SYLLABUS FOR QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS AND ANALYSIS
To hold the conviction that we know enough already and don’t need to know others’ stories is not only anti-intellectual; it also leaves us, at one extreme, prone to
violence to others.
-- I. E. Seidman
SOC 3156, Fall 2006 Dr. Janelle Wilson
Qualitative Research Methods & Analysis Cina 228b
11:45 a.m.-12:55 p.m., MW & 11:45 – 12:45, F 726-6364
Cina 214
Purpose/Objectives of this Course
Class participants will learn about and employ qualitative research methods in their study of human behavior and social life. A number of approaches will be introduced (including, for example, participant observation, interviewing, and action research). Class participants will gain an appreciation for and understanding of the ethical dimension of research in the social sciences. Assigned research projects will engage each class participant in the process of research.
Class Format
This class will combine lecture, discussion, and in-class group activities. The idea is to run the class like a seminar -- working toward an atmosphere where ideas are exchanged and research experiences are shared. On occasion, class time will be lab time – i.e., an opportunity for you to engage in observation and data collection in various settings.
Textbooks
There are two required books for this course:
Qualitative Research Methods for the Social Sciences (sixth edition), by Bruce Berg.
Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2007.
Slim’s Table: Race, Respectability, and Masculinity, by Mitchell Duneier.
Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1992.
Additional required reading:
Material on reserve at the library:
" 'Justify My Ideology': Madonna and Traditional Values" (Janelle Wilson & Gerald E. Markle). Popular Music and Society 16(2), pp. 75-84. 1992.
Course Requirements
Assignments We will take a “hands-on” approach to qualitative research, and thus will, as a group, engage in activities (small group discussions, thought exercises, etc.) in the classroom. In addition to in-class activities, though, you will be expected to complete 2 mini-assignments, worth 30 points each. These assignments come from the Berg book and are indicated in the “course outline” section of the syllabus. For each of these assignments, you should type up a one- to two-page reaction paper. On the day that an assignment is due, each class participant will briefly share his/her “findings” with the class (this is mandatory; without this component, 10 points will automatically be docked from the score).
Although the term observer suggests passivity, a participant-observer in the field
is at once reporter, interviewer, and scientist.
--Blanche Geer
Research Paper Each of you will write a research paper, employing qualitative methods: Arrive at research questions about a given topic, and carry out your research by employing the best suited qualitative method(s). The topic and approach must be approved ahead of time. The paper should follow the format as described by Berg (in Chapter 12) -- i.e., intro, lit review, methods, findings, conclusion. (In your methods section, be sure to address the ethical issues involved in your study. And, in the final section of your paper, engage in reflection and self-evaluation -- i.e., comment on the effects that personal factors, such as your age, gender, socio-economic status, etc., had on your research. Were there special liabilities or advantages? How did you establish rapport? Reflect on your relationship to the research project itself). Part of the requirement for these papers is that you give an oral presentation to the class -- sharing your research; these presentations will be given at the end of the semester, as indicated in the course outline. The paper is worth 100 points.
Please turn all of these assignments in on time (due dates are indicated in the course outline). For each day that an assignment is late, five points will be docked from the score. If a week has passed since the due date, the assignment will not be accepted.
Exams Three essay exams will be given over the course of the semester -- each worth 100 points. Make-up exams will be given only under exceptional circumstances.
Grades
A total of 460 points is possible:
2 Assignments @ 30 points each 60 pts.
Research Paper @ 100 points 100 pts.
3 Exams @ 100 points each 300 pts.
460 pts.
Final grades will be determined by dividing the total number of points earned by the total number of points possible. The resulting percentage will be converted into a letter grade according to the following scale:
93 - 100% = A 78 - 79% = C+
90 - 92% = A- 73 - 77% = C
88 - 89% = B+ 70 - 72% = C-
83 - 87% = B 68 - 69% = D+
80 - 82% = B- 60 - 67% = D
59% & below = F
Office Hours
I encourage you to drop by and talk with me if you are having difficulty or if you just want to discuss the class material (or say ‘hello’). If the times listed below are not convenient for you, see me after class or call me and we will arrange an appointment at a mutually satisfactory time.
2:00 - 4:00 p.m., Mondays and Wednesdays
Please note: If you have any disability, either permanent or temporary, which might affect your ability to perform in this class, please inform me of your situation at the start of the semester. Adaptation of methods, materials, or testing may be made as required to provide for equitable participation.
NOTE ON CLASSROOM BEHAVIOR: The classroom is a place of mutual respect and tolerance.
I need your cooperation in creating this kind of atmosphere. During class, please do not read the newspaper or talk to your neighbor while the professor or a fellow classmate is talking; and if you must bring a cell phone or beeper to class, please turn it off. Thank you.
Course Outline
This tentative course outline indicates the topics which will be dealt with, the reading assignments, and the dates of exams and due dates for assignments.
Week 1 Introduction to course
What is meant by “qualitative” research?
The Naturalistic Paradigm
Week 2 Operational definitions; sampling strategies
Ethics in social research
Berg, Chapters 2 and 3
Week 3 Content Analysis
Berg, Chapter 11; Reserve article
Week 4 Interviewing
Berg, Chapter 4
Week 5 Focus Groups
Berg, Chapter 5
Friday, Oct. 6: Exam 1
Week 6 Ethnographic Field Strategies
Berg, Chapter 6
Assignment: Microethnography – try one of the suggestions on
page 215 in Berg. Type up a one- to two-page description of what you did, what happened, and your reaction. This will be due on Wednesday, Oct. 25.
Week 7 Initial reactions to Duneier’s study; the “Third Place”; action research
Berg, Chapter 7; Duneier, Chapters 1-4
Week 8 Unobtrusive measures in research; writing research papers; data interpretation
Berg, Chapters 8 and 12; Duneier, Chapters 5-7
Wednesday, Oct. 25: Microethnography assignment due
Week 9 Historiography and oral traditions, case studies
Berg, Chapters 9 and 10
Assignment: Try one of the suggestions on page 279 of Berg. Type up a one- to two-page reaction paper, in which you describe what you did and what you learned. This will be due on Friday, Nov. 17.
Friday, Nov. 3: Exam 2
We cannot live other people’s lives, and it is a piece of bad faith to try. We can
but listen to what, in words, in images, in actions they say about their lives....
Whatever sense we have of how things stand with someone else’s inner life, we gain it through their expressions, not through some magical intrusion into their consciousness. It’s all a matter of scratching surfaces.
-- Clifford Geertz
Week 10 Discussion of Duneier’s book
Autoethnography
Duneier, Chapters 8 - 10
Week 11 Feminist qualitative research
Friday, Nov. 17: Assignment (from Berg, Chapter 9) due
Week 12 Revisiting ethics plus other important topics/issues
November 23 – 24: THANKSGIVING BREAK
Week 13 Monday, Nov. 27: Research Paper due
Begin Student Presentations
Week 14 Student Presentations con’t.
Week 15 Student Presentations con’t. + Wrap up
Final Exam: Wednesday, Dec 20, from 10:00 - 11:55 a.m.
The critical distinction is between reality (what is really out there, whatever that may be), experience (how that reality presents itself to consciousness), and expressions (how individual experience is framed and articulated). In a life history the distinction is between life as lived (reality), life as experienced (experience), and life as told (expression). Only a naive positivist would believe that expressions are equivalent to reality and we recognize in everyday life the gap between experience and its symbolic manifestation in expression.
-- Edward M. Bruner