Students will write a 2,000 word essay due on the first day of the second week of LT. Students must achieve a pass for the essay before proceeding with the dissertation, DV410.