Ten Free Online Courses for Ph.D. Students & Researchers
Enhance Your Research Career Through These Resources
Embarking on a Ph.D. journey or pursuing a career in research demands a thirst for knowledge, a quest for excellence, and a commitment to making a significant impact in your field. As a Ph.D. student or researcher, staying abreast of the latest research methodologies, refining your writing skills, and understanding the intricacies of academic publishing are essential for success.
To aid you in your academic pursuits and empower your research career, we have compiled a curated list of ten free online courses that cater specifically to the needs of Ph.D. students and researchers. These courses cover a wide spectrum of topics, ranging from research methodologies and proposal writing to mastering the art of crafting impactful scientific papers and case studies.
So, whether you are just embarking on your research journey or seeking to augment your existing skillset, these courses are designed to provide valuable insights, sharpen your research acumen, and pave the way for a rewarding research career.
Table of Contents:
Research for Impact
Understanding Research Methods
Research Methodologies
Research Methodology: Complete the Research Project Blueprint
Introduction to Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Quantitative and Qualitative Research for Beginners
Research Proposal Bootcamp: How To Write A Research Proposal?
How to Write a Successful Research Paper?
How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper?
Writing Case Studies: Science of Delivery
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1. Research for Impact
The first course is Research for Impact offered by coursera. In this course, you will learn more about the Research for Impact approach — a set of principles and practices that will help you to make your research more impactful. Traditionally, the goals and outcomes of research projects were to contribute knowledge and communicate this knowledge through academic publications and journal articles. But If we truly want our research to have an impact, we need to do research differently. Research that influences change in policy, practice, behavior, and attitudes.
On this six-week journey, Jesse DeMaria-Kinney and Mark New share their experience of the Adaptation at Scale for Semi-arid Regions (ASSAR) Project, where they developed and refined the Research for Impact approach. They are joined by researchers and practitioners who followed this approach in their research.
Together you will explore the five elements of the Research for Impact approach:
Theory of Change
Stakeholder Engagement and Strategic Partnerships
Strategic Communication
Capacity Development
Influencing.
You will also get opportunities to hear from researchers and practitioners on the ground who followed this approach and hopefully become inspired and equipped to incorporate these principles into your own research projects. The course is free to enroll and take. You will be offered the option of purchasing a certificate of completion, which you become eligible for if you successfully complete the course requirements. This can be an excellent way of staying motivated! Financial Aid is also available.
2. Understanding Research Methods
The second course Understanding Research Methods offered by coursera and the University of London. This MOOC is about demystifying research and research methods. It will outline the fundamentals of doing research, aimed primarily, but not exclusively, at the postgraduate level. It places the student experience at the center of our endeavors by engaging learners in a range of robust and challenging discussions and exercises befitting SOAS, the University of London’s status as a research-intensive university, and its rich research heritage.
The course will appeal to those of you who require an understanding of research approaches and skills, and importantly an ability to deploy them in your studies or in your professional lives. In particular, this course will aid those of you who have to conduct research as part of your postgraduate studies but do not perhaps have access to research methods courses, or for those of you who feel you would like additional support for self-improvement.
No prior knowledge or experience in research is required to take this course and as such, the course is for everyone. This MOOC draws on a wealth of existing course material developed to support research training across SOAS, the University of London, and particularly drawing from the Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy (CISD). In 2015, the course was nominated for the prestigious Guardian University Award for its innovative approach to online learning.
3. Research Methodologies
The third course is Research Methodologies by Queen Mary. This course focuses on research methodologies. In this vein, the focus will be placed on qualitative and quantitative research methodologies, sampling approaches, and primary and secondary data collection. The course begins with a discussion on qualitative research approaches, looking at focus groups, personal interviews, ethnography, case studies, and action research.
We will also discuss quantitative research methods with a focus on experimental research design and survey methodology. There will be an exploration of the sampling design process and different sampling approaches, including probability and non-probability sampling as well as sample size and non-response issues. We will look at the nature and scope of primary and secondary data, and the importance of measurement. We will look at the role of the Internet in market research as well as non-comparative scaling techniques. The course ends with a discussion on different data collection approaches, with a focus on observation, content analysis, narrative research, phenomenology, and the collection of data using ethnography.
You will learn about a broad range of research methodologies, sampling approaches, and primary and secondary data collection.
4. Research Methodology: Complete the Research Project Blueprint
The fourth course is Research Methodology: Complete the Research Project Blueprint available on Udemy. Many people feel lost when they think about research methodology for the first time. However, research does not need to be complicated. In fact, research can be very simple if you know what steps to follow and how to avoid unnecessary complexity. Even high-impact research often uses simple methods that can be mastered by anyone. So, in this course, you will be given a complete blueprint that guides you through your entire research project. You will learn what to do, how to do it, and how to keep your research simple yet effective.
5. Introduction to Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
The fifth course is Introduction to Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis offered by John Hopkins University on Coursera. In this course, you will be introduced to methods to perform systematic reviews and meta-analyses of clinical trials.
The course will cover how to formulate an answerable research question, define inclusion and exclusion criteria, search for the evidence, extract data, assess the risk of bias in clinical trials, and perform a meta-analysis.
Upon successfully completing this course, participants will be able to:
Describe the steps in conducting a systematic review
Develop an answerable question using the “Participants Interventions Comparisons Outcomes” (PICO) framework
Describe the process used to collect and extract data from reports of clinical trials
Describe methods to critically assess the risk of bias in clinical trials
Describe and interpret the results of meta-analyses
6. Quantitative and Qualitative Research for Beginners
Quantitative and Qualitative Research for Beginners is an introductory course for research methodologies used across academic disciplines. The module focuses on principles and techniques that are appropriate to the introductory level. It provides both theoretical and practical information for students and introduces basic principles and techniques for all stages of the research process.
7. Research Proposal Bootcamp: How To Write A Research Proposal?
Whether you’re a first-time researcher, just starting out and feeling a little overwhelmed by the research proposal writing process — or you’re already knee-deep in the writing process but need a little guidance to ensure you’re on the right path — this online course is for you.
Designed by the award-winning team of research specialists at Grad Coach, and presented by one of our dedicated private coaches, Dr. Kerryn Warren, this research proposal course provides you with a step-by-step practical guide to help develop your research proposal. Together, we’ll work through loads of practical examples to illustrate each point and review actual successful research proposals, so that you can see exactly what it takes to get your proposal approved. Along the way, you can test your understanding with interactive pop quizzes and ask questions about each lesson as you work through the course.
This online course is specifically designed for both undergrad and postgrad students who are new to the academic research process. You don’t need to have any prior research proposal writing experience, as we unpack each concept from the ground up. While this course is geared towards research proposals within the sciences (especially the social sciences), the principles and concepts we’ll cover apply to the vast majority of research areas.
Within the course, you can use carefully designed practical exercises to build your actual research proposal as you work through the course. In other words, by the end of the course, you won’t just have a certificate — you’ll have an actual proposal! All that said, if you’d prefer to just focus on specific lessons, you’re most welcome to do so, as each lesson works perfectly well on a standalone basis.
But it doesn’t stop there. By joining the course, you’ll get full, unrestricted access to our meaty collection of additional research proposal-related resources. This includes a comprehensive template for your research proposal, hours upon hours of additional video lessons and webinars, as well as practical tools and resources, including project plans, budgets, and more.
In short, this course gives you everything you need to craft a successful research proposal. Best of all, you can easily work through it over a weekend or even a few weeknights — so you’re not signing up for a huge commitment.
8. How to Write a Successful Research Paper?
The eighth course is How to Write a Successful Research Paper available on Udemy. Writing effective research papers is vital for academic success. However, obsessing aimlessly over every detail is rarely the winning strategy. A better strategy is to invest your limited time strategically in the points that truly matter. Whether you are writing a Master's thesis, doctoral thesis, or manuscript for scientific publication, this course can help you to write a better paper in less time.
9. How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper (Project-Centered Course)
The ninth course is How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper (Project-Centered Course) offered by École Polytechnique available on Coursera. In this project-based course, you will outline a complete scientific paper, choose an appropriate journal to which you’ll submit the finished paper for publication, and prepare a checklist that will allow you to independently judge whether your paper is ready to submit.
This course is designed for students who have previous experience with academic research — you should be eager to adapt our writing and publishing advice to an existing personal project. If you just finished your graduate dissertation, just began your Ph.D., or are at a different stage of your academic journey or career and just want to publish your work, this course is for you.
10. Writing Case Studies: Science of Delivery
The last course is Writing Case Studies: Science of Delivery offered by Princeton University and available on Edx. This course introduces you to the main elements of a good “science of delivery_”_ case study and teaches you how to plan your research, conduct interviews, and organize your writing.
The “science of delivery” begins with a simple observation. We often have a vision of the right policies or strategies for improving health, safety, and economic well-being, but the real problem is getting things done. Even a simple policy intervention such as child vaccination requires much more than nurses and a stock of vaccines to be effective.
Case studies are a vital tool for sharing insight about the how of policy implementation and institutional reform. They trace the steps taken to produce results and show solutions people have devised to address anticipated challenges and overcome unanticipated obstacles. Case studies help us think about how to adapt approaches so that they work in different contexts.
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