The Context and Process of Research II: Theories and Methods

This is a continuation course in social theory, which proceeds the course ‘The Context and Process of Research I’. In this course, principal social theories are presented and analyzed, and the students are taught how to use and apply the theories on a diverse range of empirical material, i.e. to theorize. The course also analyzes the interconnection between theory and method. During the course the students shall also continue to work on their individual research problems. They will work with different research problems, so as to practice how to use distinct forms of theoretical perspectives and concepts while theorizing. The course provides the students with a deepened understanding of theoretical and methodological contexts and of the perspectives different theories, concepts and methods contribute to data collection and analysis. The main focus of the course is on qualitative methods, but the theoretical context of quantitative methods are also presented. The course presents the theoretical grounds of discourse and world system theory analyses, social analyses of bureaucracies and governmentality, actor-network-theory (ANT), structuralism and poststructuralism, critical theory and gender theory. The course consists of lectures as well as individual and group exercises, discussed during seminars.