Overview
MAIS 602: Doing Interdisciplinary Research is the core methods course in the MA-IS Program that will ensure students understand and are able to employ the methods required to carry out and complete interdisciplinary research. Throughout the course, students will be encouraged to work across disciplinary boundaries so that their work becomes an interdisciplinary, integrated whole. The course is designed in such a way that students will learn something new, challenge themselves, engage with their peers, and have fun.
The primary goal of MAIS 602 is to support students to 1) think through what constitutes a “good” research question, taking into consideration ethical issues involving power; 2) experiment with how research questions can inform and shape our choice of methods (and vice versa); and 3) emerge from this course with a sound understanding of how to structure a research question as well as an appropriate methodological rationale/proposal. Learners will come out of this course with research design skills that will be utilized and amplified throughout their respective itineraries through the MA-IS Program, and which will support their final projects in MAIS 701 or their capstone papers in MAIS 700 (whichever completion route they choose to pursue).