Doing a Qualitative Research Project
Beschrijving
Course goals
The aim of this course is to get students acquainted with the choices and procedures that are commonly used in qualitative research and to develop hands-on experience with qualitative research methods.
At the end of the course the students:
- can describe the common features of qualitative research and use the right terminology;
- can conduct a small-scale qualitative research project in a group of peers, using semi-structured interviews and a second data collection method;
- can conduct qualitative data analysis, using an inductive approach according to Grounded Theory;
- can report on their qualitative research project using the standard format for a research report: introduction, methods, results and discussion;
- are able to apply the quality criteria for qualitative research in the decision making during the research process and for reviewing the quality of the research project.
Relation between assessment and objective
This course involves multiple types of testing:
1. In the research report students have to apply the methodological knowledge acquired during the course to their own topics (objective 1, 2). They have to demonstrate their knowledge about methodological choices involved in a qualitative research endeavor and decide which methods can be best used in their own specific projects. Additionally, their ability to use the right terminology when reporting the methodological decisions made will also be assessed (objective 3, 4).
2. In the reflection essay students reflect on their (group's) work. They can show their knowledge on qualitative research (objective 1, 2) and their ability to evaluate the quality of qualitative research.
Choice of grading and assessment
Key Information: This course uses a Pass/Fail grading system.
The rationale behind this approach is that qualitative research primarily involves the development of practical skills. While it is possible to distinguish varying levels of mastery, we believe that grading students on a numeric scale does not fairly reflect the growth they achieve during the course. A Pass/Fail system encourages students to take risks, experiment, and embrace failure as part of the learning process, ultimately fostering their development into skilled qualitative researchers.
To earn a passing grade, students must successfully complete a variety of sub-assessments. These assessments are designed to evaluate their progress and proficiency in key aspects of qualitative research.
Content
The course is an introduction to qualitative research methods with a practical orientation. Qualitative studies are sometimes misunderstood to be purely descriptive reports because of their focus on describing and understanding people’s perspectives or views. However, the role of qualitative research extends beyond description alone, to even theory building and explanation. Qualitative methods do so using flexible, participant-focused data collection methods like interviews, participant observation, photo elicitation etc.. Since the primary data of qualitative researchers are in the form of documents or texts, it cannot be analyzed using formal, statistical methods. Instead, qualitative data analysis techniques are more suitable. Through this course, students gain hands-on experience in conducting data collection, computer-assisted data-analysis as well as reporting on findings. They will do so in the context of their own small scale research projects.
The following topics are focused upon among others: research questions, research design, ethics, data collection, data analysis, and quality of the research project. Through the seminars, skills such as formulating a research question for a qualitative study, generating a topic list for conducting interviews, structured and systematic data-analysis, and reporting are practiced and discussed. With the help of work group meetings, students conduct a small scale research project in groups of three to four students. Topic choice is guided by yearly themes.
Reviews0 reviews
Heb jij dit vak gevolgd?
Deel je ervaring met toekomstige studenten. Inloggen met je Universiteit Utrecht mailadres duurt één minuut.
Schrijf een review