This course is designed to provide master students with an overview of qualitative methods. Students will learn how to design, collect and analyze data and write qualitative research. The course will use asynchronous learning along with practical assignments to provide students with an understanding of the purpose and use of qualitative methods. The course covers methods and data in qualitative research, addressing advantages and challenges with qualitative methods. The course also makes students familiar with digital tools and techniques.

Knowledge and understanding Upon completion of the course, students will have developed the following knowledge and skills: explain general aspects of qualitative research methods comparing qualitative and quantitative methods identifying the main steps in conducting qualitative research developing an understanding of different methods Identifying and discussing various approaches to data collection following a step-by-step process to formulate relevant, original and interesting research questions articulating a research plan to answer the research questions collecting and analyzing data to answer the research questions use of digital data and tools to support qualitative research conducting and presenting research outcomes evaluating the quality of the research based on the evaluation criteria Applying knowledge and understanding Upon completion of this course, students should be able: to apply qualitative methods to answer research questions to design a research project to interpret and analyze qualitative data to assess various research methods to understand the challenges and advantages of research methods Making Judgements Upon completing the study program, students will be able to: make informed decision about the type of research design and the adequate tools for given questions be able to compare and contrast qualitative and quantitative design Communication Skills The student will indeed be able to tailor and communicate their research projects to different audiences to gain the appropriate terminology related to research methods to report and disseminate their research results Learning Skills The course facilitates the development of learning skills through discussion, reflections, analysis, conducting a project, and various activities. Various online collaborative tools will be used in the process which will facilitate the learning process

The course will encourage students to make an enquiry and provide them with methods and techniques to develop rigorous and relevant research. Along the course, students will learn how to formulate a research question, how to define the research design, how to collect data, how to analyze data, and how to report results. The course also will make students familiar with digital tools and underline ethical issues in planning the research, collecting and analyzing data, and reporting findings. The course will explore the main aspects pertaining to Qualitative Design from formulating a research question, the adequate means of collecting data and the know-hows regarding data analysis to and digital data and tools and the importance of ethics it this type of research. The weekly modules will address the following topics: An Overview: An introduction of qualitative research methods covering general aspects of this method and the importance of qualitative research in social sciences and how it compares with quantitative methods, whilst also presenting students with a step-by-step process of how to formulate relevant, original and interesting research questions Data Collection: Identify and discuss the concepts of data collection (collecting data for case study, conducting interviews, observation, focus group, ethnography, digital data) Data Analysis: Compare the various ways of data analysis (interpretation, coding, memoing) and the digital tools that can support qualitative studies Reporting and Presentation: Provide an overview of different reporting formats and structures and how to best report findings in qualitative research Importance of Ethics: Evaluate the quality of qualitative research and explain the importance of ethics in conducting qualitative design research

Flick, 2018, The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Data Collection, SAGE Publications Ltd Flick, 2007, Designing Qualitative Research, SAGE Publications Ltd Digital Tools for Qualitative Research, Paulus et al., 2015

Asynchronous TA consultations Group work Open discussions Project Work and Presentation

Students will be evaluated on the following activities: graded quizzes (30%) [Individual], individual assignments (10%) group activities (50%) in-person evalution (10%) Sufficient grade needed in all of them. The final group project will be also assessed through a peer-evaluation system. There will not be a mid-term exam nor a written exam. Further information will be uploaded in the course platform explaining WHEN and HOW the in-person evaluation will take place.

Active attendance at the course; Quality of the proposed issue for the thesis.