An Overview of Books Suggested for Research Methods at International Relations (IR) Postgraduate Degree Programmes in Turkey

Abstract

This study focuses on the core reading in research methods courses in International Relations (IR) postgraduate programmes in Turkey. The first section determines the core reading materials in the syllabi. In the second section, in order to thematically code these books, we create five categories: (1) General Research Methods, (2) Research Methods in Social Sciences (3) Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Research Methods, (4) Research Methods in Political Science (5) Research Methods in International Relations. The research was modelled/designed according to a case study conducted with a qualitative approach. The data collection method of the study is document review, while the chosen data analysis method is content analysis. The study analyses the contents of syllabi from 70 different module/course. Findings show that Social Sciences have the most methodology-related books with 37% of the books being relevant to research methods. Conversely, the study shows that this rate is at 1% for IR. The study concludes that discipline-specific method books are not chosen within the IR postgraduate programmes. Finally, the study recommends significant research methodology books to be included in the related IR syllabi.