Integrating Doctoral Seminar on Emerging Technologies
MIT's Institute for Data, Systems, and Society offers this team-taught doctoral seminar for students researching emerging technologies where technology, policy, and societal issues intersect. The course covers problem identification, formulation of research topics, and the balance of qualitative and quantitative methods, along with data collection techniques across disciplines. Sessions center on students' own thesis proposals, faculty-student study panels that critique research design, and discussion of ethical issues in conducting research and gathering data. Materials on MIT OpenCourseWare include the syllabus and assignment structure used to guide doctoral candidates through designing a dissertation research plan. The course is aimed at advanced graduate students already working on a specific research question rather than newcomers to the field, and it emphasizes critical evaluation over lecture content.