Course ID: | GEOG 8305. 3 hours. |
Course Title: | Seminar in Qualitative Research Methods |
Course Description: | Readings address the purpose, scope, and procedures of qualitative research in human geography. Principle themes: a) situating qualitative research, b) epistemological stances, c) strategies of inquiry/methodologies, d) research methods, and e) representing qualitative research. Students will engage in theoretical debates about rigor, representation, and implications of qualitative research. |
Oasis Title: | SEM QUALI METHODS |
Semester Course Offered: | Offered spring semester every year. |
Grading System: | A-F (Traditional) |
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Course Objectives: | a. Identify and evaluate the ways in which qualitative
research differs from scientistic paradigms of social science
research.
b. Understand the usefulness of different forms of
qualitative data collection and analysis for different
research purposes.
c. Identify and evaluate the implications of using
qualitative data for the researcher, the research product,
and the researched.
d. Gain experience representing a self-designed
qualitative research project to a diverse audience, in the
form of a written research proposal. |
Topical Outline: | 1. Introduction to qualitative research
Situating qualitative research
Issues of fieldwork in geography
2. Epistemological stances
Hermeneutics/Interpretivism
Post-Structuralism
Feminism
Constructionism
3. Strategies of inquiry/Methodologies
Ethnography
Case study research
Grounded theory
Extended case method
Participatory action research
4. Research methods
Interviews
Focus groups
Observation and participant observation
Life histories
Archival research
Field Notes
5. Representing qualitative research
A crisis of representation?
Deploying qualitative research |
Honor Code Reference: | The University of Georgia Honor Code and Academic Honesty Policy
will be followed. |