Kryachkov 2!indd

3. METHODOLOGY and THE OUTLINE OF THE PROJECT
STAGE 1
These sections of the Proposal describe respectively the methodological framework required to 
support your claims and attain the objectives you have set out and the information each part of 
the thesis (Introduction, Body and Conclusion) will contain.
Ex. 1. Analyze the following samples of the methodological section and speak 
about their strengths and weaknesses. Identify the methods used by the researchers. 
Comment on the way they are presented. Do the researchers confine themselves to 
a mere enumeration of their research tools? Why (not)?
* * *
A.
Thesis: THE INTERNATIONAL POLITICS OF AUTONOMY REGIMES
The project will consist of two components: detailed case studies of autonomy settlements — 
or attempted settlements — with a special focus on the role of external agents; and an evaluation 
of general hypotheses based on information generated by these case studies, supplemented by 
available quantitative information for a larger sample of cases.
Due to the lack of systematic attention to the influence of external agents on autonomy 
settlements so far, there is a shortage of detailed empirical information to test general hypoth-
eses. One aim of this project, therefore, is to generate such empirical information. To do this, we 
will commission area specialists to conduct case studies of achieved and attempted autonomy 
settlements.
These case studies will follow a clearly defined structure and framework, derived from the 
thoughts and hypotheses indicated above. The case studies will first describe the background to 
the conflict (its history and evolution, the involved parties, the settlement outcomes so far, etc.). 
Then, the studies will aim to document the role of external agents in the various stages of the 

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