If the aim of developing public policies is to solve social issues, it is worth asking whether the higher education programs for future public servants are being adapted to the demands of our societies. If we also recognize a relationship between education and political capacity, then it is pertinent to study the development of knowledge, skills,…

This study aims to propound an instructional design for a service-learning course grounded in public problem analysis and verify its immediate and sustained outcomes through the actual instructional process. A quasi-experimental research design was adopted wherein students who were enrolling in a service-learning course were considered as a…

This paper discusses both challenges and opportunities for using inquiry-based learning in public administration postgraduate education in a context of internationalisation. In particular, we discuss the appropriateness of inquiry-based learning for teaching diverse groups of students from varied international backgrounds. Inquiry-based learning…

Student evaluations of quantitative methods courses in political science often reveal they are characterised by aversion, alienation and anxiety. As a solution to this problem, this paper describes a pedagogic research project with the aim of embedding quantitative methods by stealth into the first-year undergraduate curriculum. This paper…

This paper explores some of the critical debates in social science research methods education and is set out in three parts. The first section introduces the importance and relevance of research methods to the social sciences. It then outlines the problems and challenges experienced in the teaching and learning of research methods, which are…

Research and teaching are core business of academic institutions. The research context is thought to be fruitful for teaching and learning, and students may contribute to research. But how exactly does the interplay between research and teaching take place and how, in what respects and under which conditions, does this contribute to the quality of…

There is continuing concern about the paucity of social science graduates who have the quantitative skills required by academia and industry. Not only do students often lack the confidence to explore, and use, statistical techniques, the dominance of qualitative research in many disciplines has also often constrained programme-level integration of…

Students in two iterations of a statistics course were required to develop work-related research questions that could be analyzed by the statistical techniques discussed in class. They were also expected to present the question and other research design components in a manner that could be comprehended by statistical novices. To provide sufficient…