What is Qualitative Research?

Required Reading:

1. Grbich chapters 1-2
2. Kuper et al. "An introduction to reading and appraising qualitative research." BMJ (Clinical research ed) (2008) vol. 337 pp. a288

Note/Slide Files: QRM 2010 lecture01 06 Jan.pdf (1409 KB)

Assignment:
Assignment 1 (due via email by 19 Jan @ 9 am)
Prepare qualitative research prospectus (~1 page) that includes the following information: a) research question, including significance and brief background; b) proposed approach; c) proposed subjects or field sites; d) anticipated outcomes, including challenges and most significant barriers to be addressed.

Qualitative Project and Product

Required Reading:

1. Charmaz chps 1-2
2. Grbich chp 5

Note/Slide Files: QRM 2010 lecture02 13Jan pdf.pdf (332 KB)

Tool Files: QRM depth iv guides exemplar.doc (36 KB) QRM info sheet exemplar.doc (29 KB) QRM IRB exemplar.doc (206 KB) QRM iv consent exemplar.doc (60 KB) QRM verbal consent scripts exemplar.doc (32 KB)

Video-Recorded Observation

Required Reading:

1. Mackenzie and Xiao. Video techniques and data compared with observation in emergency trauma care. Quality & safety in health care (2003) vol. 12 Suppl 2 pp. ii51-7
2. Hodges et al. Discourse analysis. BMJ (Clinical research ed) (2008) vol. 337 pp. a879

Interviews and Focus Groups

Required Reading:

1. Dohan, Daniel. "Managing indigent care: a case study of a safety-net emergency department." Health services research (2002) vol. 37 (2) pp. 361-76
2. Dohan, Daniel and Marya Levintova. "Barriers beyond words: cancer, culture, and translation in a community of Russian speakers." Journal of general internal medicine (2007) vol. 22 Suppl 2 pp. 300-5

Note/Slide Files: QRM 2010 lecture04 26Jan pdf.pdf (74 KB)

Assignment:
Assignment 2 (due Feb 9):
Building on your 1-page research prospectus, develop a qualitative data collection protocol (approximately 2-4 pages). The protocol should include information about (a) field sites and how you’ll gain and maintain access; (b) who you will be working with to collect data in the field sites and how you will carry out the logistics of data collection; (c) how you will manage informed consent; (d) your plan to integrate data collection and analysis via theoretical or purposeful sampling as the project continues.

Community Based Participatory Research

Required Reading:

1. Charmaz chps 3-4

Note/Slide Files: QRM 2010 lecture05 02Feb pdf.pdf (170 KB)

Coding and Memo’ing

Required Reading:

1. Grbich Part 5 (chp 17)

Note/Slide Files: QRM 2010 Lecture06 09Feb pdf.pdf (182 KB)

Assignment:
Assignment 3 (due Feb 23):
Continue analytical work through coding data and writing memos. Develop a 3-5 page analytical diary to document your work. This diary should document the codes you develop (including those adopted and discarded), experiences applying the codes to your data, and self-reflexive and substantive memos.

Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis: What It Does and Doesn’t Do

Required Reading:

1. Grbich Part 4 (chps 14-16)
2. Charmaz chp 7

Note/Slide Files: QRM 2010 Lecture07 16Feb pdf.pdf (66 KB)

Making the Argument: Transforming Codes and Memos into Findings

Note/Slide Files: Concept Model exemplars.pdf (371 KB) QRM 2010 Lecture08 23Feb pdf.pdf (227 KB)

Assignment:
Final Paper


** Due: Friday MARCH 19 @ 5 PM ** FIRM!!!

Format: There are 2 formats for the final paper. Please pick only 1 option below.


Option 1: Paper or Grant (best for those working on "real" projects/data)

Write a 5-7 page (1500-2250 word) paper or grant that uses qualitative methods in the service of a well-defined research question. The paper/grant should include the following sections:
(a) the question addressed or to be addressed, including brief background (no more than 1 page);
(b) the qualitative methods used/proposed to address the question (2-3 pages);
(c) analyses conducted or planned (1-2 pages);
(d) brief description of preliminary or anticipated results (1-2 pages).

Option 2: Course Portfolio (best for those working with "hypothetical" project/data)

A portfolio is a purposeful and longitudinal collection of learner-selected work that exhibits effort, progress or achievement and includes evidence of learner reflection. For option 2, develop a 5-7 page (1500-2250 word) portfolio that illustrates the skills, competencies, and insights you gathered in this seminar. Use examples from class assignments as illustrations, and annotate your examples to provide evidence of self-reflection. – e.g. explicitly describe what each example illustrates in terms of your own effort, progress or achievement in the seminar.
You may organize your portfolio however seems best to illustrate your work in the course. A portfolio might be organized in to the following sections:
(a) Starting Points: Describe your understanding of qualitative methods before the course. Select and annotate a portion of Assignment 1 to illustrate your level of understanding. Highlight emerging ideas that appear in the example or foreshadow issues that you will grapple with as the course progresses (1-2 pages);
(b) Concrete Steps: Using an example from Assignment 2, reflect on the process of qualitative data collection. Describe how the seminar influenced your view of data, or reflect on how qualitative data fits (or not) in the scientific enterprise. Criticize or challenge qualitative approaches but do so constructively by connecting your critique to issues reviewed or discussed in class such as the presentations, discussions and readings of sessions 3-5 (2-3 pages);
(c) Analysis and Future Directions: Reflect on qualitative analysis and write-up, using examples from Assignment 3 or from in-class exercises. What issues did these exercises raise for you? What was fulfilling and/or challenging in the process? How did it connect to other sorts of analysis you have conducted or to how you read the scientific literature in your field? Do you see a role for qualitative analysis in your future work? If so, what might that role be, and if not, what considerations lead you to that conclusion? (2-3 pages).

Project Presentations

Assignment:
Presentors:
Tina
Anand
Adithya
Yvette
Delphine
Carolyn
Robin (?)

Project Presentations

Assignment:
Presentors:
Michelle
Elizabeth
Dave
Parya
Rebecca
Henry
Robin?