NSCPHD1276 PhD course on Research Design and Case Study Methodology in Planning and Landscape Research

PLEASE NOTE         

The PhD course database is under construction. If you want to sign up for this course, please click on the link in order to be re-directed. Link: https://phdcourses.ku.dk/nat.aspx

Scientific content

Research in planning and landscape is most frequently context-based and often conducted as case studies.

Case studies analyse people, events, decisions, periods, projects, policies, institutions, or other systems holistically by one or more methods. Planning and landscape studies as a subject area is entangled with different areas of knowledge. This is also reflected in the approaches to the research that planning and landscape studies include, which often combine qualitative and quantitative methodologies.

Case study research includes both single- and multiple-case-studies. It benefits from the prior development of theoretical propositions and relies on multiple sources of evidence. It can therefore be based on a mixed methods approach that combines quantitative and qualitative data.

The purpose of this PhD course is to present and discuss the development of a research design within the field of planning and landscape studies. It will present how to conduct a case study, methods of qualitative and quantitative data collection, and analysis methods (separately and as mixed methods).

Selected central methods to case study design of the field will be presented during the course. Along will epistemological and methodological implications of research designs be highlighted and discussed. Moreover will research responsibilities in relation to transparency, validity and reliability be discussed in relation to the data production in general and in the individual PhD projects.

The course offers focused reading on relevant methodological literature, creating a sound board for the participants to reflect on their own research. The featured learning environment will provide possibilities for consultation of individual projects and direct application of methodological insights gained during the course. The course will be process oriented and provides room for active participation and communication in advance, during and after the course.

Learning outcome

The purpose of the PhD course is to create basis knowledge and provide room for thorough consideration and explanation of own research design choices. The course assists PhD students in understanding what constitutes a case study, when to use a case study, advantages and challenges of using case studies, what is required to build a rigorous and solid case study, how to select cases, what type of data the case study can involve and how to collect and analyse these data.

The learning outcome is anchored in the process as well as the production of knowledge and in how particular methods contribute to the production of knowledge.

In attending the course, a paper describing research aim and research questions as well as main methodological challenges should be written before course start, providing the basis for targeting individual needs in methodological support during the course.

Deliverable

Participants will present and discuss papers for commenting from both participants and lecturers. The course is sequential and arranged in five interrelated themes from the research design to the collection and analysis of data.

Pre- and post-course writing is expected. Before the start of the course, participants will submit a short abstract describing their research (aim, objectives and intended methods). Participants will be encouraged to write a draft of the methodology section of their PhD and to improve it after each session. The final methodology paper is to be submitted at the end of the course and not later than a month after finalizing of the course in order to obtain the 5 ECTS credits.