Entry requirements

120 credits including 90 credits in a subject in the humanities or the social sciences. Proficiency in English equivalent to the Swedish upper secondary course English 6.

Learning outcomes

A student who successfully completes the course will be able to:

• Justify and evaluate the relevavance of methods that have been discussed during the course in answering different research questions
• Plan and execute a case study and to argue the merits of the chosen design of the analysis
• Give an account of the motivation behind the use of comparative method and to present the most common strategies employed when using this method
• Give an account of the most frequently used selection criteria and to explain how to use them constructively
• Use computer programming to execute spatial and quantitative analyses
• Systematically and critically analyse text with respect to genre
• Systematically and critically analyse audiovisual sources

Content

The objective of the course is to enhance the student's knowledge of the central methods that are used in historical analyses and to exercise that understanding in case studies. The course will address selection criteria as well as how to gather, describe and analyse qualitative and quantitative data, using a variety of sources and archives. During the course the student will practice the art of evaluating the relevance of different kinds of material to a specific line of enquiry, and practice using these insights within the context of university work as well as outside of that context.

Instruction

The course will consist of seminars.

Assessment

Assessment will be based upon written and oral assignments. Students that have missed a small number of mandatory assignments may complete them by the end of the term at the latest. If there are special reasons for doing so, an examiner may make an exception from the method of assessment indicated and allow a student to be assessed by another method. An example of special reasons might be a certificate regarding special pedagogical support from the University's disability coordinator.