Qualitative approaches to research, with an emphasis on disciplinary history, methodologies, research design, fieldwork, and practicing qualitative methods with an emphasis on ethnography and interviewing. Students will design and carry out a research project (conducting fieldwork and/or analyzing qualitative data).
Athena Title
Qualitative Method Social Rsch
Semester Course Offered
Offered every even-numbered year.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Student learning Outcomes
Students will read and critique classical and contemporary research studies using qualitative research techniques.
Students will analyze theoretical, epistemological, logistical and ethical issues related to qualitative research, especially fieldwork.
Students will practice fieldwork through completion of an original research project that results in an oral and a written report.
Topical Outline
1. The Place of Qualitative Methods in the History of the Discipline
2. Qualitative Methodologies and Interpretive Epistemologies
3. Developing a Research Question & Fitting Methods to Question
4. Research Design
5. Process Issues
6. Ethical & Political Issues Related to Qualitative Research
7. Ethnography/Participant and Non-Participant Observation
8. Interviewing
9. Textual Analysis / Digital and Analog
10. Carrying Out a Qualitative Project: Data Collection
