This course provides a comprehensive and integrative introduction to qualitative, quantitative and participatory research methods by exposing students to a variety of research perspectives used to explore urban processes and city life. The course immerses the students into a collective reflection and a deep conversation about the relationship between democracy and research while problematizing the practical implications across the different research perspectives and theoretical frames. Students will be capable to identify methods and epistemological positions leading to design research processes by learning the use of techniques as in-depth interviews and discussion groups; ethnographic observation, oral histories, and urban drifting; designing, conducting, and analyzing surveys; production of sociograms and fluxograms; participatory and reflective dynamics of diagnosis; and designing and developing of community action-research processes.