Special issue on social science research methods education
| Author | Andrew Gunn,Liam Foster |
| Published date | 01 October 2017 |
| Date | 01 October 2017 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0144739417708839 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
Special issue on social
science research
methods education
Liam Foster
Department of Sociological Studies, University of
Sheffield, UK
Andrew Gunn
Faculty of Education, Social Sciences and Law, University of Leeds, UK
Keywords
Inquiry-based learning, curriculum development, quanti tative methods, social science
research methods training, teaching methods
Social sciences research methods are an important feature of many public administration
programmes. Yet, until recently, little attention has been paid to methods education in
this field of teaching and research (Marks and Van der Meer, 2016). The contributors to
this special issue explore social science research methods education from a range of
different disciplinary perspectives, including education, social policy and sociology,
medicine and health and politics. These articles identify a series of teaching and learning
issues of relevance to a range of subjects across the social sciences, including, but
certainly not restricted to, public administration.
For example, the articles identify the challenge of engaging students with research
methods, and particularly quantitative methods; a difficulty that has already been widely
observed across the social sciences (see MacInnes, 2014; Wiles et al., 2009). Solutions to
these problems are explored, including the development of new teaching strategies that
encourage students to participate in their own learning. Furthermore, all of the papers
identify the importance of research methods being seen as a core component of the
learning experience, which is not relegated to a particular year of study or seen in iso-
lation from the rest the curriculum. As such, the articles in this special issue of Teaching
Public Administration show the shared challenges of teaching research methods expe-
rienced by different disciplines and offer practical solutions to these challenges.
Corresponding author:
Liam Foster, University of Sheffield, Department of Sociological Studies, University of Sheffield, Elmfield
Building, Northumberland Road, Sheffield, S10 2TU, UK.
Email: l.foster@sheffield.ac.uk; Telephone: 01142226434
Teaching Public Administration
2017, Vol. 35(3) 237–240
ªThe Author(s) 2017
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DOI: 10.1177/0144739417708839
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