Doctoral course (PHD-GP)

Not counted toward course requirements for a degree. A weekly seminar for doctoral candidates working on dissertation proposals, conducting research, writing dissertations, and preparing for their oral defenses. Students present their work in progress for seminar discussion and critique. Re-registration once each term meets the doctoral program maintenance of matriculation requirement.

Required for doctoral students. This course prepares the student to do and to evaluate social science research using a variety of research methods. Basic issues regarding the formulation of research questions, research design, and data collection and analysis are addressed. The course material encompasses both quantitative and qualitative methods in the discussion of the basic components of the research process: conceptualization and measurement, sample selection, and causal modeling. In addition to teaching techniques and conventions of doing research, the course also acquaints the student with critical issues in the philosophy of science, ethical questions, and how to write a research proposal.

This course offers a hands-on opportunity for doctoral and advanced masters students to experience the practice of qualitative research. We will address the nature of qualitative research in the administrative and policy sciences, with ample opportunities to discuss the implications of the choices made in designing, implementing and reporting on the findings of a “mock” project which we will determine in class, with your input. The course will require a considerable investment of time, with intensive reading and writing, recurrent team discussions based on assignments, and individual fieldwork (with journal writing before, during and after site visits). The course is a program requirement for doctoral students. For all masters students, it will help develop skills to collect qualitative data during capstone projects and for policy/finance students interested in a methods course sequence, it will also serve as a good complement to the available quantitative courses. For all students, understanding the basics of qualitative research will make you a better researcher (independent of whether your research is only qualitative or only quantitative) and will increase your research competency by offering a foundation to do mixed methods.

Inequality and poverty are outcomes of social choices and economic relationships. Understanding their causes and implications points to ways that economies and societies fit together—as well as who wins and who loses from economic and policy choices, and why. The seminar draws on research in the social sciences with an emphasis on economics. The aim is to explore research questions, with a mix of early studies and recent empirical approaches, together with perspectives on policy. The discussion of inequality draws largely on the US labor literature, and the discussion of poverty tilts toward analyses of international experiences. The seminar meets weekly; the first hour will usually be a presentation in a traditional lecture format followed by an hour led by students who will describe and frame selected readings for the week. Students will write three analyses of particular studies during the semester and a final paper that describes a research problem, a possible approach, and the related literature.

The Doctoral Research Colloquium incorporates the NYU Wagner Seminar series at which prominent researchers present current work on pressing social issues. The speakers represent a range of disciplines and methodological approaches, and are affiliated with institutions from around the country. Doctoral students registered for the colloquium will actively engage with the seminar speaker both during and after the presentations. Course requirements also include written critiques of the presented papers.

The Doctoral Research Colloquium incorporates the NYU Wagner Seminar series at which prominent researchers present current work on pressing social issues. The speakers represent a range of disciplines and methodological approaches, and are affiliated with institutions from around the country. Doctoral students registered for the colloquium will actively engage with the seminar speaker both during and after the presentations. Course requirements also include written critiques of the presented papers.

This course, taught jointly by faculty members across the university, offers doctoral students an opportunity to learn about the latest theoretical and empirical research on critical urban issues. The course is not taught in a lecture format. Rather, the colloquium focuses on discussions of academic works in progress by scholars from around the country, working in such disciplines as sociology, history, planning, law, public health, public policy, and economics. Students will participate in an in-depth discussion of the paper with the author, together with other faculty and researchers from NYU and the New York area. Students must submit short papers critiquing a number of the works in progress, and have the opportunity to meet informally (usually over dinner) with a few authors to discuss the topic further. Students will also be assigned supplemental readings to ensure that they have the background necessary to understand upcoming papers. The course is designed to be multidisciplinary, and we invite doctoral students from across the university to enroll.

This course, taught jointly by faculty members across the university, offers doctoral students an opportunity to learn about the latest theoretical and empirical research on critical urban issues. The course is not taught in a lecture format. Rather, the colloquium focuses on discussions of academic works in progress by scholars from around the country, working in such disciplines as sociology, history, planning, law, public health, public policy, and economics. Students will participate in an in-depth discussion of the paper with the author, together with other faculty and researchers from NYU and the New York area. Students must submit short papers critiquing a number of the works in progress, and have the opportunity to meet informally (usually over dinner) with a few authors to discuss the topic further. Students will also be assigned supplemental readings to ensure that they have the background necessary to understand upcoming papers. The course is designed to be multidisciplinary, and we invite doctoral students from across the university to enroll.