ENV 298.87 Applied Qualitative Research Methods (3 cr)

Course Overview & Syllabus

Instructors: Charlotte Clark

Teaching Assistants: PhD student

Goal:

This seminar focuses on the needs of masters and doctoral level graduate students considering or involved in qualitative research, with an emphasis on applied tools: project design, data collection, data analysis, and interpretation. Although theory is included, practical application will be emphasized. The course has five primary objectives:

1.  Students will gain experience with qualitative research methods: observation, interviewing, document analysis.

2.  Students will design and conduct a brief qualitative study, and will translate data gathered through a series of activities into analyses and interpretations. The results will be written as a proposal for further research, and presented orally. The study will be conceived for a specific audience of the student’s choice (i.e., government, not-for-profit, program evaluation, etc).

3.  Students will be able to describe the spectrum of research paradigms in quantitative and qualitative research and to articulate their likely point on this spectrum.

4.  Students will critically examine specific studies and interpret different methodological genres.

5.  As authors, students will consider and write about their positions, subjectivity, and how they represent qualitative data.

Course Assessment:

Four 5-page papers 25%

Class participation 20%

Class presentation of 10 to 15 minutes 20%

Final research proposal 35%

Class Meeting Dates: This syllabus assumes the course meets twice a week for 13 weeks.

Assignment / Topic / Guidelines
Draft research proposal / Maximum of 5 pages articulating your proposal. Note that this is revised and submitted also as a second draft. Each submission is 5% of the grade. / 1.  What are you going to study?
2.  How are you going to study it (include at least 20 hours spent on data collection)?
3.  What are you thinking about data analysis and interpretation?
4.  Who are you?
5.  What type of paper do you envision?
5-page papers / Paper 1: Self-assessment of techniques / What are your strengths and weaknesses with respect to the research you’re proposing?
Paper 2: Your field’s theories used in qualitative research / Find at least one published paper in your field that uses largely qualitative methodologies. Discuss whether this methodology applies to your potential project in this class.
Paper 3: Locating yourself and genre possibilities / What is your positionality? Also explore 2 or 3 genre/representation possibilities and explain the reasoning for your choice of one for the project in this class.
Presentation / 10-15 minutes presentation of the project findings / Choose an audience and prepare to present your project findings for that audience, e.g., government (what level), community stakeholders, not-for-profit, program evaluation, MP, etc
Final research proposal / Chosen research question / –  Max 10 pages, plus 2 appendices, for a maximum of 14 pages. As with the presentation, specify your audience.
–  Appendix 1: 2 pages that reflect on your data analysis/interpretations.
–  Appendix 2: 2 pages that critique your own study.
Date / Topics / Readings/Assignments
Week 1 / Class A: Introduction and expectations, review prior courses and experiences, defining qualitative research.
Class B: Observation and fieldnote techniques; observation activity / Readings: A: None
B: “(Rossman & Rallis, 2003), Chapter 1 - Qualitative Research as Learning; (Merriam, 2001): Chapter 4 - Being a Careful Observer
Extra (optional): (Patton, 2002), p. 259-332: Fieldwork strategies and observation methods.
Assignment: A: None B: Complete observation and write up notes for next week.
Week 2 / A: Analyze & interpret observational data, interviewing techniques; talk about project possibilities and test interview; establish communities of practice (COP) (3 to 4 student discussion groups) for the semester.
B: Positionality: George Noblit, Professor, UNC School of Education, guest speaker. / Readings: A: (Holstein & Gubrium, 1997) Active Interviewing; (Merriam, 2001): Chapters 5 (Conducting Effective Interviews)
B: (Rossman & Rallis, 2003) Chapter 2 – The Researcher as Learner, (Maxwell, 2005) Chapter 2: Why are you doing this study?
Reminder: bring observation fieldnotes to Class A.
[Note: schedule may shift based on Noblit availability.]
Assignments:
Complete an interview and write up fieldnotes for class next week
Week 3 / A: Analyze & interpret interview data; discuss project possibilities in COP.
B: Document analysis / Readings:A: (Rossman & Rallis, 2003), Chapters 5,6,7 – Planning the Research; Entering the Field, Gathering Data in the Field
B: (Merriam, 2001), Chapter 6, Mining Data from Documents,
Reminder: Bring interview fieldnotes to Class A.
DUE Class B: project proposal
Week 4 / A: Methodologies: case study, phenomology, narrative, ethnography
B: Case studies / Readings: A: (Yin, 1994) Chapters 1-2: Introduction and Designing Case Studies; Erika suggests I add material on difference/similarity from John Stuart Mill/Durkheim.
Week 5 / Theory and theorizing / Readings: A: (Rossman & Rallis, 2003) Chapter 4 – Major Qualitative Research Genres, (Lincoln & Guba, 2005)
B: (Geertz, 1973), Chapter 1: Thick Description: Toward an Interpretative Theory of Culture
(King, Keohane, & Verba, 1994), Chapters 1-2
DUE: Paper 1
Week 6 / Multiple perspectives
Possibilities of analysis and interpretation / Readings: A: (Rossman & Rallis, 2003), Chapter 8, (Villenas, 2000) The Colonizer/colonized Chicana Ethnographer
Week 7 / A: COP Meetings
B: Guest speaker with exemplar project / Due: project proposal 2nd draft
Week 8 / Analysis and Interpretation
Using computers for data analysis – demo in class of Nvivo qualitative software. / Readings:
(Richards, 2002) or (Richards, 2005). Still need to decide which book and which part.
(Rossman & Rallis, 2003), Chapters 10-11- Analyzing and Interpreting Data
[Note: the use of Nvivo is demonstration and exposure only. Should a site license for the software be available, I would consider something more in depth.]
DUE: Paper 2
Week 9 / Mixed methods / Readings:
(Tashakkori & Teddlie, 2005), Chapter 2: Pragmatism and the Choice of Research Strategy, and Chapter 3: Research Design Issues for Mixed Method and Mixed Model Studies; (Reichardt & Rallis, 1994); (Putnam, 1993), Chapter 1 – Introduction: Studying Institutional Performance
Week 10 / A: Ethics and Validity - the theory
B: Ethics and validity – our own stories and questions / Readings:A & B: (Rossman & Rallis, 2003) Chapter 2 – 3 – The Researcher as Competent and Ethical, (Creswell, 1998; Rossman & Rallis, 2003), Chapter 10, Standards of quality and verification, (Maxwell, 2005), Chapter 6: Validity: How might you be wrong?, (Noblit, 1999), Chapter 10, Power and Caring
DUE: Paper 3
Week 11 / Writing and representation
Being a qualitative researcher / Readings:
(Rossman & Rallis, 2003), Chapter 12 – Presenting the learnings; (Alexander, 2005)
(Peters, 2004), Chapter 16: Sonnets
Week 12 / Class presentations
Week 13 / Class presentations / DUE: Final Research proposal

Required text(s)

Rossman, Gretchen & Sharon F. Rallis. 2003. Learning in the Field: An Introduction to Qualitative Research. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, NY.

Potential other readings:

Alexander, B. K. (2005). Performance Ethnography. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of Qualitative Research (3rd ed., pp. 411-442). Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

Creswell, J. W. (1998). Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing among five traditions. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publishing.

Geertz, C. (1973). The Interpretation of Cultures. New York: Basic Books.

Holstein, J. A., & Gubrium, J. F. (1997). Active Interviewing. In D. Silverman (Ed.), Qualitative Research: Theory, Method, and Practice (pp. 113-129). London: Sage Publications.

King, G., Keohane, R. O., & Verba, S. (1994). Designing Social Inquiry: Scientific Inference in Qualitative Research. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Lincoln, Y. S., & Guba, E. G. (2005). Paradigmatic controversies, contradictions, and emerging confluences. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of Qualitative Research (3rd ed., pp. 191-216). Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

Maxwell, J. A. (2005). Qualitative Research Design: An interactive approach (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

Merriam, S. B. (2001). Qualitative Research and Case Study Applications in Education. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

Noblit, G. W. (1999). Particularities: Collected Essays on Ethnography and Education. New York: Peter Lang.

Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative Research and Evaluation Methods (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

Peters, J. T. (2004). Sonnets. In G. W. Noblit, S. Y. Flores & J. Murillo, Enrique G (Eds.), Postcritical Ethnography (pp. 287-291). Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, Inc.

Putnam, R. D. (1993). Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Reichardt, C. S., & Rallis, S. F. (1994). Relative Relationship Between the Qualitative and the Quantitative Research Traditions. In The Qualitative-Quantitative Debate: New Perspectives (pp. 98). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Richards, L. (2002). Readme First for a Users Guide to Qualitative Methods. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

Richards, L. (2005). Handling Qualitative Data: a practical guide. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

Tashakkori, A., & Teddlie, C. (2005). Mixed Methodology: Combining qualitative and quantitative appraoches. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

Villenas, S. (2000). The Colonizer/Colonized Chicana Ethnographer: Identity, Marginalization, and Co-optation in the Field. In B. Brizuela, J. P. Stewart, R. G. Carrillo & J. G. Berger (Eds.), Acts of Inquiry in Qualitative Research (pp. 434). 2000: Presidents and Fellows of Harvard College.

Yin, R. K. (1994). Case Study Research: Design and Methods (2nd edition ed. Vol. Volume 5). Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.