ACC 211 Qualitative Methods I: Theory and Practice

Content

Qualitative research is an autonomous way of doing research that deploys a variety of methods derived from various scientific disciplines. In this course we will build on the disciplines of anthropology, sociology, criminology, psychology and history. Qualitative research is interpretive, which means that it takes the social world to be interpreted, experienced, produced (and not given) and constructed, i.e. one that is meaningful due to multiple layers of signification (Mason 2002). In qualitative research major stress is placed on the context as a source of data. Understanding of complexity, detail and context thus plays an important role in the analysis, explanation and argumentation.

 

The course ‘Qualitative Methods: Theory & Practice’ relies on two interconnected approaches, one directed towards theoretical aspects of qualitative research, and the other towards practical techniques of qualitative study. Students will recognise that a fault line between theory and qualitative methods is in fact an artificial one. The reason is that even seemingly simple issue of how to collect, analyse and interpret materials involves certain theoretical assumptions which are bound to influence research results.

In other words, students who expect just to learn simple tricks of trade without probing the theoretical background make – at best – mediocre qualitative researchers, as interviewers, ethnographers or historians.

Presented strategies of qualitative research will be discussed and tested through qualitative interview, participant observation, collecting and analysis of visual materials, and source criticism. Interestingly, all these diverse techniques can be used for one research question that is to answer one research question. That is to say, relative to ontological and epistemological questions, these techniques are not mutually exclusive. Discussion of the mentioned research strategies will involve sampling and selection in qualitative research; organizing and indexing qualitative data, and making convincing arguments on this basis (Mason 2002).

Instructor

Dr. Eri Park

Period

Spring / 2012

Prerequisites

The following course is required in order to take this course:

• ACC 110 Methods & Statistics I

Additional Prerequisites

Students need to buy a voicerecorder

Required for

This course is required in order to take the following courses:

• SSC 302 European Identities: Undergraduate Research Seminar
• SSC 338 Namibia Research Seminar
• SSC 348 Namibia Research Seminar