240023 PS Qualitative Research Methods (2015W)

The intention of the seminar is to introduce a research process, based on fieldwork and ethnographic methods, to students. This would be done by lecturing and discussing methodological issues with participants of the seminar. Chosen texts, related to the topic of the seminar, would be read and presented by students during seminar sessions. Furthermore, every student would carry out a research project as a member of a research team. In other words, the seminar group would be divided into sub-groups. Research projects would be conducted by undertaking participant observation, interviewing informants and taking notes, while in the field. Fieldworks would be done in an urban context. Visual data, such as photographs, could be used for gathering information and interpreting findings. Every team would write a research report that would include a preliminary analysis of the data. It should be emphasized that ethnographic methods offer a distinctive and reflexive approach to create, interpret and represent knowledge. However, it is not only the modern anthropology that has its roots in a fieldwork tradition and ethnographic approach, but the qualitative research in general. Briefly, the methodological framework and intellectual context that are relevant to scholars who favour qualitative approach is based, profoundly, on ethnographic methods.