QUALITATIVE METHODS FOR SOCIAL RESEARCH

Open in My Luiss

Course code:

EM46

General discipline (SSD):

SPS/07

Course year:

Semester:

Primo Semestre

Partition of students:

Unique

Credits:

Teaching language:

English

Total lesson hours:

Academic year:

2023/2024

Description

Extended program and reference teaching materials

Instructional goals

The course aims at providing to students and introduction to the qualitative methods most commonly used in social and political research. After the course, students will have an encompassing illustration of a wide range of techniques that researchers employ both to gather and analyze qualitative data (data collection and analysis). Furthermore, from a theoretical point of view, the course addresses also the role of qualitative methods within the research process facing issues such as consistency between the research puzzle and qualitative methods, and the potentialities of mixed-method researches (relying on both qualitative and quantitative data and techniques). Furthermore, the course provides an overview of the mostly used qualitative methods like process tracing, frame analysis, in-depth interviews and focus groups. Some hints about the role of Internet and digital technologies (e.g.: the use of social-media data) in the process of data gathering and analysis.

Prerequisites

No specific prerequisite is foreseen for this course

Intended learning outcomes

Student will learn the fundamentals of qualitative methods for social research. This means that, after the course, students will have the possibility to make informed choices concerning the use of qualitative methods in their own research (e.g.: thesis). It is to be noted that the course will also provide students with the necessary tools to potentially apply qualitative methods together with quantitative ones in a mixed-method approach optic.

Course Contents

The content of the course is as follows: - Case studies. How to design them? - Acting as Sherlock Holmes: process tracing - Analyzing texts and speeches: content analysis and claim making - Analyzing texts and speeches: Discourse and frame analysis - Analyzing text and speeches: a mixed method approach - Types of Interviews: surveys, in depth, semi-structured interviews and life histories - Interviews in practice (sampling, contacting, analyzing qualitative data) - Doing social research with focus groups - Focus groups from theory to practice - Grounded Theory & Participatory action research - How to present your qualitative data - Validity, reliability and generalizability of qualitative methods: how to avoid pitfalls

Reference Books

Please mind the fact that reference material is provided in the weekly schedule below. Compulsory readings are provided for each week alongside eventual additional ones. Students might freely decide to read the additional readings.

Teaching Methods

The course will be divided into 12 sessions of three hours each (2 classes are scheduled per week, one in presence and one online). Each session begins with a presentation by the instructor followed by a general discussion. The last part of each session will be devoted to “Research in practice and comments”. Students are expected to prepare comments related to the topic of the session and linked to their own research projects. The aim is to use the readings to let emerge doubts, questions and comments related to the students’ research projects (not just a summary of the readings). Students might also bring very practical research dilemma about data gathering and data analysis, linked to at least one of the compulsory readings. All in all, the course aims at an active engagement of students during the lectures. Indeed, during each week the course will provide students with both the theoretical underpinnings of specific methods and with practical examples and exercises.

Assessment Method

The assessment of the course is based on: class participation (50%) and final assignment (50%) The final assignment will be a short research project (possibly concerning students’ research interests) max 15 pages. The final assignment will prove the knowledge of the studied method(s). The aim of the assignment is to stimulate students’ active use of the learned methods, possibly constituting a draft or better a basis for future publications. As an example students might focus on qualitative text analysis methods for the analysis of documents (e.g.: speeches, social media data and so on). Example of the structure of the final assignment - Introductory section: presenting the research question and the state of the art of the literature - Data collection and data analysis: this section will detail which methods and data are used in the research. - Empirical analysis: this section will provide an overview of the achieved results - Conclusion: this section will sketch the achieved conclusions.

Thesis assignment criteria

Thesis might be assigned after the lecturers' feasibility evaluation. Please contact the lecturers if interested.

Week 1 Contenuto sessioni on line e on campus

Case studies. How to design them? Compulsory readings Yin, Robert K. (2003) Case Study Research: Design and Methods. Third edition, Thousand Oaks: Sage, pp. 3-24 (‘How to Know Whether and When to Use Case Studies as a Research Method’) George, Alexander L. and Andrew Bennett (2004) Case Studies and Theory Development in the Social Sciences. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, pp. 89-108 (‘Phase Two: Carrying Out the Case Studies’). Additional readings Case Selection Techniques in Case Study Research A Menu of Qualitative and Quantitative Options Jason Seawright and John Gerring (2008)

Week 2 Contenuto sessioni on line e on campus

Acting as Sherlock Holmes: process tracing Compulsory readings Venesson, Pascal, “Case studies and process tracing: theories and practices” in della Porta, D. and Keating, M., eds. Approaches and Methodologies in the Social Sciences, a pluralist perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008, 241-239. Gerring, John (2007) Case Study Research: Principles and Practices. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 172-185 (‘Internal Validity: Process Tracing’) or George, Alexander L. and Andrew Bennett (2004) Case Studies and Theory Development in the Social Sciences. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, pp. 205-232 (‘Process Tracing and Historical Explanation’). Additional readings Derek Beach and Rasmus Brun Pedersen (2013), Process-Tracing Methods Foundations and Guidelines, University of Michigan Press, Introduction

Week 3 Contenuto sessioni on line e on campus

Analysing texts and speeches: content analysis and claim making Compulsory readings Caiani, M. and Graziano, P. 2016, “Varieties of Populism: Insights from the Italian Case”, in Italian Political Science Review, 46 (2), 243-267. Trachtenberg, Marc (2006) The Craft of International History: A Guide to Method. Princeton: Princeton University Press, pp. 140-168 (‘Working with Documents’). Additional readings Koopmans, Ruud and Paul Statham, 1999, Political Claims Analysis: Integrating Protest Event and Political Discourse Approaches, Mobilization: An International Quarterly, Volume 4, Number 2, 203 - 221

Week 4 Contenuto sessioni on line e on campus

Compulsory readings Lindekilde, L. 2014. “Discourse and Frame Analysis: In-depth Analysis of Qualitative Data in Social Movement Studies”. In D. della Porta (ed.) Methodological Practices in Social Movement Research. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 195-228. Snow, D. (2004), “Framing Processes, Ideology and Discursive Fields”, in David A. Snow, Sarah Anne Soule, Hanspeter Kriesi (eds.), The Blackwell companion to social movements, pp.380-412 Additional readings Tonkiss, Fran, “Analyzing discourse”, in Clive Seale (eds.), Researching Society and Culture, London, Sage, 1998, 245-250. Snow, D. A. et al. 2019. “The Framing Perspective on Social Movements: Its Conceptual Roots and Architecture”. In Snow, Soule, Kriesi, and McCammon (eds.), The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Social Movements, Second Edition, London: Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 392-410

Week 5 Contenuto sessioni on line e on campus

Analysing text and speeches: a mixed method approach Compulsory readings Greene, J. C. (2008). Is mixed methods social inquiry a distinctive methodology?. Journal of mixed methods research, 2(1), 7-22. Barberá, P., & Steinert-Threlkeld, Z. C. (2020). How to use social media data for political science research. The SAGE handbook of research methods in political science and international relations, 2, 404-423. Additional readings Carlotti, B. (2023). A divorce of convenience: exploring radical right populist parties’ position on Putin’s Russia within the context of the Ukrainian war. A social media perspective. Journal of Contemporary European Studies, 1-17.

Week 6 Contenuto sessioni on line e on campus

Types of Interviews: surveys, in depth, semi-structured interviews and life histories Compulsory readings Magnusson, E. and J. Marecek (2015) Doing Interview-Based Qualitative Research, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge. CHAPTERS 5 AND 6 Della Porta, Donatella, “Life Histories Analysis of Social Movement Activists”, in M. Diani e R. Eyerman (eds.), Studying Social Movements, London, Sage, 1992, pp. 168-193. Additional readings Corbetta, P. (2003), “The Qualitative Interview”, Ch 10. in Social Research: Theory, Methods and Techniques, Sage Publications, London, pp. 264-283.

Week 7 Contenuto sessioni on line e on campus

Interviews in practice (sampling, contacting, analysing qualitative data) Compulsory readings Holstein, James A. and Jaber F. Gubrium, 2002, “Active Interviewing”, in D. Wenberg (ed.), Qualitative Research Methods, Oxford, Blackwell, pp. 112-126. Bazeley, P. (2013) Qualitative Data Analysis, London: Sage. CHAPTER 7, Additional readings Seale, Clive, “Qualitative Interviewing”, in Clive Seale (eds.), Researching Society and Culture, London, Sage, 1998, 202-216. Deakin, H. & Wakefield, K., (2014) Skype interviewing: reflections of two PhD researchers. Qualitative Research, 14(5), pp.603–616.

Week 8 Contenuto sessioni on line e on campus

Doing social research with focus groups Compulsory readings Cyr, J. (2019). Focus groups for the social science researcher. Cambridge University Press. INTRODUCTION Cyr, J. (2016). The pitfalls and promise of focus groups as a data collection method. Sociological methods & research, 45(2), 231-259. Additional readings Smithson, J. (2000). Using and analyzing focus groups: limitations and possibilities. International journal of social research methodology, 3(2), 103-119.

Week 9 Contenuto sessioni on line e on campus

Focus groups from theory to practice Compulsory readings Cyr, J. (2019). Focus groups for the social science researcher. Cambridge University CHAPERS 3, 4 AND 5 Additional readings Only compulsory readings are required for this lecture.

Week 10 Contenuto sessioni on line e on campus

Grounded Theory & Participatory action research Compulsory readings: Kathy Charmaz (2006), Constructing Grounded Theory, Introduction and Conclusion, + various material distributed during the class Kindon, S., Pain, R., & Kesby, M. (Eds.). (2010). Particpatory Action Research approaches and methods. Connecting people, participation and place. Routledge. (ch 1, optional also ch 2)

Week 11 Contenuto sessioni on line e on campus

How to present your qualitative data Compulsory readings White, C., Woodfield, K., & Ritchie, J. (2003). Reporting and presenting qualitative data. Qualitative research practice: A guide for social science students and researchers, 2, 287-293. Additional readings No additional reading is foreseen for this lecture