Modern Life: From societal challenges to designing research on child and family functioning

Course goals

Upon finishing this course, the student will have:

1. Learned how to design a study to answer a socially relevant question related to modern-day challenges in child and family functioning by writing a research proposal (in groups of three or four students);
2. Learned how to write and present a concise and clear research proposal;
3. Learned how to critically evaluate research and research designs concerning socially relevant questions on modern life;
4. Insight into different aspects of modern society (e.g., modern family, modern parenting issues, (social) media, mental disorders in youth) and their relevance for the development of children and adolescents.

Link between purpose and contents/assessment

1. By actively participating in the seminars and by writing the research proposal, students will learn how to design a research project that answers a question related to modern-day challenges in child and family functioning;
2. By giving and receiving peer feedback and by receiving supervisor feedback on their written materials and presentations, students will learn how to formulate and present their research proposals in a concise and clear way;
3. By participating in the online symposium and by actively participating in the seminars, students will learn to critically evaluate research and research designs concerning societally relevant modern-day questions;
4. By participating in the online symposium and by actively participating in the seminars and writing the proposal, students will gain insight into different aspects of modern society.

The seminars will include group assignments, which will receive peer and/or supervisor feedback. These assignments are aimed to help guide students in developing their research proposal (written in English). The research proposal will be graded by the theme supervisor based on criteria specified in the course manual.

Content

Growing up in today’s society poses modern-life challenges for children and adolescents as well as their families. Examples of such modern-life challenges are diversity in family arrangements, changing demands on parenting skills, social media, and increases in mental health problems in youth. Addressing such challenges in public policy and clinical practice should be based on relevant and scientifically sound research. In the course Modern Life: From Societal Challenges to Designing Research on Child and Family Functioning, we will focus on translating important and urgent societal questions into relevant, appropriate and innovative research that will help answer them.

This course is relevant for students interested in research about children and families, and in current issues in modern society.

A selection of topical themes will be explored during lectures, for example: Modern family; Parenting in the 21st century; Mental disorders in youth; The impact of social media. The definitive themes will be announced later and can vary from year to year, depending on teacher availability and expertise. Each student will choose one of these themes. Within that theme, students will write a research proposal to address a societally relevant question of their own interest (in groups of three or four students). The proposal could concern an experiment, a survey study, a qualitative study or use of big data, whichever is most appropriate for the particular question.