This course introduces students to qualitative methods in the social sciences. It highlights the contributions of qualitative research to the in-depth study of the State, politics, institutions and international organizations. By the end of the course, students will be familiar with a range of qualitative methods, including interviews, ethnography, archival work (with official and leaked documents), focus groups, media analysis, online research and international comparison. They will read key authors (and watch documentaries) who use qualitative methods to examine the crafting of public policy, the history of institutions, interactions between citizens and the State and the inner workings of international organizations. Students will also collectively engage with the strengths and challenges of qualitative methods by conducting their own research project on the topic of their choice.
Juliette GALONNIER
Atelier
English
Students should have some general knowledge in the social and human sciences.
Autumn 2021-2022
Participation (10% of the grade)
Ethnographic note (20%): Students will select a short sequence of the documentary Welfare and will write a “thick description” of what is happening.
Oral presentation (30%): One student (or 2) presents the assigned reading for the week.
Collective final paper (40% of the grade): Students will gather in groups of 4 students to conduct a small qualitative research project on a topic of their choice.
Russell Sage Foundation (excerpts)
Michael LIPSKY, 1980, Street-Level Bureaucracy. Dilemmas of the Individual in Public Services, New York,