Welcome to the RPIR Blog

This blog is designed primarily for undergraduate students undertaking research in the social sciences and more particularly in the fields of politics and international relations. It emerges from and supports a second year module I coordinate at the University of Lincoln in the UK entitled, Researching and Politics and International Relations. The blog does not aim to provide a systematic introduction to social research, rather it is a repository for  an eclectic collection of comments, observations and advice about the research process that I have used in my teaching over a number of years. Although it is designed for students of the social sciences, and politics and IR in particular, the focus is on the research process more broadly and as such it draws on examples from a diverse range of fields from the natural sciences to mountaineering. Some of the comments will undoubtedly be light-hearted, some less so, but feel free to dip in, and chip in.  Dr Andrew Defty adefty@lincoln.ac.uk