Postgraduate Course: Conducting Qualitative Research (REDU12004)

Course Outline
School	Moray House School of Education	College	College of Humanities and Social Science
Credit level (Normal year taken)	SCQF Level 12 (Postgraduate)	Availability	Not available to visiting students
SCQF Credits	20	ECTS Credits	10
Summary	This course draws and builds on the knowledge that participants have acquired from earlier courses concerning the epistemology and ontology of social science research, and at the same time acts as a bridge to the work that participants pursue in the Thesis Preparation strand in firming up the research designs and plans for data analysis in their own theses. In addition to exploring the nature of qualitative data and the assumptions about social reality which underpin interpretative approaches, the course examines the strengths and weaknesses of the main approaches to data gathering in the qualitative tradition. Central emphasis is given to exploring approaches to, and the practicalities of, data gathering and analysis. A key concern here is to bring participants to connect up general issues and debates in the literature on qualitative research with the day-to-day realities of their own practice. To assist in establishing connections between theoretical frameworks and personal research practice, learning/teaching activities tend to centre on moving from the examination of participants' own experiences in small-scale exercises in data collection and analysis to the consideration of general issues in the methodology literature. Attention is also given to considering the kinds of research claims that interpretative approaches can make.
Course description	Not entered

Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites		Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations		Other requirements	None

Course Delivery Information

Academic year 2017/18, Not available to visiting students (SS1)		Quota: None
Course Start	Full Year
Timetable	Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info)	Please contact the School directly for a breakdown of Learning and Teaching Activities
Assessment (Further Info)	Please contact the School directly for a breakdown of Assessment Methods
Additional Information (Assessment)	Either an analytical report of 4,000-5,000 words on a small research project carried out by the course participant her or himself which gives close attention to methodological issues and qualitative research procedures, or an assignment of 4,000-5,000 words which engages with central themes of the course negotiated with the tutors or drawn from a list of assessment topics.
Feedback	Not entered
No Exam Information

Learning Outcomes
It is expected that successful engagement with the course's purposes and activities will allow a participant to: demonstrate the capacity to draw on relevant literature on qualitative research in an analytical fashion to frame their own research inquiries and to consider issues that arise in everyday research practice display an analytical approach to issues in, and the practices of, producing and analysing qualitative data display a well argued personal interpretation of issues and controversies in qualitative research show the capacity to design and implement a piece of qualitative research and to analyse qualitative data to the standards expected at this level of study demonstrate the capacity to reflect in a well-principled manner on ethical issues in conducting research, analysing data and reporting