Online Research Methods

Course Description and Objectives
Do you have a research idea but don't know how to find the answers to these questions? Has the pandemic disrupted all field research plans? This course will help you learn, select and apply an online methodology that meets the requirements and nuances of research problems. You will be able to conduct quality research from the comfort of your home.
The course is designed for aspiring scientists, analysts and journalists from Central Asian countries. In five modules, you will become familiar with online social research methods and learn how to apply them in practice. Special attention will be paid to the topic of ethics and personal data protection in the process of conducting research in the digital field, as well as accelerating various types of online activities.

This course will help:
- learn about common online social research methods;
- apply various methods in practice;
- to study the ethical aspects of these research methods;
- choose an appropriate methodology that meets the needs of their research projects.

Course format
The course includes 5 modules and is designed for 8 weeks of study. The weekly workload of students in the course is 8-10 hours (depending on the complexity of the section and independent work). The modules consist of video lectures up to 15 minutes with transcribed texts, useful links, verification tests for each course to check the assimilation of theoretical material (up to 10 questions for each section of the course), as well as assignments for self-completion.

To proceed to the next module, you must pass at least 80% of the test for each module. There are 10 attempts to pass the test. If the limit of attempts is exhausted, the system is blocked and you need to register for the course again. In this regard, we strongly advise participants to re-familiarize themselves with the provided course materials in case of the first unsuccessful attempts to pass the test tasks. If you wish, you can repeat the course four times. Upon completion of the entire course, an electronic certificate will be issued.

The course was developed as part of IWPR's three-year regional project Giving Voices - Driving Change: from the Borderland to Steppes, funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The project aims to build the capacity of a new generation of analysts and journalists who can provide high-quality and accessible analytics to government agencies and the general public in the Central Asia region. The views expressed in the course do not reflect the official position of the Norwegian government.