Advanced Qualitative Research Design and Data Collection (HSO-51306) - 6 ECTS

Advanced Qualitative Research Design and Data Collection (HSO51306) offers PhD candidates and advanced master’s students enrolled in the graduate programme:

• A fuller grasp of the analytical value of arrange of qualitative methods relative to your own project's research questions and epistemological/theoretical positioning;
• The knowledge required to identify different methods’ particular logistical requirements and challenges;
• The knowledge and skills for anticipating and responding to ethical issues posed by the use of specific methods;
• The time and space to design a well-rounded strategy for data collection for your own research project aligned with your project's purpose and epistemological/theoretical framework.

Course structure

This course comprises 4 framing and 8 method sessions:

• Framing sessions in Weeks 1 & 4 enable participants to critically investigate the values and forces underpinning their research projects, reflect on their researcher positionality and render their research project design more nuanced and robust.
• Method sessions in Weeks 2 & 3 cover a range of qualitative data collection methods and techniques (see list below). Participants write their assignments based on (a minimum of) 4 f sessions that best fit with the research they are undertaking or wish to undertake.

Topics and methods covered

• Research as a formal system and the role of data in it
• Researcher positionality and reflexivity
• Participatory action research
• Interviewing
• Ethnography and participant observation
• Arts based methods
• Visual research methods
• Data collection for discourse analysis
• Revisiting ontology with actor-network approaches
• Using the other senses in data collection
• Connecting the course content to practice x 2

Assumed knowledge on:

Qualitative Data Analysis (YRM-60806) PLUS EITHER Critical Perspectives on Social Theory (PhD course) OR Advanced Social Theory (CPT-55306) OR WASS Research Methodology: From Topic to Proposal (PhD course)

Contents:

Students learn about & practice key qualitative methods while gaining exposure to how diverse theoretical lenses make use of these methods. The course covers: interpretation, representation, comparison & validity; reflexivity & positionality, power relations & ethics; interviews & focus groups; (auto)ethnography & participant observation; revisiting ontology with actor-network approaches; techniques for capturing discourses; techniques for identifying proxies & using secondary sources; visual research methods; participatory action research.

Learning outcomes:

After successful completion of this course students are expected to be able to:
- assess the analytical value of different types of methods relative to the student’s own research questions and theoretical framework;
- identify different types of methods’ particular logistical requirements and challenges;
- anticipate ethical issues posed by the use of specific research methods;
- design a data collection methods strategy aligned with the student’s own research questions and theoretical framework.

Activities:

Workshops with lectures & interactive learning;
- exercises to practice specific methods & reflect on their effects;
- development of an individualised data collection methods strategy;
- self-study.

Examination:

Each component must be marked with a 5.5 or higher:
- portfolio of peer-reviewed written post-session reflections (75%);
- individualised data collection methods strategy (25%).

Schedule

This course will run in period 3. It spans 4 weeks (6 Jan-31 Jan, 2025). Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 14.00-17.00 hrs (Times and dates subject to minor changes).