Mohsen Khalili
Abstract
The main goal of planning of political science courses, in addition to training and researching in politics, is enhancing the ability for analysis of political issues, whether domestic or international. The primary objective of all sciences is to expand human knowledge. The discipline of political science ...
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The main goal of planning of political science courses, in addition to training and researching in politics, is enhancing the ability for analysis of political issues, whether domestic or international. The primary objective of all sciences is to expand human knowledge. The discipline of political science is a branch of learning that contributes to the growth of knowledge about politics and helps us learn about political systems and the political behavior of human beings. Research is an important skill required of all political scientists. Research means gathering, processing, and interpreting data. Political science is an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary knowledge. So, to learn the skills of researching in politics needs both to conduct and to evaluate research. Students of political science are often required to take one or more modules in research methods. Designing and conducting a research project is usually taught in those courses. On the one hand, the base of political science is theory; on the other hand, question arises as to how we can interrelate and correlate between theory and technique. How we can make the political science more operational and functional? Considering the methodological lessons in B.A. degree of political science (of course in Iran) shows that they are marginal and inadequate. The diversity of academic styles in methodology is ignored, and the existing problematic of the hegemony of methodological monism persists. Given the multi/interdisciplinary nature of political science, the author of this paper suggests that a group of methodological modules in political science be planned. The proposed modules are: the nature and entity of research in political science, qualitative methods in political science, quantitative methods in political science, history and philosophy of science, philosophy of social science, technical writing and research /scientific paper in political science, information seeking skills (library and search strategies in internet), and research workshop in political science.
