This short course will be an opportunity for us to engage with a variety of decolonial theories and methodologies and to consider the implications of these approaches on a variety of elements of our research processes. Each session will consist of a presentation which engages with selected decolonial theory and methods, examples of ‘methods in practice’ drawn from across the social sciences and time for self-reflexive individual and group discussion.
The course will not prescriptively define and provide instructions for ‘decolonial methods’, but instead be a space to consider a variety of ways in which scholars, activists and those working outside the traditional boundaries of ‘the academy’ have thought decolonially about social science research methodologies. The course’s workshop format will enable opportunities for us to apply some of these insights to our own scholarship.
Format
The module will consist of three 90-minute in-person sessions
Please note: Each session builds on material covered in the previous session, so participation in all three sessions is strongly encouraged. There will be no pre-reading for the sessions and the course is suitable for participants at any stage of a research project with all levels of knowledge/experience of decolonial scholarship.
Session 1: Research fields & research design
We begin the course by thinking reflexively about our research fields and disciplines, mobilizing decolonial theory to consider the norms, practices and expectations of our fields. We’ll then think practically and methodologically about whether and how this impacts the ways in which we review literature and design our research projects.
Session 2: Data collection & analysis
In this second session, we’ll think about the realities of conducting social research, considering the collection and analysis of a range of data types (including quantitative data, qualitative interviews, (auto)ethnography and archival research). Drawing on critical, decolonial and intersectional methodologies, we’ll consider some of the ways in which our data collection and analysis can contribute to decolonial modes of knowledge production.
Session 3: Data presentation & dissemination
In this final session, we’ll place our projects into a wider context by considering the ways in which we share ourfindings. We’ll consider the purpose and effects of different modes of dissemination, drawing on a broad range of case studies that encourage us to think about the methods we mobilize when creating and sharing research outputs.
Session dates
| Date | Time | Teaching Format |
|---|---|---|
| Cancelled | Not running this year | |
| Cancelled | Not running this year |
How to Book
Bookings can be made via the Modules List where you will also find the module dates. Click on the module you want and you will be taken to a booking screen. As soon as you book, you will receive an automated email confirming your place. Please note, some modules (though not all) have multiple iterations in the Michaelmas and Lent Term.
The neurodiversity module is designed for researchers and academics who wish to expand their knowledge of neurodiversity-friendly practices in research. The module centres around 5 key themes and covers the following:
• What is neurodiversity?
• How does neurodiversity impact research?
• What are specific learning difficulties (SpLD)?
• How do they impact your participants, and the positionality of the researcher?
• Delivering useful approaches and resources
Highlighting the difference between 'integration' and 'inclusion', the content will equip researchers to design the most effective research methods to increase inclusion and lessen the need for 'bolton' practices. The course will also discuss the difference between research design and delivery at the individual level versus the strategic level to be develop universal methods. The course will be practically useful for those wishing to learn about equipment, tools, and techniques additionally available to support researchers and participants alike, and how these can be funded through the University and/or other funding providers.
Session dates
| Date | Time | Teaching Format |
| Fri 16 Feb 2024 | 14:00 - 16:00 | SSRMP Zoom |
How to Book
Bookings can be made via the Modules List where you will also find the module dates. Click on the module you want and you will be taken to a booking screen. As soon as you book, you will receive an automated email confirming your place. Please note, some modules (though not all) have multiple iterations in the Michaelmas and Lent Term.
The neurodiversity module is designed for researchers and academics who wish to expand their knowledge of neurodiversity-friendly practices in research. The module centres around 5 key themes and covers the following:
• What is neurodiversity?
• How does neurodiversity impact research?
• What are specific learning difficulties (SpLD)?
• How do they impact your participants, and the positionality of the researcher?
• Delivering useful approaches and resources
Highlighting the difference between 'integration' and 'inclusion', the content will equip researchers to design the most effective research methods to increase inclusion and lessen the need for 'bolton' practices. The course will also discuss the difference between research design and delivery at the individual level versus the strategic level to be develop universal methods. The course will be practically useful for those wishing to learn about equipment, tools, and techniques additionally available to support researchers and participants alike, and how these can be funded through the University and/or other funding providers.
Session dates
| Date | Time | Teaching Format |
| Fri 23 Feb 2024 | 14:00 - 16:00 | Online - SSRMP Zoom |
How to Book
Bookings can be made via the Modules List where you will also find the module dates. Click on the module you want and you will be taken to a booking screen. As soon as you book, you will receive an automated email confirming your place. Please note, some modules (though not all) have multiple iterations in the Michaelmas and Lent Term.
Open Source Investigation for Academics is methodology course run by Cambridge’s Digital Verification Corps, in partnership with Cambridge’s Centre of Governance and Human Rights, Social Sciences Research Methods Programme and Cambridge Digital Humanities, as well as with the Citizen Evidence Lab at Amnesty International.
Objectives
Through lectures and seminars, this eight-week course will introduce participants to the key methods, possibilities and problematics of digital open source investigation. Developed in the human rights and journalism spheres, this methodology is useful for scholars and citizens using open source data such as social media content, online databases and satellite images. Throughout, the course will take a critical and reflexive approach to open source investigation, making space to question and unsettle its norms and practices by drawing from insights across the disciplines and by keeping considerations of ethics and power at the core of our approach.
Format
An 8 week module. Each week will involve up to an hour of pre-recorded content available on Moodle. Alongside this there will be an hour-long interactive Zoom seminar each Tuesday at 5:30pm. This will consist of hands-on, collaborative activities designed to develop your skills and prompt ethical discussions based the content from that week's pre-recorded lecture (which must be worked through and watched before each weekly Zoom session).
This module is taught in Michaelmas Term and then repeated in Lent. You only need to attend one iteration, either in Michaelmas or Lent.
Michaelmas Term iteration
| Date | Time | Teaching Format |
| Tue 10 Oct | 17:30 - 18:30 | Online SSRMP Zoom |
| Tue 24 Oct | 17:30 - 18:30 | Online SSRMP Zoom |
| Tue 31 Oct | 17:30 - 18.30 | Online SSRMP Zoom |
| Tue 7 Nov | 17:30 - 18:30 | Online SSRMP Zoom |
| Tue 14 Nov | 17:30 - 18:30 | Online SSRMP Zoom |
| Tue 21 Nov | 17:30 - 18:30 | Online SSRMP Zoom |
| Tue 28 Nov | 17:30 - 18:30 | Online SSRMP Zoom |
| Tue 5 Dec | 17:30-18:30 | Online SSRMP Zoom |
Lent Term iteration
| Date | Time | Teaching Format |
| Tue 23 Jan 2024 | 17:30 - 18:30 | online SSRMP Zoom |
| Tue 30 Jan 2024 | 17:30 - 18:30 | online SSRMP Zoom |
| Tue 6 Feb 2024 | 17:30 - 18:30 | online SSRMP Zoom |
| Tue 13 Feb 2024 | 17:30 - 18:30 | online SSRMP Zoom |
| Tue 20 Feb 2024 | 17:30 - 18:30 | online SSRMP Zoom |
| Tue 27 Feb 2024 | 17:30 - 18:30 | online SSRMP Zoom |
| Tue 5 Mar 2024 | 17:30 - 18:30 | online SSRMP Zoom |
| Tue 12 Mar 2024 | 17:30 - 18:30 | online SSRMP Zoom |
How to Book
Bookings can be made via the Modules List where you will also find the module dates. Click on the module you want and you will be taken to a booking screen. As soon as you book, you will receive an automated email confirming your place. Please note, some modules (though not all) have multiple iterations in the Michaelmas and Lent Term.
This course introduces students to some of the legal issues around academic research involving personal data, and walks them through securing their research by conceptualizing and then assessing possible risks, followed by examining different ways to reduce those risks. This is delivered in a practical and non-technical way although there are some terms to do with risk assessment which may be unfamiliar to them. For this reason there is a relevant glossary provided for each session.
Topics covered
- UK GDPR terminology, principles, rights and research exemptions
- Where to find guidance from the University on academic research including personal data and its linking with University Research Ethics
- Information Security basics (CIA) and the route to acceptable residual risk
- Assets, Threats, Threat Actors, Controls, Vulnerabilities, Impact, Likelihood and Risk
- The Information Security Risk Assessment (ISRA) and how it compares with the Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA)
- Obfuscation
- Storage by Classification and further controls to achieve acceptable residual risk
Objectives
After taking this course, students will:
- be aware of the basic terminology, principles and rights of the UK GDPR and be able to assess which research exemptions may be relevant to their research and how this affects data subject rights.
- be able to assimilate guidance on UK GDPR in the context of academic research and understand where ethics fits in, within the University of Cambridge.
- be able to appreciate how appropriate security is dependent upon an assessment of risk and relate this through a pathway to focus on residual risk being acceptable
- gain an appreciation of risk to themselves, their team, their tutors and research leads, their department and the university by the exposure of vulnerabilities in controls to certain threats and threat actors
- be able to complete an information security risk assessment and use this, and further references, to evidence good data management practice
Format
This course is taught online with pre-recorded lectures. There will be a short live Zoom session at the start of term which will outline the structure of the module, and two optional Zoom Q&A sessions dotted across the year.
Please note that students should complete the pre-recorded lectures and course material before attending the Q&A session.
Textbooks
There is no textbook and no reading required for this course other than the student notes provided.
Sessions
This module is run in Michaelmas Term and then repeated in Lent Term. You only need to book on ONE of these iterations, either in Michaelmas OR in Lent.
Michaelmas Term
| Date | Time | Teaching Format |
| Tue 10 Oct | 11:00 - 11:30 | Online SSRMP Zoom |
| Tue 21 Nov | 14:00 - 15:00 * | Online SSRMP Zoom |
* the session on the 21st November is optional.
Lent Term
| Date | Time | Teaching Format |
| Tue 30 Jan 2024 | 11:00 - 11:30 | Online SSRMP Zoom |
| Tue 5 Mar 2024 | 11:00 - 12:00 * | Online SSRMP Zoom |
* the session on 5th March is optional.
How to Book
Bookings can be made via the Modules List where you will also find the module dates. Click on the module you want and you will be taken to a booking screen. As soon as you book, you will receive an automated email confirming your place. Please note, some modules (though not all) have multiple iterations in the Michaelmas and Lent Term.
Ethics and the associated process of approval / review are an important component of any research project, not only practically enabling research to take place but also enabling researchers to consider the values underpinning their research. The aim of this course is to take both a practical and reflective approach to ethics. On a practical level, the course will focus on identifying the steps involved in seeking ethical approval or undertaking an ethical review. On a reflective level, the course will explore the values informing key ethical principles and concepts and how these may relate to individual’s research.
Target audience
Masters and PhD students seeking ethical approval / review
Prerequisites
Attendees should find out what steps are involved in their faculty / department’s ethical review process prior to the first session and, ideally, read through the relevant forms related to this process.
Topics covered
-
What is meant by, and the differences between, the phrases “ethical approval” and “ethical review”
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The processes involved in applying for ethical approval / review within the University
-
The core concepts and principles involved in ethical considerations
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The historical origins and values underpinning core ethical concepts and principles
-
How to navigate ethical dilemmas
-
The relationship between ethics and data management
Learning outcomes
During the sessions there will be opportunities to discuss and reflect upon the course’s content. In so doing, it is hoped that by the end of this course attendees will:
-
Identify the steps involved in ethical approval / review in their discipline;
-
Understand how ethical considerations relate to their research projects;
-
Identify where to seek additional advice related to ethical considerations;
-
Be able to discuss and justify ethical decisions in relation to their research projects.
Assessment
There is no formal assessment associated with this course.
Session dates
Michaelmas Term
| Date | Time | Teaching Format |
|---|---|---|
| Thu 19 Oct 2023 | 15:30-17:00 | In Person |
| Thu 26 Oct 2023 | 15:30-17:00 | In Person |
Lent Term
| Date | Time | Teaching Format |
|---|---|---|
| Tue 23 Jan 2024 | 16:00-17:30 | Online Zoom |
| Tue 30 Jan 2024 | 16:00-17:30 | Online Zoom |
How to Book
Bookings can be made via the Modules List where you will also find the module dates. Click on the module you want and you will be taken to a booking screen. As soon as you book, you will receive an automated email confirming your place. Please note, some modules (though not all) have multiple iterations in the Michaelmas and Lent Term.
This consists of three separate three workshops, which extend last term's teaching on 'Decoloniality in Research Methods'. In each workshop, participants will be presented with a range of theoretical concepts as well as case studies from a variety of scholars who mobilise these concepts to shape their methodologies. At least half of each session will be dedicated to practical application – participants will be encouraged to engage in a range of individual and group reflections, discussions and exercises.
Participants will be encouraged to reflect on how decolonial thought affects each stage of their research project. Beginning with initial research design and literature reviews, and ending with dissemination and research impact, each session focuses on a different stage in the research cycle, bringing a range of decolonial thought and scholar-activism into conversation with our research methods.
Please note: Participants can choose whether to attend a single workshop or multiple workshops, as each will be a 'stand alone' workshop. However, each workshop must be booked separately.
Workshop 1: Research design and the impact of (de)coloniality on our research projects
In this session we’ll place our disciplines in the historic context of their emergence and ask what implications this historicization has on our research in the present. We’ll then discuss a number of scholars who propose decoloniality and/or decolonisation as theoretical frames through which we can approach our research. In terms of practical skills, we’ll look to the emerging field of citational justice, asking how who and what we cite impacts the work we produce. We’ll also examine our research questions and explore their potential contributions to the reproduction of or resistance to deeper structures of power.
| Date | Time | Teaching Format |
| Not running this year |
Workshop 2: The role of ‘the researcher’ & the importance of reflexivity
In this session, we’ll discuss the notion of ‘reflexivity’, considering our disciplines, our roles as researchers within the University, and our experiences as individual researchers with our own life experiences and histories. We’ll then explore seven commonly used research methods (the development of ‘social theory’, quantitative analysis, ethnography, autoethnography, qualitative interviews, digital methods and archival research). We’ll ask what happens to these methods when we place them into a wider frame of decolonial analysis and look to other scholars who are using these methods to advance the goals of decolonization.
In terms of practical skills, participants will be encouraged to bring their own reflexive writing to the session, and we’ll explore how different theories relating to standpoint, positionality and intersectionality help us make sense of the approaches we are taking. Participants will be encouraged to bring an outline of their research methods and will work in thematic groups to place their methods in conversation with decolonial thought.
| Date | Time | Teaching Format |
| Not running this year |
Workshop 3: From data collection to analysis to dissemination
In this session, we’ll begin with Linda Tuhiwai Smith’s (2012:226) claim that researchers ‘must get the story right as well as tell the story well’. We’ll think about what it means to analyse our data and create a product (a dissertation, research paper) which exists within the wider context of the academy. We’ll examine six different ways in which different researchers have oriented themselves towards their research, and their research towards the future (including an ‘ethics of care’, ‘rage anger and complaint’, ‘love, empathy, solidarity and desire’ and ‘action, speculation and movement’).
In terms of practical skills, we’ll think about our research outputs, the potential impacts of their design and dissemination and how these considerations might impact the earlier stages of our research projects, such as in the way we collect and store our data. Participants will also be encouraged to think about their own research orientation and place their project into a wider speculative context.
| Date | Time | Teaching Format |
| Not running this year |
Target audience
University postgraduate students from participating Departments. Further details regarding eligibility criteria are available here: https://www.training.cam.ac.uk/jsss/info/eligibility
Prerequisites
The course is suitable for participants at any stage of a research project, with all levels of knowledge/experience of decolonial scholarship. Participants who did not attend last term's intro module ‘Decoloniality in Research Methods’ are encouraged to familiarise themselves with a small number of lecture slides that will be shared ahead of each workshop.
How to Book
Bookings can be made via the Modules List where you will also find the module dates. Click on the module you want and you will be taken to a booking screen. As soon as you book, you will receive an automated email confirming your place. Please note, some modules (though not all) have multiple iterations in the Michaelmas and Lent Term.