Introductory description

The module will introduce qualitative research, examine its philosophical foundations and provide an introductory overview of the different traditions that are usually subsumed under the label. The module will be introductory in character, and will be accessible to students without prior knowledge of the topic. The module will combine lectures, individual and group online tasks between classes, and hands on in-class activities.

At the end of the module the students should:

• Recognise the key philosophical traditions that support and inform qualitative research.
• Be familiar with debates surrounding the key methods for collecting and analysing qualitative data.
• Understand more about what methods practically involve, in terms of data collection techniques and data analysis
• Understand philosophical implications of seemingly mundane or pragmatic data collection / analysis choices
• To be able to think more critically and insightfully about the methods you will use during your Ph.D.

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

The philosophical backdrop of qualitative research. Including interpretivism, phenomenology, critical theory and postmodernism.
The differences between qualitative and qualitative strategies of inquiry in business and management research.
An overview of the core methods of qualitative data collection and analysis, including Interviews, ethnography and discourse analysis.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Be familiar with debates surrounding the key methods for collecting and analysing qualitative data.
• Recognise the key philosophical traditions that support and inform qualitative research.
• Understand philosophical implications of seemingly mundane or pragmatic data collection / analysis choices
• Understand and apply key concepts that cut across all methods of qualitative research, including ethics, reflexivity and politics
• Understand more about what methods practically involve, in terms of data collection techniques and data analysis.

Indicative reading list

Benwell, B.M. & Stokoe, E. (2008). Discourse and identity. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Charmaz, C. (2001). Qualitative interviewing and grounded theory, in Gubrium, J.F. and Holstein, J.A. (eds) Handbook of interview research: Context and method. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications (pp.675-694).
Hammersley, M. and Atkinson, P. (1995). Ethnography: Principles in Practices, (2nd Edition) London: Routledge.
Heath, C., Hindmarsh, J and Paul Luff. (2010). Video in Qualitative Research. London: Sage.
John Van Maanen, J. and Deborah Kolb, D. (1983) The Professional: Observations on fieldwork roles in two organizational settings. In S.B. Bacharach (ed) Perspectives in Organizational Sociology, Vol. 4. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press; 1-33.
Jovanovic, G. (2011). Towards a Social History of Qualitative Research. History of the Human Sciences, 24(2): 1-27.
Mann, S. (2011). A critical review of qualitative interviews in Applied Linguistics. Applied Linguistics, 32(1): 6-24.
Packer, M.J. (2011). The science of qualitative research. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Potter, J. and Hepburn, A. (2005). Qualitative interviews in psychology: problems and possibilities’. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 2(4): 281–307.
Silverman ,D. (2007). A Very Short, Fairly Interesting and Reasonably Cheap Book about Qualitative Research. London: Sage.
Wetherell, M., S. Taylor and S. Yates (eds.). (2001). Discourse as data: a guide for analysis. London : Sage. Wetherell, M. & Potter, J. (1987). Discourse and social psychology : beyond attitudes and behaviour. London: Sage

Subject specific skills

To understand the subject specific implications of philosophical concepts and categories.

Transferable skills

Understand the difference between the quantitative and qualitative research traditions and what qualitative methods
practically involve, in terms of data collection techniques and data analysis.