Qualitative Methods in the Social Sciences

About the course

This course is designed to provide graduate students with the opportunity to deepen their knowledge of qualitative research methods in social sciences and to make use of it. The course will focus on five main types of qualitative research: participant observation/ethnography, virtual/visual analysis, in-depth interviewing, focus groups, and comparison/case studies. In addition, one lecture is dedicated to qualitative discourse analysis, which is a key useful tool for all qualitative methods. The course will also introduce you to participatory-action research, as a helpful approach to exploring the ethical and political implications of qualitative methods.

Throughout the course, you will practice fundamental skills of graduate-level reading, writing, summarising, collecting and analysing data, and presenting arguments based on research. You will present your research exercises during seminars.

Additionally, the course will address issues related to research design, and how to code, analyse and structure data, which are probably the most difficult and least discussed parts of research. These skills are intended to support the planning, development, and successful completion of your research in the future. 

You are expected to have completed a basic university education on research methods in social sciences during your Bachelor's degree.