- Acquire ‘qualitative literacy’: the ability to view society through the eyes of its members and to take their emic worldviews seriously (Small, 2009)
- Prepare qualitative research assignments and a proposal along the 'arc' of naturalistic inquiry (Beuving & de Vries, 2015)
- Analyse qualitative research material through 'open coding' (Glaser & Strauss, 1967)
- Report both orally and in written form about key findings and insights of qualitative research
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In this advanced research course, students work on their ‘qualitative literacy’, defined here as an ability to view society through the eyes of its members and to take their emic worldviews seriously (Small, 2018). To achieve this ambition, students prepare several research assignments that are tailored to foster intellectual craftmanship through first-hand experience with the collection and handling of qualitative research material. These assignments are prepared, discussed and reported in weekly (on line) research seminars, interspersed with frequent (web)lectures focusing on specific problems in doing qualitative research. The analysis of qualitative material through open coding with a view to develop more abstract thoughts about society (a procedure known as ‘grounded theory’, Glaser & Strauss, 1967) plays a special role in the course. The course furthermore teaches a mix of online and offline qualitative research strategies, such as ethnographic observation/digital ethnography, the qualitative analysis of social networks (including virtual ones), and the study of artefacts such as texts, images and stuff. In addition to preparing a portfolio of research assignments, students complete the course with a research design based on a topic of their interest, to be presented also in class.
Requirements:
The course assumes an acquaintance with qualitative research methodology on BA-3 level, preferably combined with some fieldwork experience.
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