The 8-week Research Training course is divided into  8 week sections and these are as follows;

Week 0: Learning about Moodle, our Virtual Learning Platform and Introduction
Objective of this section: to learn about or review prior use of Moodle as a user of this training course. This is for those who are not familiar with Moodle. It can be started on a self-teaching basis or the trainee can get guidance through the sections. During Week 0 the Research Coordinator will be also giving an introductory talk and explain all the components of the training course.

Week 1: What is research?
Objective of this section: to learn about the nature and characteristics of academic research. Towards the end trainees will define the topic and questions of their research project that they will complete as stepping through the course.

Week 2: Literature Review
Objective of this section: to learn about the procedural steps and their proper conduct of an academic literature review. To perform such review for the research topic as dined in the previous section.

Week 3: Research Methods
Objective of this section: to learn about the various academic research methods, such as qualitative and quantitative research, fundamental and applied, descriptive and analytical, etc. The section is completed by selecting the right methods for the research project carried out during the course

Week 4: Ethics and Research Design
Objective of this section: To learn about the ethical considerations of doing research and apply it to the project done in the course

Research Design
Objective of this section: to learn about the various design steps in and components of a research plan and their characteristics. The section culminates in the preparation of a research plan for for the course project

Week 5: Preparing Data Gathering Instruments

Objective of this section: to learn about the different data collection methods and instruments and select the right kind of instruments and subjects for the course project. To prepare and trial the concrete data gathering instrument[s] that will be used in the course project.

Week 6: Gathering Data

Objective of this section: to gather the data for the course research project using the instruments made and subjects identified in the previous section. Coding the data ready for analysis in the next section.

Week 7: Analyzing Data
Objective of this section: to analyze the data gathered in the previous section and present the outcome in tabular or graphical formats. Determine correlations where appropriate, giving interpretation and evaluation of the findings, leading to answers to the research questions posed in the research plan

Week 8: Reporting on the Findings
Objective of this section: to learn about academic writing and apply the skills in writing up a report or presentation on the outcomes of the course project in an appropriate format for a chosen audience. Participants will have the opportunity to present their findings to an audience Conference during the Somali women in research and academia conference scheduled to take place in May/June. See the conference section of this website for more details about the upcoming conference.

After the conference: Disseminating the Findings
Objective of this section: to learn about the international academic publishing world, closed and open access, predatory publishers, archiving, different kinds of channels such as journals, repositories, etc.