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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Understanding Research Methods by University of London

4.6
stars
7,232 ratings

About the Course

This MOOC is about demystifying research and research methods. It will outline the fundamentals of doing research, aimed primarily, but not exclusively, at the postgraduate level. It places the student experience at the centre of our endeavours by engaging learners in a range of robust and challenging discussions and exercises befitting SOAS, University of London's status as a research-intensive university and its rich research heritage. The course will appeal to those of you who require an understanding of research approaches and skills, and importantly an ability to deploy them in your studies or in your professional lives. In particular, this course will aid those of you who have to conduct research as part of your postgraduate studies but do not perhaps have access to research methods courses, or for those of you who feel you would like additional support for self-improvement. No prior knowledge or experience in research is required to take this course and as such, the course is for everyone. This MOOC draws on a wealth of existing course material developed to support research training across SOAS, University of London and particularly drawing from the Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy (CISD). In 2015, the course was nominated for the prestigious Guardian University Award for its innovative approach to online learning. Participation in or completion of this online course will not confer academic credit for University of London programmes...

Top reviews

CS

May 9, 2022

Really easy to follow and great advice from all the experts! It has helped me organise from the beginning of my dissertation and I feel more comfortable getting started on what is a big project ahead.

A

Jul 26, 2017

This is wonderful course especially for research scholars, one suggestion is instead of giving articles from books, please provide a PPT which will be more effective ! thank you for wonderful session.

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2301 - 2325 of 2,346 Reviews for Understanding Research Methods

By Oosman B

Jul 12, 2018

Contains worthwhile content though for all the hours spent, I didn't get as much as I should have.

By Abdulrahman A

Mar 29, 2017

The course is not well constricted to guide students.. it's only fill the gaps.

By Jo A

Mar 3, 2024

Incongruent instructions, feedback from peers was useless and unmonitored.

By Malak K

Jun 26, 2022

not realy satisfied i had to read external material to solve the assigment

By Bewuket A

Sep 2, 2022

It is very nice but we need more note and it should include thory

By Rana M

Apr 17, 2022

the course is very vaqu and superf even for a beginner level

By Rawan N A

Sep 1, 2020

thank you for your efforts but I think need more information

By Biobele L

Jul 5, 2020

It was a great and enlightening course. I was so excited

By Carlos M C C

Nov 2, 2020

Poor sound, low quality videos. Low engagement.

By Upasna G

Sep 30, 2021

I think the course need to be more exhaustive.

By Saquib B H

Jul 6, 2020

The contents could have been better.

By Rawan I B H

Jul 6, 2020

Not adding any valuable information

By Bhavesh K

Jul 31, 2022

The sound was trible, so low

By Raqia N

Oct 5, 2023

Thanks for you saporting

By Sintra S

Jun 25, 2020

Not really detailed

By Paulina Z

Jun 18, 2023

so-so

By Xavier O

Nov 26, 2015

yeah

By David W

Aug 3, 2020

Peer reviewing quality was very poor, and I didn't receive any feedback that I could learn from. There was a mismatch between the simplicity of the points in the videos and the complexity of the readings, and there was no assistance with the reading, e.g. supporting notes or videos discussing the readings. The discussion facility was not used for any actual discussion of the material, but was filled with requests for peer reviewing including at least one that said 'I'll give you a good mark if you give me one'.

The useful aspect was completing the assignments, which made me watch the videos and read the sources, but, as I say, there was no subsequent useful feedback.

By Aastha s

May 18, 2020

This course is not what it boasts to be.Just some random interviews are posted without doing any work on developing the content and structuring the presentation.Pier review system even makes it worse.I was expecting a more structured presentation rather than beating around the bush.Rather than giving reference to the materials you can make some efforts to create content of your own.If you are looking for course on research methods the course by university of Amsterdam is the best hands down.

By Zafar A

Aug 26, 2020

The course could be done much better. It is basically people being interviewed about what research is and they ask the same questions to 4 different people with similar answers. Also the course organisers get u the paying customer to review as oppose to do it themselves -I think this is not fair and u get no input from the course organiser. How this course got an award is beyond me. Coursea should remove this course or get new people to do it properly.

By Manuel S

Aug 9, 2020

It is a really basic course. I don't recommend it because the videos are not well organized and the assignments are not clear. It also demands to give feedback with at least 50 words, this is not applicable to submissions that require a minimun of 400 words but participants dont take the course seriously and write a copuple of lines. Also, the interviews from the videos are not well organized and the people interviewed dont always make a good point.

By suroosh k

Jun 21, 2023

I could not find it very useful because it missed out so many things a research has like data collection methods, and data analysis. also there should be some examples of researches from different fields for the concepts given in the course. like here about research question, there should have been some book or article or videos explaining how to form research questions by sharing experience of some experts from differnt fields

By Zokir A

Jul 14, 2020

Except for the material prepared by Harvard about research methods I couldn't find anything attractive in this course. Unfortunately, instructors were not influential. They spoke with a very low tone and lacked enthusiasm. I remember one of them saying that they represent good researchers. What? Personally or professionally I don't know you, but by your speaking or enthusiasm you are not representing "good researchers".

By Mithra A

Aug 26, 2020

The course could have been organized better. The tittle tells understanding the research methods and the instructors had hardly discussed any. The interview they take with other people could just be a supplementary videos and not the main course content itself. It was quite shocking to know to the entire content has just the interviewed opinions.