HDFS 590: Interdisciplinary Foundations of Research Design in the Behavioral, Health, and Social Sciences

AMAP is excited to introduce an interdisciplinary foundation course in research methods starting in Spring 2024. The course will be the first of its kind to be offered to Purdue graduate students. The course will be taught by Dr David Purpura (Professor of Human Development and Family Science). There will also be faculty members from departments across CLA and HHS lending their methodological expertise as guest speakers every week. 

The topics covered in this course are listed below.

Week 1: Philosophy of Science 

Week 2: Research Questions and Hypotheses 

Week 3: Theories and Theoretical Framework 

Week 4: Concepts and Measurements 

Week 5: Ethics in Research (For participants and researchers) 

Week 6: Causal Inference 

Week 7: Experimental Studies 

Week 8: Observational Studies 

Week 9: Surveys (Quantitative Research) 

Week 11: Sampling and Inference 

Week 12: Interviews/ Focus Groups (Qualitative Research) 

Week 13: Ethnography / Participant Observation 

Week 14: Mixed Methods Design 

Week 15: Prediction (Computational approaches)