Qualitative Research Methods

The course provides a survey of the diversity of traditions and concepts inherent in qualitative research. Special emphasis is placed on theoretical principles and strategies which are common to different varieties of qualitative research and which expose fundamental differences in relation to a quantitative scientific outlook. The design of a qualitative study is also dealt with (problem formulation, selection principles etc.). Methods to generate qualitative data are presented. The steps and techniques of qualitative analysis are described with special emphasis on grounded theory and manifest content analysis. Different attitudes in qualitative research to scientific criteria concerning credibility and relevance in qualitative research are discussed. There will be some opportunity for supervised practice in carrying out interviews and focus group discussions and in the collation and coding of qualitative data.

• Syllabus (pdf 77,9 kB)
• Literature list (pdf 144,5 kB)