Research design in social movements

The aim of the Research design seminars is to provide a common space to the PhD students of all four years to present and discuss the development of their thesis projects to an audience made of professors, post-doctoral fellows as well as of their peers. Besides improving reciprocal knowledge and potential networking, the research design courses aim at discussing, with reference to the specific projects, the main steps in the development of a research designs: from the selection of the central research questions, to their theoretical framing, the case selection, the choice of the empirical methods of investigation, the challenges of field work, and the analysis and presentation of the results. Involving participants at different stages of their academic experiences, the seminars also offer the opportunity to develop their skills in not only discussing, but also constructively contributing to each other research, both during the sessions and in successive informal, face-to-face or small groups, occasions, that are in part already ongoing and that we hope to stimulate further.

The format combines two highly valued characteristics of this course: a) the possibility to learn about all topics addressed by PhD students in the area of social movements and political participation; b) the opportunity to get in depth peer-to-peer feedback. In this direction, we propose a mix of plenaries and smaller groups discussion.  Each student will  be assigned a discussant, but all will be welcome to comment orally and in written form. Besides supervisor/s, also post-doc will be involved in various roles. PhD students are asked to circulate  one of the following type of documents: a) the research proposal (for I year PhD students) or one PhD chapter or PhD-related article (II-III and IV PhD students); b) a six page summary of your presentation.