Course Goals
After completing this course, students will be able to:
- Understand and explain the principles of qualitative research methods;
- Understand and apply the key elements of quality assessment in qualitative social research methods;
- Employ appropriate forms of analysis to qualitative interview data;
- Design and conduct a small-scale qualitative research project;
- Report research findings in a formal format.
Relationship between tests and course goals
In this course, students are assessed 6 times:
- Final project: this assignment tests the ability to apply the theory to a real-life situation and write about qualitative research (course goals 2, 3, 4, and 5).
- Take home questions: this tests the ability to explain qualitative research theory in day-to-day language (course goal 1).
- Reflection assignment: this tests the understanding and ability to apply quality assessment elements to qualitative research (course goal 2).
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A qualitative research design is often used when the research focus is on exploration, description, and understanding of a social phenomenon from the perspectives of those being studied. In using qualitative research, we are able to answer the question `Why do certain phenomena happen?’ instead of the question ''Does or doesn’t it happen?'. Qualitative research originated in cultural anthropology is now used in very different areas, such as health care, psychology, criminology, sociology, political sciences, nursing, and educational sciences.
This course is an introduction to qualitative research with a ‘how-to’, practical focus. The structure of the course reflects the research process starting with the generation of a research question, the design, data collection, data-analysis and the writing of a report. In this course you will have the opportunity to dive into the experiences and perspectives of people in a scientific fashion.
Schedule:
This course is taught during the last five weeks of the semester. It uses the same timeslot as the UCACCMET23 group did during the first ten weeks.
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