By the end of the semester, the student will complete a small qualitative study and should be able to

Transcription

1 Qualitative Research Methods Unique Number: Office Number: SWB 3.212D Semester: Spring, 2006 Office Phone: (home) Fax Number: I. STANDARDIZED COURSE DESCRIPTION The purpose of this course is to introduce doctoral students to the philosophical and methodological issues of qualitative research. It will be a hands-on class, with a focus on practicing various methods with the goal of producing a small qualitative study. II. STANDARDIZED COURSE OBJECTIVES By the end of the semester, the student will complete a small qualitative study and should be able to Identify the strengths and appropriate uses of qualitative research Have a beginning understanding of the philosophical issues and debates in the field Compare and contrast five major qualitative traditions Identify and use the basic methods of data collection and analysis Appreciate the ethical issues involved in qualitative research Identify issues of academic rigor and assess the quality of qualitative studies III. TEACHING METHODS The activities of this course will include lecture, class participation, in-class group exercises and guest lectures by qualitative researchers. IV. REQUIRED AND RECOMMENDED TEXTS AND MATERIALS Required: Creswell,J.H. (1998). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five traditions Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage

2 The following texts, which are book-length qualitative studies, are recommended examples of qualitative work: Tobin, J. J., Wu, D. & Davidson, D. H. (1989), Yale University Press Preschool in Three Cultures. New Haven: Edin, K. & Lein. L (1997). Making Ends Meet. New York: Russell Sage Foundation Howell, J. (1973). Hard Living on Clay Street. Waveland Press. A number of additional recommended readings will be available in.pdf format on the website. V. COURSE REQUIREMENTS The course will require each student to undertake a series of written assignments leading up to the final paper, which will be a small qualitative project on a topic of your choice. These assignments include parts of the fully developed paper and will help you stay on track in order to finish the paper by the end of the semester. The individual pieces will not be graded, but you will receive extensive feedback, and addressing the feedback should assure you a satisfactory grade on the final paper. The final paper will constitute 90% of the final grade. The remaining 10% of your grade will include an assessment of the timeliness and thoroughness of your completion of the individual assignments, as well as class preparation and participation either in class or on the website. Each student will be responsible for several presentations in class or on the course web site, based on the written work required during the semester. We will be doing frequent rounds of brief presentations from each participant. Students will frequently be asked to bring brief examples from their pilot work to class or post it to the website. Handouts (outlines, summaries, brief articles) for these brief presentations must be ready by the beginning of class. Students will be expected to participate actively in discussion and comment on the text and on readings, either in class or on the website. A grade of A (90 100) will be given for work that represents outstanding grasp of the course content, expression in written assignments, preparation, and class participation. A grade of B (80-89) will be given for satisfactory completion of assignments, preparation, and participation. A grade of C will be given for unsatisfactory work. The due dates for these assignments are included on the course schedule. More specific details of these assignments will be posted on the class website before they are due. The assignments include: 1. A statement of your general research question - 2 -

3 The Final Paper: 2. A brief literature review (3-5 articles, including when possible, an article using qualitative methods) on the topic of your choice. 3. IRB Class Projects Review form, available at specifically the Class Project Review Form and Instructions and the Consent Form Template. 4. Your proposed methodology, including setting, and participants or other sources of data, such as observations and archival data, and interview guide. 5. At least one verbatim transcribed interview and one selectively transcribed interview. 6. Sample analysis. 7. Final presentation of no more than 20 minutes presenting the major themes of your project. 8. Final paper. For this assignment, each student project must include at least three data points, including at least one one-hour transcribed interview. You may also consider using other types of data such as observations and archival data. As is common in qualitative research, beyond these minimum requirements for the course, it is not possible at the outset of a research project to determine exactly how much data is required to answer, even minimally, your research question. This will emerge during the course of your data collection and analysis. Please be aware of this as you plan your time for this course. The final paper describing your project should be typed and double-spaced and should be no longer than 30 pages. Additional details about the paper are posted on the website. VI. CLASS POLICIES Your active participation is expected and welcomed. In order to participate effectively, you will need to stay current with readings and assignments. Keeping the discussion friendly and scholarly relies on each of us to be open to mutual critique and support in an atmosphere of trust and appreciation for diversity and disagreement. It also requires that we all take responsibility both for sharing, and for seeing that others have the opportunity to share

4 Discussion of practice and research experience needs to be mindful of the confidentiality of participants and clients. You are encouraged to propose a project that will both challenge you and that you will be able to finish by the end of the semester. If, during the course of the semester, it becomes clear that you will be unable to complete your project by the last class day, please make a written request ( is fine) before the final project is due. As part of this request, you will need to make a written contract with me regarding when you will turn in the project. Plagiarism, cheating, and other forms of serious academic misconduct will result in a failing grade and will be reported to the director of the doctoral program. If you have questions about what constitutes plagiarism, please see the website Students with special learning needs, such as those relating to physical challenges, language difficulties or religious observance, should discuss accommodations with me during the first three weeks of class. Language. Papers should be turned in with no errors in spelling, punctuation, or grammar. The format of the assignments should follow the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5 th ed.). Some style information is available at and a list of updated style guides for electronic sources is available at VII. COURSE SCHEDULE We will attempt to stay on the following schedule, but may adjust somewhat to meet student needs. A series of films will be shown over the course of the semester. Each of these films will be shown at the beginning of class over the lunch hour, if possible, preceding a seminar. However, for those students who cannot see the films at this time, they are all available on campus for viewing at other times. Date 1/18/05 Topics, Assignments Due, Readings Please read assigned readings BEFORE the class period for which they re assigned Introduction to the seminar and syllabus 1 1/25/05 Introduction to qualitative research - 4 -

5 2 Creswell, Chapters 1-4 2/1/05 3 Due: Draft of research question Five traditions of qualitative research Due: First draft of human subjects forms Creswell, Appendices A-F Dordick, Recovering from homelessness Fischer, A phenomenological study of being criminally victimized Beck, Teetering on the edge Ware et al., An ethnographic study of the meaning of continuity of care in mental health services Armour, Journey of family members of homicide victims: A qualitative study of their posthomicide experience. Also recommended are the books by Tobin, Edin & Lein and Howell. View: New Harvest, Old Shame 2/8/05 Philosophical assumptions and research ethics 4 Required reading: Creswell, Chapter 5 Padgett, Chapter 4 Miller, Researching violence against street prostitutes Urquiza et al., Clinical interviewing with trauma victims: Managing interviewer risk 2/15/05 5 Getting started framing the study and entering the field Due: Literature review Creswell, Chapter 6-5 -

6 Bogden & Bicklen, Chapter 4 View: Fast Food Women 2/22/05 6 Methods of qualitative inquiry: interviewing, focus groups Due: Draft of research plan (including method, sampling, and instrumentation). Required reading: Creswell, Chapter 7 Taylor & Bogdan, Chapter 4 Berg, Chapters 5 Poland, Transcription quality as an aspect of rigor in qualitative research Padgett, Chapter 2 Bogden & Biklen, Chapter 4 Ely, Chapter 3, pp View: Small Happiness 3/1/05 7 Methods of qualitative inquiry: participant observation, document review Due: Results of first data collection Ely, Chapter 3 pp View: Preschool in Three Cultures 3/8/05 8 Data analysis Creswell, Chapter 8 Miles & Huberman, Chapter 10, pp Fielding & Lee, Chapter 2 LeCompte & Schensul, Chapter 10 View: The Veiled Revolution 3/15/05 SPRING BREAK - 6 -

7 9 3/22/ /29/ /5/ /12/ /19/ /26/ /3/05 16 Data analysis Due: Sample Analysis Data analysis Recommended reading: Drisko, Qualitative data analysis software: A user s appraisal Padgett, Chapter 7 Assessing the quality of qualitative research Creswell, Chapter 10 Drisko, Strengthening qualitative studies and reports: Standards to promote academic integrity. Miles & Huberman, Chapter 10, pp Lincoln & Guba, Establishing trustworthiness Padgett, Chapter 8 Presenting your findings Required reading: Creswell, Chapters 9 & 11 Recommended reading: Padgett, Chapter 9 Student presentations Student presentations Student presentations Due: Final paper - 7 -

8 REFERENCES Angrosino, M. V. (1998). On the bus with Vonnie Lee: Explorations in life history and metaphor. In J. H. Creswell, Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five traditions (pp ). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Beck, C.T. (1993). Teetering on the edge: A substantive theory of postpartum depression. Nursing Research 42(3), Berg, B.L. (2004). Qualitative research methods for the social sciences (5 th ed.). Boston: Pearson. Bogden, R.R. & Biklen, S.K. (2003). Qualitative research in education: An introduction to theories and methods (4 th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Drisko, J.W. (1997). Strengthening qualitative studies and reports: Standards to promote academic integrity. Journal of Social Work Education 33(1), Ely, M. (1991). Doing qualitative research: Circles within circles. London: The Falmer Press. Fielding, N. & Lee, R. (1998). Computer analysis and qualitative research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Fisher, C. T. (1984). A phenomenological study of being criminally victimized: Contributions and constraints of qualitative research. Journal of Social Issues 40(1), Lincoln, Y. & Guba, E. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry. London: SAGE Publications. LeCompte, M.D., & Schensul, J.J. (1999). Analyzing and interpreting ethnographic data. Walnut Creek, CA: Alta Mira Press. Miles, M.B. & Huberman, A.M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: An expanded sourcebook (2 nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Miller, J. (1997). Researching violence against street prostitutes: Issues of epistemology, methodology, and ethics. In M.D. Schwartz (Ed.), Researching sexual violence against women: Methodological and personal perspectives (pp ). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Poland, B. D. (1995). Transcription quality as an aspect of rigor in qualitative research. Qualitative Inquiry, 1(3), Seale, C.F. (2002). Computer assisted analysis of qualitative interview data, In J.F. Gubrium & J.A. Holstein, (Eds.), Handbook of interview research (pp ). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Taylor, S.J. & Bogdan, R. (1998). Introduction to qualitative research methods: A guidebook and resource (3 rd ed.). N.Y.: John Wiley & Sons. Urquiza, A. J., Wyatt, G. E., & Goodlin-Jones, B. L. (1997). Clinical interviewing with trauma victims: Managing interviewer risk. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 12, Ware, N. C., Turenberg, T., Dickey, B., & McHorney, C.A. (1999). An ethnographic study of the meaning of continuity of care in mental health services. Psychiatric Services 50(3),

9 - 9 -