The highly interactive course equips students with basic research skills that are essential tools for the social sciences and the field of gender and development. We use research skills in everyday to learn about our environment, and human behaviour. This exciting course will help students to develop a love for research and a commitment to conducting feminist research. It provides theory as well as basic ‘nuts and bolts’ skills of how to conduct research studies, as well as write research reports and proposals. These skills can be used to complete assignments in many disciplines and positions students to pursue jobs that require research skills and are better equipped to earn income as part of a research team.
A unique feature of this course is building skills in conducting feminist research. What does this mean? Traditionally, scientific inquiry has largely ignored distorted and only partially reported women’s participation, experiences and viewpoints. Feminist researchers argue that traditional knowledge has been applied in ways that suggest men’s activities experiences are representative of all human beings. In response, feminist researchers have developed methodologies to understand the position, perspectives and experiences of BOTH women and men in the household, in the society.