Intro

My background is in psychology, and like Mauri, I took a research method course at undergraduate level. That course was a survey of different methods in social science research, especially in psychology. It emphasized more on the quantitative methods and less on qualitative ones. Through that course I have a better understanding the researches and journal articles I encountered in my years of undergrad and help me to think about the potential pros and cons of each method, though I can’t say I fully understand the process of a given research and I always found the statistical analysis part challenging (sometimes even appalling...). My impression about research was like what Luker referred as canonical, so it is comforting and empowering to learn that social science research is not necessarily heavy, serious and prescriptive, but flexible and inspiring. Although I have never conducted or participated in an original research, I’m looking forward to contemplating my own for this course. I agree with Karey that starting with an idea and letting the initial studies and personal interest lead the thesis. It would be interesting to see how my own research idea forms and evolves, the challenges and difficulties emerge and how I “salsa-dance” with them throughout the course.