Research seminar "Qualitative Methods in Political Research"

Master 2020/2021

Category 'Best Course for Broadening Horizons and Diversity of Knowledge and Skills'

Category 'Best Course for New Knowledge and Skills'

Type: Elective course (Comparative Politics of Eurasia)

Area of studies: Political Science

Delivered by: Department of Sociology

Where: Saint-Petersburg School of Social Sciences

When: 1 year, 3, 4 module

Mode of studies: offline

Instructors: Yana Krupets

Master’s programme: Comparative Politics of Eurasia

Language: English

ECTS credits: 5

Contact hours: 40

Full Syllabus Ask Question

Abstract

The goal of this course is to present the fundamentals of qualitative social research, as well as to develop students’ skills of using qualitative methods in their own empirical research. Students will learn how to plan, to organize and to implement qualitative research, how to collect data and how to analyze them afterwards. In the frame of this research seminar, the focus will be done on the development of practical skills. The main idea of the seminar: learning through experience. Students will learn qualitative research by doing it. They will develop their own research design, will conduct the interviews and participant observation, will analyze collected data.

Learning Objectives

The goal of this course is to present the fundamentals of qualitative social research, as well as to develop students’ skills of using qualitative methods in their own empirical research.

Expected Learning Outcomes

Understand the principles of qualitative research
Know basic strategies and methods of qualitative research
Able to use qualitative methods for collection and analysis of data
Able to organize and to conduct qualitative research

Course Contents

Introduction of qualitative research. The methodological basis. Design of qualitative research.
Methodological basis of qualitative research. Principles and logic of qualitative research. Research as a process. The concept of design in qualitative research. Structural design elements. A sample in qualitative research. The ethics of qualitative research.
Ethnographic strategy and observation.
The understanding and types of strategies for qualitative research. Characteristics of the ethnographic strategy. Observation as a method of qualitative research: rules, procedures, difficulties
Qualitative interview. Qualitative analysis of interview.
The understanding of an interview. Types of interviews in qualitative research. Interview as a process, stages of the interview. Typical mistakes of qualitative interview. How to evaluate the quality of a qualitative interview. Types of qualitative analysis. Qualitative analysis procedures. Triangulation
Discourse analysis.
Discourse analysis strategy. The concept of the discourse. Types of discourse analysis. The procedures of the implementation of the strategy.
The presentation of qualitative research results.
Forms of presentation of research results in academia and in society. Genres of writing in qualitative research. The concept and the procedures for doing public science. Principles and rules of the scientific presentation.

Assessment Elements

In-class Participation
Homework
exam
The exam is passed orally. The examination is conducted on the MS Teams platform (https://teams.microsoft.com/l/team/19%3ac7879100a8ad465cac60ce6f6d7f3afe%40thread.tacv2/conversations?groupId=ac71bf7e-a7dd-4062-a5af-01aea8ef33c7&tenantId=21f26c24-0793-4b07-a73d-563cd2ec235f). You could connect to the exam 15 minutes before the start. (There will be an opportunity to test the platform and the technical ability to share the presentation). To participate in the exam, the student must: turn on the camera and microphone, share the prepared presentation with the audience. During the exam, students are prohibited from: reading a presentation from a sheet. During the exam, students are allowed to: turn off the camera in case of communication problems. A short-term communication disruption during the exam is considered to be up to 1 minute. A long-term communication disorder during an exam is considered to be a period of 1 minute or more. In case of a long-term communication disruption, the student can continue to participate in the exam, but after the completion of the presentations of all speakers (examinees). The reexamination is the same as the procedure of the exam.

Interim Assessment

Interim assessment (4 module)
0.4 * exam + 0.2 * Homework + 0.4 * In-class Participation

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

Denzin, N. K., & Giardina, M. D. (2014). Qualitative Inquiry Outside the Academy. Walnut Creek: Routledge. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=666131
Leavy, P. (2014). The Oxford Handbook of Qualitative Research. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=779511

Recommended Additional Bibliography

Hesse-Biber, S. N., & Johnson, B. (2015). The Oxford Handbook of Multimethod and Mixed Methods Research Inquiry. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=989215
Saldaña, J. (2011). Fundamentals of Qualitative Research. New York: Oxford University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=355780
Van Puyvelde, D. V. (DE-588)1138994839, (DE-576)492808287, aut. (2018). Qualitative research interviews and the study of national security intelligence / Damien Van Puyvelde, University of Glasgow. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edswao&AN=edswao.513894985

Course Syllabus