This Course guides you through the philosophical foundations that underpin qualitative research. By unpacking ontology (what exists), epistemology (what counts as knowledge), and methodology (how we produce knowledge), you will begin to see how these layers shape every stage of research design—from framing questions to interpreting findings.

Through interactive exercises, examples, and reflective activities, you will learn to position your own research within coherent philosophical assumptions, making your projects more rigorous and defensible.

Your dissertation needs more than a good research question — it needs a compass and a map. Theoretical and conceptual frameworks are those guiding structures. They help you anchor your research in established knowledge while making space for your original contribution. Yet, many doctoral students struggle to create frameworks that are clear, coherent, and defensible.

This course is designed to give you both the foundations and the hands-on practice to confidently build frameworks that align with your topic, methodology, and research goals.

This Course explores the intellectual, political, and personal stakes of postcolonial and decolonial thought. In this course, you will examine the origins, key debates, and praxis of these theories, learn to differentiate between them, and apply them to research design, pedagogy, and reflexive self-understanding.