Advanced Qualitative Methods

What does it mean to feel politically represented? How does the citizen-state encounter play out in different settings? How do members of the elite justify their power? Why do citizens (not) protest the dictatorship, and what meaning do they attach to their (‘non’)actions? How do civil servants understand their own role? How are class differences reproduced through the behaviour of children and teachers in school settings? What does it entail to be a good vs. a bad citizen, and how do young people from different ethnic backgrounds relate to the categories?

Answering these and many other key political science questions is next to impossible without qualitative data and qualitative analytical methods. This seminar therefore presents the qualitative toolbox to enable students to assess qualitative research and apply qualitative methods themselves.

The seminar is divided into four blocks. First, we discuss the nature of qualitative data and what qualitative methods entail. This block includes reflections on which research questions  are suitably studied using qualitative methods. In addition, we address the question of what makes qualitative approaches unique, including how they can support, challenge, and nuance other methodological approaches. This first part is followed by two blocks, each of which delves into a specific qualitative data collection method: observation and interviewing. During the seminar, students will work with these methods themselves and test them in structured processes with access to supervision. The final block of the seminar focuses on the analysis of qualitative text data. We work with systematic and flexible analyses of words, statements, and interpretations, including how to present the results of qualitative text analysis. This block also includes an introduction to specific tools in the analysis program NVivo.

The seminar is relevant for students who wish to expand their methodological toolbox and gain a better understanding of what qualitative approaches can offer. These skills are often relevant during thesis writing, where many students end up using qualitative data and analytical approaches, just as many political science students will be working with qualitative approaches after graduation.

The seminar's teaching is dynamic and consists of a combination of teacher presentations, group exercises, student presentations and independent work with the methods. The students are expected to work with the methods themselves and to engage with other students’ and researchers' use of the methods. Because the course centres on learning specific methodological skills, we expect students’ active participation in all seminar activities, including data collection between classes. We offer supervision on an ongoing basis; especially in connection with the preparation of the final assignment.

It is a prerequisite that the students have basic competences in qualitative methodology corresponding to the teaching in methodology on the Bachelor's degree programme in political science.

Students who complete the course will be able to

• Independently formulate research questions that can be answered using qualitative text sources such as interviews and observation
• Present and provide arguments for a suitable research design to investigate the research question
• Argue for, apply and critically evaluate different methods for collecting qualitative data
• Argue for, apply and critically evaluate different methods for analysing qualitative text sources
• Present results of qualitative analyses in a clear, nuanced and transparent way
• Compare and critically evaluate qualitative research designs, studies and analyses, taking into account relevant research criteria
• Discuss the ethical aspects of the design, methods and analyses