SYLLABUS
EDF 6475
Qualitative Research I – Methods
Instructor:
Office Phone:
Home Phone:
Email:
Office Hours:
Russ Yocum
(850) 595-0005 (M-F, 8:30am – 4:00pm)
(850) 934-9064 Cell Phone: (850) 217-4726
ryocum@uwf.edu
Call or email for appointment
CATALOG DESCRIPTION: (3 HOURS). This course enables graduate students to
comprehend and apply new research paradigms, strategies, and techniques to better
understand social change and cultural settings. Qualitative research concepts, theories,
and methods offer an empirical basis to explore nonnumeric data. Students will
experience and practice a variety of qualitative applied research techniques designed to
enhance learning.
REQUIRED RESOURCES:
 Megan Comfort, Doing Time Together: Love and Family in the Shadow of the
Prison (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008). ISBN: 0226114635
 Mitchell Duneier, Slim’s Table: Race, Masculinity, and Respectability (Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1994). ISBN: 0226170314
 Michael Patton, Qualitative Research & Evaluation Methods (Thousand Oaks,
CA: Sage Publications, 2001, 3rd ed.). ISBN: 0761919716
 Mary F. Rogers, Barbie Culture (London: Sage Publications, 1999). ISBN:
0761958886
 Thomas A. Schwandt, The Sage Dictionary of Qualitative Inquiry (Thousand
Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2007, 3rd ed.). ISBN: 1412909279
RECOMMENDED RESOURCE:
 Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (American
Psychological Association, 2009, 6th ed.). ISBN: 1433805618
eLearning:
Course instruction will be enhanced with the eLearning management system. Access and
on-line assistance available at http://uwf.edu/its/instructionandresearch/elearning.cfm
STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES:
1. Students will be able to identify and apply the major concepts, terms, issues and
techniques of qualitative research.
2. Students will be able to recognize and employ the theoretical perspectives relevant to
qualitative research.
3. Students will be able to demonstrate a limited proficiency in the fieldwork skills of
observation, interviewing, and data interpretation.
4. Students will be able to conceptualize and illustrate the appropriate methodology to
support a qualitative research study proposal with a clear purpose and focus.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
1. Assigned readings should be completed prior to each week’s session. Students are
expected to be prepared to engage in critical discourse on the assigned reading material.
2. In order to develop and maintain a vital online learning community, participation in
class threaded discussions is essential for this course. For each threaded discussion topic
students should compose one original post and two replies of paragraph (5-6 sentences)
length (unless the discussion prompt instructs otherwise). Participation will count for 10
percent of your overall grade for the course.
3. Four written assignments and 2 field exercises will be assigned during the semester.
The instructions/requirements for each of these assignments and exercises will be
provided during the semester. All written assignments must be submitted on the dates
indicated. The required format is the current version of the American Psychological
Association (APA) Publication Manual. Plagiarism may result in grade reduction or
failure of the course.
4. A penalty may be assessed for assignments submitted after the due date.
COURSE EVALUATION:
Written Assignments (4 @ 15 points each) 60
Field Exercises (2 @ 15 points each)
30
Participation
10
___
100 TOTAL POINTS
EVALUATION PROCEDURES:
The final letter grade for the course is awarded based upon the percentage of 100 points.
A = 95%
B- = 80%
D+ = 67%
A- = 90%
C+ = 77%
D = 64%
B+ = 87%
C = 74%
F = 0/63%
B = 84%
C- = 70%
Special Needs: If you have a need for any in-class accommodations or special test-taking
arrangements because of a physical and/or perceptual limitation, please contact me as
soon as possible.
NB: Everyone is more refreshed and energetic at the beginning of the semester! The
reading schedule is deliberately more intensive at first to take full advantage of this.
WEEKLY ASSIGNMENT & READING SCHEDULE:
Week 1: Qualitative Inquiry – Basic Terminology, Assumptions, and Purposes
Duneier, Chs. 1-4
Patton, Chs. 1-3
Schwandt, pp. xvii-xxxiv
Terms from Schwandt’s dictionary:
 description
 dualism
 empiricism
 epistemology
 generating data
 knowledge
 language
 methodology
 qualitative inquiry
 quantitative
 science
 theory, types of and uses of
Agenda:
 Establish a caring community of learners, update student profiles
 Begin to learn terms relevant to qualitative inquiry and apply those terms to
threaded discussions regarding the week’s assigned readings
 Begin to overcome any misconceptions concerning the nature of qualitative
research
Week 2: Theoretical Perspectives, Ethics & Fieldwork
Duneier, Chs. 5-10
Kelly & Kaczynski Online Reading
Patton, Chs. 4-6
Terms from Schwandt:
 representation
 crisis of representation
 ethics of qualitative inquiry
 ethnography
 field through fieldwork
 member check
 participant observation
 reflexivity
 symbolic interactionism
 thick description
 triangulation
Agenda:
 Complete NIH training modules for human participant research, post certification
to dropbox
 Participate in threaded discussions regarding the assigned readings
 Participate in threaded discussions to identify your purpose and focus (suitable
for study by qualitative methods) for conducting fieldwork
 View sample field notes and develop your preferred field note format
 Written Assignment 1 due in the dropbox before midnight on Sunday
Week 3: Theoretical Perspectives, Ethics & Fieldwork (cont.)
Comfort, pp. ix-64
Patton, Ch. 7
Terms from Schwandt:
 authenticity; authenticity criteria
 case; case study research
 culture
 emergent design
 emic/etic
 ethnographic methods
 generalization
 insider/outsider perspective
 interpretation
 meaning
 phenomenology
 thick description
Agenda:
 Begin conducting observations for Field Exercise 1
 Participate in threaded discussions regarding the assigned readings
 Participate in Written Assignment 1 peer assessment threaded discussion
Week 4: Ethnographic Praxis & More Fieldwork
Comfort, pp. 65-125
Patton, Ch. 8
Terms from Schwandt:
 Lebenswelt
 experience; lived experience
 multiple realities
 method
 trustworthiness criteria
 understanding
 voice
 Weltanschauung
Agenda:
 Complete Field Exercise 1, due in the dropbox before midnight on Sunday
 Participate in threaded discussions regarding the assigned readings
Week 5: Archival Research & Grounded Theory
Comfort, pp. 126-184
Patton, Ch. 9
Terms from Schwandt:
 grounded theory methodology
 hermeneutics
 inductive analysis
 semiotics
 teleology
Agenda:
 Participate in Field Exercise 1 peer assessment threaded discussion
 Participate in threaded discussions regarding the assigned readings
Week 6: Site Documents & Document Analysis
Comfort, pp. 185-230
Terms from Schwandt:
 content analysis
 document analysis
 historicism
 historicity
 text
 textual analysis
Agenda:
 Participate in threaded discussions regarding the assigned readings
Week 7: Popular Culture & Cultural Studies
Rogers, pp. ix-35
Terms from Schwandt:
 body
 bricolage/bricoleur
 coding
 content analysis
 critical hermeneutics
 critical social science
 cultural studies
 essentialism
 identity
 ideology
Agenda:
 Complete Written Assignment 2, due in the dropbox before midnight on Sunday
 Participate in threaded discussions regarding the assigned readings
Week 8: Popular Culture & Cultural Studies (cont.)
Rogers, pp. 36-85
Terms form Schwandt:
 discourse
 discourse theory
 dramaturgy
 feminist epistemologies
 fidelity to method
 hyperreality
Agenda:
 Begin conducting observations for Field Exercise 2
 Participate in Written Assignment 2 peer assessment threaded discussion
 Participate in threaded discussions regarding the assigned readings
Week 9: Postmodernism & QDAS
Lewins & Silver Online Reading
Rogers, pp. 86-135
Terms form Schwandt:
 action research
 narrative to narrative realism
 performance/performativity
 positivism to poststructuralism
Agenda:
 Research varying QDAS options
 Participate in threaded discussions regarding the assigned readings
Week 10: Selfhood & QDAS
Rogers, pp. 136-157
 insider/outsider perspective
 life-world
 politics of research
Agenda:
 Participate in QDAS threaded discussion
 Participate in threaded discussions regarding the assigned readings
Week 11: Developing Vocabulary
Terms from Schwandt:
 agency
 case
 case study research
 fact/value distinction
Agenda:
 Complete Field Exercise 2, due in the dropbox before midnight on Sunday
 Participate in threaded discussions regarding the assigned readings
 Participate in video analysis threaded discussion
Week 12: Developing Vocabulary (cont.)
Terms from Schwandt:
 authority
 causal analysis/causality
 constructionism
 critical theory
 data
 d-n explanation
 descriptive statistics
 educational ethnography
 experience
 generalization
 mixed methods research
 objectivity
 voice
Agenda:
 Written Assignment 3 due in dropbox before midnight on Sunday
 Participate in Field Exercise 2 peer assessment threaded discussion
 Participate in threaded discussions regarding the assigned readings
 Participate in artwork analysis threaded discussion
Week 13: Developing Vocabulary (cont.)
Terms from Schwandt:
 autoethnography
 credibility
 crisis of legitimation
 dependability
 dialogue
 empowerment
 informed consent
 liminality naturalistic inquiry
 pluralism
 pragmatism
 standpoint epistemologies
 thematic analysis
 uses of qualitative inquiry
 verstehen
 verstehende sociology
 Weltanschauung
Agenda:
 Written Assignment 4 due in the dropbox before midnight on Friday
 Participate in Written Assignment 3 peer assessment threaded discussion
 Participate in threaded discussions regarding the assigned readings
 Participate in photo analysis threaded discussion