Qualitative Research Methods

CHDV 39301
Winter 2015

Les Beldo
Office: RO 331A
Meetings by appointment
beldo@uchicago.edu

Course Description:

The goal of this course is for students to learn a range of qualitative research methods,
understand the uses and limitations of each of these methods, and gain hands-on experience
applying them. The seminar will address the following questions: What constitutes a good
research question? How do we convince other scholars that our research is compelling, valuable,
and important? What distinguishes qualitative research from quantitative research? What is
ethnographic observation, and how do you know you’re doing it well? How can you use
interviews to produce meaningful data? How does one move from data collection to data analysis
to writing? What counts as good evidence, and what gives us the right to make these claims,
anyway? We will address these questions through discussion and through weekly practical
assignments.

Course Requirements:
Your grade for the course will be based on your attendance and participation in class discussions,
prompt completion of weekly assignments, class presentations, and final write-up. Please discuss
it with me in advance if you have to miss a class. All weekly assignments are due on Chalk by
Monday at 5pm unless otherwise specified

Course Texts:
All required course texts will be available in electronic form on the Chalk site or on reserve at
the Regenstein Library.

COURSE SCHEDULE:

Week 1 (Jan 6) – Introductions, possible projects, and plan for the course

Discussion: What does good research look like?

Readings:
Davis, M. S. (1971). That's interesting! Towards a phenomenology of sociology and a
sociology of phenomenology. The Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 1: 309-344.
Week 2 (Jan 13) – Ethnographic Observation: What it is and how to do it

Discussion: What is qualitative research?

Discussion of possible field sites

Preliminary reports from “the field” (optional)

Assignment #1 DUE: List of possible field sites and research questions, with justifications

Readings:
Shweder, R.A. (1996). Quanta and Qualia: What is the “Object” of Ethnographic Method? In,
Ethnography and Human Development: Context and Meaning in Social Inquiry. Richard
Jessor, Anne Colby, and Richard A. Shweder, Eds. Pp. 175-182. Chicago: University of
Chicago Press.
Goffman, I. (1989). “On Fieldwork.” Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 18(2):123-132
Wacquant, L. (2005). “Carnal Connections: On Embodiment, Apprenctice, and Membership.”
Recommended:
Geertz, C. (1973). “Thick Description.” Interpretation of Cultures. NY: Basic Books. (pp. 3-
32)
Malinowski, B. (1922). Argonauts of the Western Pacific. (pp. 1-26).

Week 3 (Jan 20) – Field Notes

Discussion: How to write and manage field notes

Assignment #2 DUE: pilot field notes with preliminary themes

Readings
Emerson, R., Fretz, R., and Shaw, L. (2011). Writing ethnographic field notes (2nd ed.).
Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Chapter 2: "In the field: participating, observing, and
jotting notes" and Chapter 3: "Writing field notes I: At the desk, creating scenes on a page."
Sanjek, Roger (1990). A vocabulary for fieldnotes. Fieldnotes: The Makings of Anthropology.
Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Pp. 92-115.

Week 4 (Jan 27) – Interviewing (I) – Unstructured and Semi-Structured Interviews

Discussion: How to be a good interviewer; person-centered interviewing and life narratives

Assignment #3 DUE: Unstructured Interview

Readings:
Levy, Robert I., and Hollan, Douglas W. (1998). Person-Centered Interviewing and
 Observation. In Handbook of Methods in Cultural Anthropology. H. Russell Bernard, Ed. Pp.
333-364. Walnut Creek, CA: Altamira Press.
Briggs, C. (1986)., Learning How to Ask: A Sociolinguistic Appraisal of the Role of the
Interview in Social Science Research. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (selections
TBD)
Recommended:
Evans-Pritchard, E.E. (1976). The notion of witchcraft explains unfortunate events. In
Witchcraft, oracles, and magic among the Azande. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Pp. 18-32.

Week 5 (Feb 3) – Interviewing (II) – Structured Interviews

Discussion: How to find things out in interviews—strategies and pitfalls

Assignment #4: Moral Reasoning Interview

Readings:
*Pay special attention to the interview procedures in Haidt and the sample interview at the end
of the Shweder & Much chapter
Haidt, J., Koller, S., & Dias, M. (1993). “Affect, culture, and morality, or is it wrong to eat
your dog?” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 65, 613-628.
Shweder, R., & Much, N. “Determinations of Meaning: Discourse and Moral Socialization. In
R. Shweder, Thinking Through Cultures.

Week 6 (Feb 10) – Analysis

Discussion: How do you move from data collection to data analysis?

Using data analysis software
Quantifying qualitative data?

Assignment #5: Identifying themes

Readings:
Quinn, Naomi. (2005). How to Reconstruct Schemas People Share, From What They Say. In
Finding Culture in Talk: A Collection of Methods. Naomi Quinn, ed. Pp. 35-82. New York:
Palgrave MacMillan.

Week 7 (Feb 17) – Evidence, Ethics, and Voicing: Epistemological Problems in Qualitative
Research

Discussion: What right do we have to make claims about the social lives of ourselves and others?
What sort of evidence are we using?
How do we navigate potential ethical problems?

Assignment #6: Two pages on a relevant issue from your field site that where either 1) you think
you might "disagree" with your informants, or 2) where you think you'll disagree with the
academic literature on the topic (or both)

Readings:
Lila Abu-Laghod, “Writing Against Culture.” In R. Fox, Recapturing Anthropology: Working
in the Present
Clifford, James, and George Marcus, Eds. (1986). Writing Culture. Berkeley: University of
California Press. (selections TBD)

Young, Donna J. 2005. Writing against the native point of view. In Anne Meneley and Donna
Young, eds. Auto-Ethnographies: The Anthropology of academic practices (Peterborough,
Ontario: Broadview Press). Pp. 203-215.

Week 8 (Feb 24) – Writing (I)

Discussion: How to turn data and analysis into writing

History for non-historians (or, how to use secondary accounts)

Assignment #7: Potted histories

Readings:
Booth, Colomb, & Williams. The Craft of Research.
—Chapter 5: “From Problems to Sources,” (pp. 68-83).
—Chapter 6: “Engaging Sources,” (pp. 84-101).

Weeks 9 & 10 (Mar 3 & 10) – Writing II

We will spend the final two weeks of the course in a writing workshop format. Each week, half
the group will submit a brief write-up of their findings to Chalk by noon Sunday, which we will
all read and come to class prepared to discuss. You will also serve as discussant for one of your
fellow students.

Final paper DUE March 18th. The final paper will report your findings from your research for
the course, and should be a reflection on (and of) the methodologies you have employed.