Qualitative Researching and Critical Inquiry
Qualitative research has won terrain in recent decades, much due to a social world that is increasingly complex and multi-dimensional. Qualitative methods have also become increasingly varied and advanced, and new software is constantly being offered to support qualitative analyses. It is important to be able to critically evaluate which qualitative research strategies and forms of analysis are applicable for which purposes.
The course places particular emphasis on the challenges and the theoretical underpinnings of different qualitative research strategies.
First workshop: December 2- December 6, 2024
Second workshop: January 20-21, 2025
Find program under "learning activities".
This course will address the following areas:
- The evolvement of qualitative research
- The methodological basis for qualitative research
- The critical elements of qualitative designs
- Critically scrutinizing and evaluating qualitative data
- Advanced qualitative analysis
- The quality assessment of qualitative inquiries
Applicants must be admitted to a PhD-program.
Other students with a completed Masters degree can apply for admission. Admission can be done after an individual assessment.
Learning outcomes:
The following learning outcomes are expected upon completion of the course.
Knowledge
After completing the course, students should have gained advanced knowledge about:
- The legacy of qualitative research methods
- The theoretical justification of qualitative research
- The properties of qualitative data
- Applicable methods to analyze different qualitative material
Skills
After completing the course, students should have advanced their ability:
- To design qualitative inquiries suitable to answer different qualitative questions
- To justify the methodological choices made in qualitative designs
- To generate and organize different types of qualitative data material
- To analyze different types of qualitative data in ways that fit the purpose of a particular study
General competence
After completing the course, students should have advanced their ability:
- To plan, perform and justify qualitative research
- To participate in, and contribute to, academic discussions in qualitative research
- To review and critically assess the quality of qualitative inquiries
The course provides an advanced and critical introduction to different designs and methodologies in qualitative research, as well as to the justifications for, and degrees of leeway, of different designs. Focusing on interviews, documents and field observation as sources for generating empirical data (and their possible combinations), the course pays partiqular attention to the specific properties of such data, and its implications for analyses.
Program first workshop
Monday, December 2
09:00-10:00: The legacy and justification of qualitative research
10:00-10:15: Coffee, tea and refreshments
10:15-11:00: The types and character of qualitative data
11:00-11:15: Break
11:15-12:00: Critical elements of qualitative designs
12:00-13:00: Lunch
13:00-14:30: Qualitative interviewing
14:30-14:45: Break
14:45-16:00: Critical perspectives on the use of interviews as accounts
16:00-17:00: Critical discussion: What kinds of data can I generate through interviews?
Tuesday, December 3
09:00-10:00: Doing qualitative fieldwork
10:00-10.15: Coffee, tea and refreshments
10.15-11:00: Doing qualitative fieldwork
11:00-11:15: Break
11:15-12:00: Critical discussion: When observation matters- observational data in your project
12:00-13:00: Lunch
13:00-14:30: Critical discussion: Your object of study- a qualitative design?
14:30-14:45: Break
14:45-17:00: Introduction to qualitative analysis
Wednesday, December 4
09:00-10:00: How to interact with data? The intersection between facts and theory
10:00-10:15: Coffee, tea and refreshments
10:15-12:00: Concepts and coding
12:00-13:00: Lunch
13:00-14:15: Concepts and coding
14:15-14:30: Break
14:30-15:30: Analysis as establishing a meaningful context
15:30-15:45: Break
15:45-17:00: Critical discussion: Choosing or creating (an) analytical frame(s)
Thursday, December 5
09:00-10:15: What’s different about narrative inquiry?
10.15-10:30: Coffee, tea and refreshments
10:30-11:30: What’s different about narrative inquiry?
11:30-12:00: Critical discussion: Narrative approach- a good fit for my study?
12:00-13:00: Lunch
13:00-14:00: Doing things with documents
14:00-14:15: Break
14:15-15:30: Doing things with documents
15:30-15:45: Break
15:45-17:00: Critical discussion: What can I do with documents?
Friday, December 6
09:00-10:30: Case studies
10:30-10:45: Coffee, tea and refreshments
10:45-12:00: Critical discussion: Am I doing a case study?
12:00-13:00: Lunch
13:00-13:45: The logic of study
13:45-14:00: Break
14:00-15:00: Summary and course evaluation
Second workshop (January 20-21, 2025) is a paper seminar. Program will be issued later.
Overlap refers to a similarity between courses with the same content. Therefore, you will receive the following reduction in credits if you have taken the courses listed below:
SAM9002 - Qualitative researching and critical inquiry - On generating, analyzing and critically assessing qualitative data - 5 credits
