FSS - The Quality of Doing Qualitative Research

Course objectives 

The first goal of this course is to introduce graduate students to the diversity of qualitative data collection methodologies. The second goal of this course is to provide students with a critical understanding of qualitative data analysis, and to provide them with individualized consultation for an on-going project. The third goal is to introduce participants to strategies for writing empirical research articles in English with qualitative data as evidence. 

Course content 

This course is an introduction to qualitative methods in the social sciences. The class will have five themes. The first will be a discussion on the relationship between method, methodology and epistemology and how the researcher’s choices on all three issues necessarily influence the research. This will be a theoretical conversation. The next two themes will be practicing very practical skills of data collection and data analysis. The class will both learn about data collection and do a series of exercises where they experience field work and interview techniques. There will be time required outside of class time for these homework assignments. We will then discuss the analysis of data conceptually. Following this, participants will practice coding with two exercises. The fourth theme will be more theoretical, focusing on how to conceptualize patterns in qualitative data, to go from coding to analytic summaries to developing an argument. Finally, the last theme will be about effective skills for writing and publishing qualitative data in English language journals. The class will meet on three days, with two-hour sessions in the morning and afternoon. The active learning assignments will begin during class time but may need time to be finished between classes. Each of the students will also receive individual consultation on their research projects.