Urban Territories 1
Urban Territories 1 provides an introduction into research methodology, especially qualitative approaches and empirical research methods from the social sciences, anthropology and urban studies approaches to research. Followed by Urban Territories 2, these two core modules run throughout the first year of study and serve to acquaint students with methods that are continuously tried, tested and practiced, and equally unpacked and re-assembled. Inputs provide insights into theoretical perspectives, different approaches and methods of practice-oriented research; seminar sessions offer space for discussions, close readings and work on individual research projects. Outlining the ›research territories‹ that Urban Design students discover, permeate and explore throughout the course of their studies, the two modules combine intensive reading and continuous self-study with an iterative process of articulating research questions and motifs as well as experimenting with various forms of data collection methods, data analysis methods, approaches to interpretation and forms of presentation.
The passage from an interview shows different layers of open coding from a session on Grounded Theory. Before students code their own interview material, they practice different approaches to coding together with an interview recorded by students from a previous year.