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.
Athena Title
SEM QUALI METHODS
Semester Course Offered
Offered spring
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
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