Qualitative Inquiry
PhD Courses
Qualitative Research Sequence #1
(For Doctoral Students)
Please contact Drs. Lather and Nespor for further information.
Ed. P&L 800
Introduction to Qualitative Research in Education
This course provides an overview of the variety of methodologies that characterize qualitative research in education. The course is intended both for those who plan to do qualitative research and for those who want a general familiarity with the theoretical assumptions, procedures, and standards of quality in such research. Students will become familiar with issues of epistemology and ontology, as well as with a focus on paradigmatic definition, techniques, and assumptions operative in educational research. They will be introduced to a smorgasbord of fieldwork and textwork issues, including research design, methods, data analysis, validity and ethics. The course introduces essential concepts and methods but will not provide for the mastery of methodological knowledge and skill that occurs in the continuation of the series.
Ed. P&L 966
Practicum in Qualitative Research Methods
This course emphasizes training in fieldwork methods in educational settings, specially observation, interviewing, collecting written documents, using questionnaires, and beginning data reduction and analysis, as well as the issues involved in various postpositivist research designs. It is expected that students enroll for this practicum after completing P&L 800. In essence, the practicum is an opportunity to do field work on a very small scale. Ideally, this will be a pre-pilot study or prior ethnography for your dissertation, but at the least, the course should allow you to "practice" the major qualitative methods for generating data.
There is a one-credit introduction to NUDIST lab (pass/fail) that is a required part of this course. It is offered under Ed P&L 692P46 both fall and winter quarters.
Ed. P&L 967
Analyzing Qualitative Data
This course rounds out work started in Ed. P&L 966 and focuses on the analysis of qualitative data and the writing of research reports. There will be an especial focus on various issues in contemporary procedures and theories of interpretation, including coding and categorizing, grounded theorizing, narrative analysis, critical discourse analysis, and the politics of representation. Prerequisites: Ed P&L 800 and 966 or equivalents. A weekly lab is a required part of the course. This can be either computer assisted qualitative data analysis OR writing support group. The prerequisite for the computer lab is a one hour credit introduction to NUDIST offered under Ed P&L 692P46 both fall and winter quarters.
This course also include a two-hour NUDIST lab for those who wish to continue NUDIST training.
Ed. P&L 692P46
As part of the course offerings in qualitative research, Ed P&L offers training in NUDIST, a program for computer assisted analysis of qualitative data. This is a one-credit introduction to NUDIST that is offered both fall and winter quarter.
Qualitative Research Sequence #2
(For Doctoral Students)
Please contact Dr. Macbeth (macbeth.1@osu.edu) for further information.
Ed. P&L 817.01
Introduction to Qualitative Research and the Analysis of Interaction
This course introduces a sequence in qualitative research oriented to the analysis of social interaction in ethnographic settings. Though discussions of method in social science are often pursued as though research were a procedural exercise-matching up methods and techniques and applying them to a field-qualitative research can be understood as part of a long and distinguished conversation on the fundamental shape of meaningfully social worlds. The arguments for understanding the social world "qualitatively" were first worked out in sociology, anthropology and the philosophy of science, and the course will introduce some of the early and contemporary literatures that have shaped the field. In readings and exercises, we will discuss the work of observation, the delicacies of interviewing, and the analytic tasks of describing and making sense of the worlds we find. The course also includes a modest field project, and a first practical experience in describing the "blooming confusion" of untidy, yet orderly, worlds.
Ed. P&L 817.02
The Analysis of Classroom Discourse
817.02 is the second course in sequence. "Discourse" is arguably the first, and most pervasive site, of social action. Our 'ways of speaking' bind us together in unimaginably delicate and complex ways, and the course is designed to suggest to you how this is so. It will lead you through some of the substantive findings on classroom speaking structures, and begins with a focused introduction to the sequential analysis of natural conversation. It offers a disciplined way of making sense of how people say, and thus do, things together.
Ed. P&L 817.03
Seminar: Advanced Topics in the Analysis of Interaction in Educational Settings
817.03 is intended for advanced doctoral students who are approaching the proposal stage of thesis work, and are projecting studies that analyze interaction in whatever relevant setting or field they have chosen. 817.03 places special emphasis on the description of interactional order and structure. The readings represent the major literatures in interaction analysis in educational settings [e.g., activity theory, constitutive ethnography, ethnomethodology, and discourse analysis], and the course is organized around a collection of exemplary studies of interaction [and especially classroom interaction], and field-based exercises.
Related Courses
Ed. P&L 909
Cultural Process in Education
This course provides educators with insights from the field of educational anthropology that will enable them to both question their assumptions about educational processes and enrich their abilities to manage issues of culture, ethnicity, and power in schools. The course is organized into four components according to the field's developing perspectives on educational practice in cultural context. The first part introduces anthropological approaches to culture, including understandings regarding human cognition and language use, cultural relativism, the transmission and acquisition of culture, and education as a "calculated intervention" with learning. The next section examines the culture of Western schools, and considers cultural congruencies and disjunctions between home, school, and society, in a variety of contexts. The course then moves to critical approaches in educational anthropology which address issues of power, subordination, and privilege in school, with a particular focus on student identity and academic engagement. Finally, the course discusses contemporary pedagogical approaches, practices, and reforms in schools that are informed by research in educational anthropology.
Ed. P&L 760 (WOST 760)
Feminist Methodology
This course provides graduate students with an overview of feminist methodological issues and dilemmas and an introduction to a variety of research techniques and methods. This course is cross-listed with Women's Studies, taught in alternate years under P&L 760 with P&L instructor, and under WOST 760, with WOST instructor the next year. Two thirds of the seats will be reserved for students from the unit teaching the course that year/one third from the other unit. Women's Studies MA students are encouraged to take the course. It is a required course in the Women's Studies PhD program. College of Education students in the PhD. Gender and Education area of concentration will be encouraged to take the course.
Upon successful completion of the course, students will have acquired an understanding of:
- The historical and theoretical development of feminist approaches to research and scholarship
- The variety of research techniques and methods used by feminist researchers such as textual and visual analysis, ethnography, historiography, comparative case study, survey, etc.
- The ethical dilemmas of representation and the politics of feminist inquiry
- The importance of research design and the strategies involved in collecting, interpreting, and analyzing primary materials
Ed.P&L 778
Formative Evaluation Systems
The educational literature shows that formative evaluation systems are highly conducive to integration of technology in learning and teaching. Formative evaluation systems provide a methodical approach to collect data to make informed decisions about the design and integration of technology and media. The course will prepare students to follow a systematic approach for evaluating media and technologies such as educational software, educational games and educational websites. Discussions will focus on topics such as usability and design. Students will develop an instructional module and conduct a formative evaluation. Peer review will be used to enhance our understanding of formative evaluation systems.
Ed P&L 825
Visualizing the Curriculum
Learn different structural and poststructural methodologies to conduct research using visual materials. Frameworks addressed in the course include content analysis, semiotics, psychoanalysis, and discourse analysis. The course examines these frameworks within the contexts of visual culture and visual literacy.