COURSE OUTLINE
This five-day introductory course is designed for participants with little or no background or experience with qualitative research. It will suit individuals who are in the design stages of a qualitative research project or who are interested in an overview of the theory and practice of qualitative research. The course will be interactive and participants will be encouraged to share their own research plans and issues in working group sessions. A focal research topic will be adopted and reviewed across the five days to illustrate the stages of research design, conduct, analysis and representation. Workshop topics to be covered include:
Monday: Introductory session
Designing qualitative research. Course outline. Research interests and expectations. Overview of common features of qualitative research. When to use a qualitative approach. The relationship of theoretical positioning of the researcher to choice of qualitative approach. Types of qualitative research. Applications of qualitative research in health, education, and psychology. Sampling strategies, paradigm and methods debates, ethical issues in qualitative research. Writing a qualitative research proposal.
Tuesday: Major Methods 1
A) Participant Observation and B) Focus Groups.
A) The role of observation and fieldwork in qualitative research. Types of observational study. Selecting an appropriate observational role. Recording observation. Data storage and management.
B) Characteristics of focus groups. Designing focus group questions. Moderator skills. Analysing and reporting focus group data.
Wednesday: Major Methods 2
C) Interviewing and D) Document Analysis.
C) The theory and practice of interviewing, level of interview structure and types of question, designing effective questions, developing rapport with research participants, recording and transcribing interviews, managing and analysing interview data.
D) The role of documentation. Analysing documents.
Thursday: Data Analysis
Validity/Trustworthiness of Qualitative Research. Manual and computer-assisted methods of data analysis. Structuring analysis. Types of analysis: content, theory-driven, thematic. Developing a systematic categorising system. Refining analytic skills. Mapping analysis to purpose and theoretical perspective. Description, analysis and interpretation. Types of claims and evidence base. Enhancing the quality of research claims. Quality criteria in qualitative research.
Friday: Reporting Qualitative Research
Formats for reporting qualitative research: the case study, the narrative account, the ethnography. Common rhetorical structures will be reviewed with reference to published qualitative research examples. Representation issues: the role of the researcher, voice and authority in qualitative writing. The "new ethnography" and auto-ethnography. Combining qualitative and quantitative research approaches.
REFERENCES
The following texts are not required reading, but provide a useful orientation to qualitative research. A package of handout materials and additional reference material will be provided to participants.
Boothm W.C., Colomb, G.G., and Williams, J.M. (2008). The craft of research (third ed). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Goodall, H.L. jnr. (2008). Writing qualitative inquiry: Self, stories, and academic life. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press.
Kvale, S. (1996). InterViews: An introduction to qualitative research interviewing. Thousand oaks, CA:Sage.
Patton, M.Q, (2002). Qualitative research and evaluation methods (third ed). Thousand Oaks, CA:Sage
Woods, P. (1999). Successful writing for qualitative researchers. London, UK: Routledge.
