Course description

Coping with our current world with so much information and data all around us, how do we navigate, analyse, come to appropriate conclusions and learn new things? What you need are research skills! This course prepares students from diverse academic backgrounds to develop their research skills, to conduct research using different methodologies, and to communicate their research to a wide range of audiences.

Course objectives

The introductory research methods modules will enable incoming undergraduate students from any discipline across all ten faculties at the University of Hong Kong to develop the skills to critically appraise research studies using methodologies from different disciplines, conduct some quantitative and qualitative data analyses, and communicate their analyses meaningfully. Following the online courses, there will be a set of training focusing on the quantitative methods, accompanied by step-by-step practical exercise.

No prior knowledge about statistical modelling is needed for this course.

Course learning outcomes

By the end of the course, students should be able to achieve the following:

• How to differentiate between different types of research methods 
• When to use specific research methods for research questions 
• Understand the contexts in which certain methods are used 
• Learn the benefits, drawbacks and ethical implications involved in particular methods 
• Adopt critical perspectives on quantitative and qualitative data analysis techniques 
• Analyse published research critically in terms of research methods