Qualitative Skills Workshop

Training area: Theme Science and Technical Skills 

CENTA Training Credit Value: 4 

Trainer: Dr Gail Grant, University of Southampton 

Increasingly, the value of combining different research disciplines and methodologies to produce more holistic studies is becoming evident: for example, many areas of research in the Environmental Sciences are recognising the need to include Social Science aspects due to the human influences and impacts of the project. Therefore, many students may wish to have a greater understanding of Qualitative Research Methods to complement the Quantitative Research Methods they may already be using. 

The 2-day workshop will cover the following topics: 

DAY 1: 

*What Do We Mean by Qualitative Research?

*Theoretical Perspectives and Guiding Principles

*Epistemologies *Contrasting methodologies - Better or worse?! 

*Seeing through the eyes of others 

*Reflexivity 

*Process flexibility 

*The Qualitative Research Process 

*Research questions 

*Methodology 

*Population of Interest 

*Modes of Data Collection 

*In-depth interviews/Focus groups Case study 

*Observation 

*Combining approaches 

DAY 2: 

*Data Analysis 

*Use of analysis software 

*Transforming and coding data 

*Theory generation 

*Deciding on mode(s) of data collection 

*Sampling and participant recruitment 

*Collecting and preserving data 

*Sorting, interpreting and analysing data 

*Writing, reporting, disseminating data