Course Schedule

 

Week 1 Introduction
9/2 Introduction

 

 

Methods of Knowing

Week 2 The Promise of Qualitative Methods: Two Qualitative Classics
9/7 Workshop: Observing a Scene

Workshop assignment (one week): 400-500 words of fieldnotes on an hour or so of observations of a social scene, with a partner from the class.

9/9 Seminar

 

Week 3 The Case for Thick Cases Studies
9/14 Seminar

9/16 Workshop: Participating in a Scene

Workshop assignment (two weeks): 700-800 words of fieldnotes on an hour or so of participation in a social scene, with a partner from the class.

 

Week 4 Standpoints and Representations
9/21 Seminar

9/23 Workshop: Taking Yourself into Account

No new workshop assignment.

 

Week 5 Grounding Research
9/28 Seminar

9/30 Workshop: Autoethnographic Methods

Workshop assignment: 800-1000 words based on the following: conduct an hour of participation in a social scene while a partner from the class observes you; reverse roles; write up 400-500 words on your observations of yourself and 400-500 words on your observations of your partner; compare observations.

 

Week 6 Action, Participation, and Objectivity
10/5 Seminar

10/7 Workshop: Ethics and Institutions

No new workshop assignment.

 

Methods of Gathering

Week 7 Observing
10/12 Seminar

10/14 Workshop: Studying Situations

Workshop assignment: Audio and video recorded in-class exercise on the presentation of self; no write-up

Research proposal topic statement due. 

 

Week 8 Participating
10/19 Seminar

10/21 Workshop: Participating in Situations

Workshop assignment: 800-1000 word analysis of the previous week’s exercise, based on in-class discussion of the audio and video of the previous week’s exercise

 

Week 9 Investigating
10/26 Seminar

10/28 Workshop: Investigating Situations

Workshop assignment (two weeks): 800-1000 words on something social you found out, based on investigations conducted with a partner from the class

 

Week 10 Interviewing
11/2 Seminar

11/4 Workshop: Conducting and Transcribing an Interview

Workshop assignment: Audio and video recorded in-class exercise on interviewing; no write-up

Research proposal epistemological statement due.

 

Week 11 Mixing Methods
11/9 Seminar

11/11 Workshop: Coding Qualitative Evidence

Workshop assignment: transcribe 250 words from the previous week’s exercise, and provide a short interview summary and short interview notes

 

Methods of Telling

Week 12 Performing a Narrative
11/16 Seminar

11/18  Workshop: Voicing Qualitative Evidence

Workshop assignment: rewrite the 250 words from the previous exercise in two voicings, one positivist and one novelistic

 

Week 13 Narrative as Artform
11/23 Seminar/Workshop

Research poem due. No workshop assignment.

 

Weeks 14 and 15 Proposal Writing Workshops
11/30, 12/2, 12/7, and 12/9: Workshops on student research proposals.

 

Weeks 16 Un-Final Un-Exam

12/14

An ungraded, in-class, collective exercise.