John Ishiyama, a University Distinguished Research Professor in UNT's Department of Political Science, spent two weeks in March at Bahir Dar University to teach research methods to doctoral students in political science and international relations. The university is located on the shores of Lake Tana in Ethiopia.

To give the students a head start, Ishiyama recorded video lectures and sent reading materials prior to his arrival.

"The video lectures introduced students to the conceptual ideas behind social science research," says Ishiyama, who won the Toulouse Scholar Award at UNT's 2018 Salute to Faculty Excellence ceremony. "For the in-person lectures, I built on that foundation and explained the various steps of the research process."

The two weeks of in-person training were intensive. Students learned how to enter data, import existing datasets, recode variables and analyze data. Marijke Breuning, also a political science professor at UNT, assisted in the data analysis training. The two-week training concluded with students presenting their research designs.

This marked the second time Ishiyama has spent two weeks at Bahir Dar University to teach research methods.

"The university has no one on staff who can teach quantitative research methods, so the university appreciates that I come to teach this course," he says. "I cannot think of a better way to spend my spring break."