Applied Research Methods with Hidden, Marginal and Excluded Populations

About

Focussing on Hard-to-Reach populations, the course provides an introduction to research methods in conducting research, both qualitative and quantitative, on marginal, hidden and excluded population such as children, migrants, refugees and displaced people, sex workers, homeless, victims of conflicts or trafficking, HIV/AIDS, and drug users.

Aimed to promote action-oriented research, the course introduces the main theories and research approaches on exclusion and marginalization using different frameworks and techniques. It addresses the dangers associate with the lack of systematic use of solid research methodology, ethics, data collection and analysis in the formulation and evaluation of policies and program.

The Applied Research course is planned to run in its traditional face/to/face format this year. The course will take place during morning and afternoon. Students are expected to be available full time. Active implementation of methods will be concentrated during the morning session; afternoon will be more focused on online training.

To maintain as much of the spirit of sharing between practitioner and academic researchers, we will include activities to facilitate interaction and collaboration among participants. These will include research presentations from students as well as joint simulation and real-life exercises.

In case of any travel or mobility limitation, we will be able to offer this course in a live, hybrid training format, combining online training and real-life application of all the presented research methods at the location of students.

Target group

Researchers, PhD students, practitioners, NGO, international organizations

Course aim

The course aims to enable participants to undertake empirical research with marginal and hidden populations, and seeks to encourage participants to develop methodological strategies for the collection and analysis of such data.

The course will provide tools to address key issues such as the lack of known sampling frame, the difficulties in reaching the target group; the concepts of impact, attribution and contribution; and the political dimension of research findings. The course explores topics such as basic and advanced estimation and sampling techniques; participatory research; evidence-based policy versus policy-based evidence; innovation, crowdsourcing and the use of technology; the art of combining qualitative and quantitative methods; and ethical considerations arising when conducting research with hidden and marginalized populations. It covers quantitative techniques such as adaptive cluster sampling, capture and recapture, RDS (Respondent Driven Sampling), network analysis, as well as participatory research methods.

Fee info