Advanced Qualitative Research Design and Data Collection (GEO-56806) - 6 ECTS

Advanced Qualitative Research Design and Data Collection (GEO 56806) offers PhD candidates and advanced master’s students enrolled in the graduate programme:

• A fuller grasp of the analytical value of arange of qualitative methods relative to yourown project's research questions and epistemological/theoretical positioning;
• The knowledge required to identify different methods’ particular logistical requirements and challenges;
• The knowledge and skills for anticipating and responding to ethical issues posed by the use of specific methods;
• The time and space to design a well-rounded strategy for data collection for your own research project aligned with your project's purpose and epistemological/theoreticalframework.

Course structure

• Compulsory sessions in Weeks 1 & 4 enable students to critically investigate the values and forces underpinning their research projects, reflect on their researcher positionality and render their research project design more nuanced and robust.
• Free-choice sessions in Weeks 2 & 3 cover a range of qualitative data collection methods and techniques (see list below). Students write their assignments based on (a minimum of) 4 free-choice sessions that best fit with the research they are undertaking or wish to undertake.

Topics and methods covered

• Research as a formal system and the role of data in it (C1)
• Researcher positionality and reflexivity (C2)
• Ethnography and participant observation (FC 1)
• Data collection for discourse analysis (FC 2)
• Interviewing (FC 3)
• Participatory and co-creation methods (FC 4)
• Revisiting ontology with actor-network approaches (FC 5)
• Visual research methods (FC 6)
• Using the other senses in data collection (FC 7)
• Connecting the course content to practice x 2 (C3-4)

(C = Compulsory session; FC = Free choice session)

Assumed knowledge on:

Qualitative Data Analysis (YRM-60806) PLUS EITHER Critical Perspectives on Social Theory (PhD course) OR Advanced Social Theory (CPT-55306) OR WASS Research Methodology: From Topic to Proposal (PhD course)

Contents:

Students learn about & practice key qualitative methods while gaining exposure to how diverse theoretical lenses make use of these methods. The course covers: interpretation, representation, comparison & validity; reflexivity & positionality, power relations & ethics; interviews & focus groups; (auto)ethnography & participant observation; revisiting ontology with actor-network approaches; techniques for capturing discourses; techniques for identifying proxies & using secondary sources; visual research methods.

Learning outcomes:

After successful completion of this course students are expected to be able to:
- assess the analytical value of different types of methods relative to the student’s own research questions and theoretical framework;
- identify different types of methods’ particular logistical requirements and challenges;
- anticipate ethical issues posed by the use of specific research methods;
- design a data collection methods strategy aligned with the student’s own research questions and theoretical framework.

Activities:

Workshops with lectures & interactive learning;
- exercises to practice specific methods & reflect on their effects;
- development of an individualised data collection methods strategy;
- self-study.

Examination:

Each component must be marked with a 5.5 or higher:
- portfolio of peer-reviewed written post-session reflections (75%);
- individualised data collection methods strategy (25%).

Schedule

More information

Study Handbook