Interdepartmental Research Studies

Taught by faculty from across the School, Interdepartmental Research Studies (IDRS) offers a wide array of courses to train students in several different modes of research methodology.  Undergraduate, masters and doctoral courses are offered in both general and specialized research areas.  [Note:  IDRS does not offer stand alone degree programs.]

Because the combinations of research courses required by various programs differ, students are urged to register for these research courses only after consultations with their advisors and, if needed, in consultation with the IDRS co-directors Marc Scott (quantitative) and Lisa Stulberg (qualitative).  A set of suggested classes is given next.

At the masters and undergraduate level, courses are offered in basic statistics (RESCH-UE 1085/RESCH-GE 2085 - RESCH-UE 1086/RESCH-GE 2086; master's students must register for the 2000-level classes).  Many of the doctoral course offerings are open to advanced master's students.  In particular, master's students who intend to take additional statistics classes must begin with RESCH-GE 2001-RESCH-GE 2002, described next, rather than RESCH-GE 2085-RESCH-GE 2086. Consultation with advisor and instructor is highly recommended

At the doctoral level, the required quantitative sequence is statistics for the social and behavioral sciences I & II (RESCH-GE 2001 - RESCH-GE 2002) followed by intermediate and advanced quantitative methods (RESCH-GE 2003 - RESCH-GE 2004). For quantitative work, it is recommended that the first year of statistics be taken in the first year of the course of study.  Possible variations on this sequencing may be found on the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) pages. RESCH-GE 2003-RESCH-GE 2004 are gateway courses that serve as prerequisites for advanced topics such as causal inference (RESCH-GE 2012) and multilevel models (RESCH-GE 2040/41-RESCH-GE 2042/43).

Biostatistics I & II (RESCH-GE 2995, RESCH-GE 2996) form an alternate first year statistics sequence. They are recommended for master's students specializing in the health professions and for some doctoral students in nursing and health related disciplines. You are advised to consult the links on FAQ pages regarding the appropriateness of this sequence for your field of study.

For graduate students interested in doing qualitative research projects, especially doctoral students who plan to write dissertations involving qualitative interviews or fieldwork, we offer a number of qualitative methods courses. The first class in the series for many students is RESCH-GE 2140. Approaches to Qualitative Inquiry. This is a prerequisite for a number of advanced courses in the qualitative methods series, like RESCH-GE 2141. Case Study and Ethnographic Inquiry, RESCH-GE 2141. Interviewing and Observation, and RESCH-GE 2147. Fieldwork: Data Collection. Other qualitative specialization courses -- which do not require RESCH-GE 2140 as a prerequisite -- include historical research (RESCH-GE 2135) and participatory action research (RESCH-GE 2143).

Doctoral students often take writing empirical research (RESCH-GE 2138) and dissertation proposal seminar (TCHL-GE 3001) as well.

Students should take several 3-point design courses: empirical methods (RESCH-GE 2132) or its equivalent, followed by experimental/quasi-experimental studies (RESCH-GE 2134) or survey research (RESCH-GE 2139).

For university-wide offerings of related methods courses see the Related Courses page.