BMET 27A22 - Introduction to Qualitative Methods

This seminar introduces students to qualitative methods in the social sciences, through hands-on projects in which they will carry out their own research. Students will learn how to formulate an interesting research question in light of existing scholarship and how to design a methodology that complies with the principles of research ethics. They will practice collecting data through interviews, observations, written sources, or visual material, and learn how to analyze the data collected, interpret the results, and present a scientific argument.

By the end of the course, students can expect to have the required skills for carrying out a qualitative research project, from the development of a research question to the presentation of their findings.

This includes:

• Knowing how to find relevant scholarship for a topic of interest, and being able to read it efficiently;
• Knowing how to design a methodological protocol that is appropriate to answer their question;
• Being able to recruit research respondents, get access to a field site, and constitute a corpus of written or visual material;
• Being able to conduct interviews and carry out participant observations;
• Being able to code and analyze qualitative data;
• Presenting the findings of their research in written and oral formats.

Academic expectations

Students are expected to attend class, hand over assignments in time, and communicate with the professor when they face difficulties with the coursework.

Detailed outline

Session 1: Asking (interesting) questions

Readings

Berg & Lune, Qualitative research methods for the Social Sciences, chapter 1.

Assignments

none

Session 2: Reading the literature

Readings

Luker, Salsa Dancing into the Social Sciences, chapter 5.

Assignments

Memo: Research question

Session 3: Designing a research protocol

Readings

Berg & Lune, Qualitative research methods for the Social Sciences, chapter 2.

Assignments

Memo: Annotated bibliography

Session 4: Interviewing people

Readings

Berg & Lune, Qualitative research methods for the Social Sciences, chapter 4

Assignments:

Memo: Research proposal

Session 5: Observing the social world

Readings

Berg & Lune, Qualitative research methods for the Social Sciences, chapter 6

Assignments:

Memo: Interview transcript

Session 6: Drawing on written or visual sources

Readings

Merriam & Tisdell, Qualitative Research. A Guide to Design and Implementation, chapter 7.

Assignments:

Memo: Observation notes

Session 7: Coding data

Readings

Merriam & Tisdell, Qualitative Research. A Guide to Design and Implementation, chapter 8.

Assignments:

Memo: Corpus of written texts or visual material

Session 8: Building hypotheses

Readings

Becker, Tricks of the Trade, chapter 2.

Assignments:

Memo: Hypotheses

Session 9: Analyzing

Readings

Luker, Salsa Dancing into the Social Sciences, chapter 10.

Assignments

Memo: Codebook

Session 10: Interpreting

Readings

Becker, Tricks of the Trade, chapter 4.

Assignments

Memo: Coded material

Session 11: Drafting a research paper

Readings

Berg & Lune, Qualitative research methods for the Social Sciences, chapter 12.

Assignments

Memo: Draft 1 of final paper

Session 12: Presenting research results

Readings

none

Assignments

In-class presentation of findings

There is no pre-requisite for this course.

Students will be required to hand in weekly memos on the various steps of their research projects. These memos will count for 60% of their final grade.

At the end of the semester, students will hand in a short research paper with the findings of their research (20% of the grade) and present it in an oral presentation to the class (20%).