This course explores major traditions of research in the social sciences and familiarizes students with the cross-disciplinary character of contemporary social scientific research on Asia. Through discovery-based interrogations of foundational ideas and questions in the disciplinary fields of sociology, comparative politics, institutional economics, and social anthropology, students will gain an appreciation of the ways social researchers across disciplines have sought to understand specific social phenomena. Students will work on a project which requires them to analyse selected social problems and propose innovative solutions to address institutional failures.