INFO 272. Qualitative Research Methods

 http://courses.ischool.berkeley.edu/i272/ s08/index.html
 Lofland and Lofland, Analyzing Social
Settings
 Course Reader (at Copy Central)
 Course equipment (audio recording device and some notecards)

 Is there such a thing?
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How I’m bounding the subject matter for this course:
In situ – the setting where the social process under study takes place
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An inductive approach
Reflexive – the researcher as instrument

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Gain hands on experience with various qualitative methods and feedback on technique
Learn to match research interests with appropriate methodological approaches and to understand what can and can’t be said about a certain corpus of data
Learn how to negotiate the logistical limits and ethical issues inherent in any research practice
The develop a better and broader understanding of the relationship between data and knowledge

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“The Nature of Knowing, Social Reality, and Procedures for Comprehending these
Phenomena”
[Bauer and Gaskell]
[OED] epistemology the branch of philosophy that deals with knowledge, especially with regard to its methods, validity, and scope.

Functional equivalence

 Habermas, Knowledge and Human
Interests
1.
Control ‘empirical-analytic’
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3.
Consensus ‘historical-hermeneutic’
Emancipation ‘critical’

getting in, getting along, getting out, and consequences:
 framework within which the ‘real’ research is conducted
 administrative aspects of research
 ethical issues
 see Lofland and Lofland

The Study of Information and Technology
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Incorporating material culture (‘technology’ in particular) into research practice
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 as object of analysis as ‘probes’ in data elicitation strategies
 Theories about the role of the material world in social order
 Theories about the production/design and consumption/use of material objects as a social process

Qualitative Research in the ‘Real’ World
 the wider perspective
 theory development and testing / academia
 advocacy / non-profit sector, NGOs, journalism
 policy design and development / government,
NGOs
 public information service / media, journalism
 product design, marketing, business strategy / corporate domain
 innovation, inspiration, creativity / design research, fine arts

Qualitative Research in the ‘Real’ World
• time factors
• # of informants
• funding
• ‘validity’ requirements
• level of formality marketing policy design and development advocacy journalism innovation & inspiration product design informal methodological approach formal

‘impenetrable devices’ on display at National
Ornamental Metal Museum, Memphis
By WOODY BAIRD Associated Press Writer
His inspiration for the anti-rape devices comes from interviews he had with five victims of sexual assault who were trying to regain a sense of physical safety. What they wanted, Sherman said, was body armor.
"When you talk with someone who's been raped, you start getting details that are just horrifying.
That horror I transform into my work," Sherman said. "But if I were to make pieces horribly ugly and brutal, there's no redemption. The beauty of the work has a kind of redemptive quality.“

 Field Notes, due 2/21/08 (15%)
 A participant-observation exercise the whole class will collaborate on

 Interviews, due 4/3/08 (20%)
 Two interviews (transcribed)
 Get outside of your comfort zone and beyond the campus community

 Final Project, due 5/8/08 (55%)
 Your choice
 Build on earlier assignments
 Do some preliminary work for your thesis
 Or do something entirely new

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Lectures
Workshop and Discussion
Guest speakers

What are the hallmarks of high quality, well-conducted research?
What terms come to mind?
[Social Research Update,
University of Surrey]