Syllabus
Topics:
1. Characteristics of the strengths and weaknesses of the qualitative approach in comparison with quantitative research, combined research possibilities; planning process of qualitative research (objectives, conceptual and theoretical frameworks, formulation of research questions).
2. Ensuring the quality of research (credibility and validity, transferability, reliability, dependability); ethical questions and their solutions (ensuring the safety of research participants, confidentiality, informed consent).
3. Specifics of different strategies of qualitative research (grounded theory, case study, ethnographic and biographical approaches); multiple case studies of school as a concrete example of the application of one of the strategies of qualitative research.
4. Data collection methods (field notes; participant and non-participant observation; in-depth interview, focus groups; technical aspects of data collection).
5. Qualitative data analysis (transcription, various approaches to coding, using software tools; categorization and interpretation of results); writing research reports (interim records, database creation, quoting the participants’ opinions, preparation of reports for publication).
Annotation
Following the Introductory Theoretical-Methodological Course, the students will be introduced to the basic theoretical and methodological foundations of qualitative research. The course will specifically focus on the case study strategy, explaining the main methods of data collection – observation and interviews, including methods of making records.
During the distance part of the course, the participants will conduct their own data collection. The course will also include data processing and analysis.
The students will be presented with the procedures of text encoding in the software environment for qualitative analysis (MAXQDA).