Course Catalogue

Module Title: SOCS 231 Qualitative Research Methods

Programme: Sociology B.A.

Credit Value: 12

 

General Objectives:

This course introduces students to the basic principles of social research and trains them to apply a number of different qualitative data-collection procedures and analytical strategies used by sociologists to study the social world. Because the best way to learn social research is by actually doing it, students will be required to complete a number of small-scale research assignments. As the semester progresses, these assignments will increase in size and complexity. The qualitative techniques students will learn about and practice implementing include: participant observation, interviews (informal/formal, structured/unstructured, in-depth, oral/life history, etc.), focus groups, content analysis, historical/comparative, auto-ethnography, visual (still photos & video), and online research.

 

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

  • Establish social research as a tool for developing “sociological imagination.”
  • Critically assess a published research report and explain how the study could have been improved; this course material will make us more critical consumers of research.
  • Compare and contrast the basic methodological approaches for gathering data.
  • Develop analytical skills through the understanding how concepts and course material interact, developing ideas, and evaluating research. 
  • Construct meaningful research questions, design appropriate methodological plans to address those questions, conduct the research, and analyze the generated qualitative data.
  • Describe and apply the principles of ethical practice as a sociologist.

 

Learning and Teaching Approach Used:

This course will rely on some lecture and many hands-on research activities, because the best way to learn methodology is by actually doing research. The class activities will sometimes involve the examination of already published examples of qualitative research. Students will also practice designing and implementing their own small research projects. The aim, then, is to encourage as much involvement on the part of students as possible. In-class exercises will also invite more active learning on the part of students. Case studies and group work will also be used as a teaching learning approach through out the course.

 

Assessment:

Continuous Assessment:                               60%

            Homework:                            10%

            Data collection practice:        20%

            Small projects:                        20%

            Research proposal:                 10%

           

End of Session Assessment:                           40%

            Report presentation:              10%

            Final research report:                         30%

Pre-requisite: Students must have successfully completed Introduction to Sociology (SOCS 111), Cultural Anthropology (SOCS 121), and Social Theory (SOCS 122) prior to enrolling in this module.

 

Subject Matter:

  • Introduction: Sociology as a Social Science; what is Social Research? Principles/Standards of scientific research; Methodology and methods; Varieties of Method; Nature of Social Inquiry, quantitative and qualitative research – key similarities and differences.
  • Historical Background: Early Social Surveys and Anthropological Studies; Descriptive Studies of the Chicago School; Giddens’ new rules of sociological method.
  • Theoretical Perspectives: Understanding social relationships; Elements of the sociological imagination; on the qualitative basis of the social construction of reality; Overview of the main theoretical perspectives/paradigms in qualitative research; Positivism and Empiricism; Interpretive Sociology; Critical Sociology.
  • Design/ Preparation: Defining Research Design; Essential Steps in the Life of a Research Project; Elements of Sampling, Survey and Project Site Selection in Field Research; Ethical Issues in Research
  • Qualitative Research Technique and Tools: Observation and Interview Techniques(Participant Observation; Field Interview; Key Informant Interview; Group Interview; In-depth Interview); Case Study; Monitoring and Evaluation Modalities; Surveillance; Historical Methods (including Genealogical, Archaeological and Dialectical Materialist).
  • Analysis and Interpretation:  Hermeneutics and scientific evidence; Content Analysis, incorporating critical/interpretative techniques; Thick Description; Critical Analysis; Secondary Data Analysis; Validity and Reliability issues.
  • Insight into Writing Research Proposal and Reports

 

Reading List:

Textbook:

 

Reference:

Abbott, Andrew.  (2004)  Methods of Discovery: Heuristics for the Social Sciences.  New

York: W.W. Norton.

Adler, Patricia A. & Adler, P.  (2003) (Spring) “The Promise and Pitfalls of Going into the Field.”  Contexts.  Pp.41-47.

Becker, Howard S. (1998) Tricks of the Trade. How to Think About Your Research While

You Are Doing It. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Becker, Howard S. (2001) “The Epistemology of Qualitative Research.”  Pages 317-330

in Contemporary Field Research, second edition.  Robert M. Emerson, editor. 

Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press.

 

Burawoy, Michael. (1998) “The Extended Case Method.” Sociological Theory 16(1): 4-

33.

Dey, Ian.  (1999). Grounding Grounded Theory: Guidelines for Qualitative Inquiry.  Academic Press.

Emerson, Robert M., Rachel I. Fretz & Shaw, Linda L.  (1995). Writing Ethnographic

Fieldnotes.  Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Fourcade-Gourinchas, M & Babb, S.  (2002)  “The Rebirth of the Liberal Creed: Paths to Neoliberalism in Four Countries.” American Journal of Sociology 107(9): 533-579.

Geertz, Clifford.  (2001). “Thick Description:  Toward an Interpretive Theory of Culture.”  Ch. 1, pp. 55-75 in Contemporary Field Research (2nd ed) ed. Robert M. Emerson.  Prospect Heights, Illinois: Waveland Press.

Gille, Z. and S. Riain.  (2002). “Global Ethnography.”  Annual Review of Sociology 28:271–95.

Goffman, Erving.  (2001).  “On Fieldwork.”  Ch. 5, pp. 153-158 in Contemporary Field Research (2nd ed) ed. Robert M. Emerson.  Prospect Heights, Illinois: Waveland Press.

King, G.,  Keohane, R., & Verba. S. (1994).  Designing Social Inquiry:  Scientific Inference in Qualitative Research.  Princeton:  Princeton University Press.

Maples, N.  (2003).  Feminism and Method:  Ethnography, Discourse Analysis, and Activist Research.  New York: Routledge.

Ragin, Charles C.  (1994).  Constructing Social Research: the Unity and Diversity of Method. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press.

Richardson,  Laurel.  (1994).  “Writing:  A Method of Inquiry.”  Pp. 516-529 in Handbook of Qualitative Research ed. N. Denzin and Y. Lincoln.  Thousand Oaks: Sage.

Riley, Dylan.  (2005). “Civic Associations and Authoritarian Regimes in Inter-War  Europe: Italy and Spain in Comparative Perspective.” American Sociological Review 70(2): 288-310.

Singleton, Jr., Royce & Bruce C. Straits. (2004). Approaches to Social Research.  4th Edition, Oxford University Press.

Skocpol, Theda and Margaret Somers. (1980)  “The Uses of Comparative History in Macrosocial Inquiry.” Comparative Studies in Society and History 22(2): 174-97.

Snow, David P and Danny Trom.  (2002)   “The Case Study and the Study of Social Movements” Ch. 6 pp. 146-172 in Social Movement Research eds. Bert Klandermans and Suzanne Staggenborg.  Minneapolis:  University of Minnesota.

Weiss, Robert.  (1995). Learning from Strangers: The Art and Method of Qualitative Interview Studies.  New York: Free Press.

 

Date: November 2008

 

 
Royal Thimphu College