A study of the epistemological and ontological assumptions and foundations of quantitative and qualitative methods. The following questions and issues are to be dealt with: the relation between theory and method; methodological issues in academic research in relation to epistemological determinants (context, facts, stereotypes, consensus); goals, ethics, and means of carrying out research; matching research method to research problem, data, and other methods traditionally employed in specific fields; methods and instruments of quantitative and qualitative research; organization and critical analysis of ideas and information for purposes of writing; conceptual structure of the research, analysis, synthesis, causal relations and other methodological issues; issues of representation and power relations between researcher and research subjects; problems of research ethics; constituents of the research proposal—the research problem, methods, theoretical foundations, review of literature, analysis, and documentation.
