| Dates: |
Saturday, October 8th 10 am - 4 pm and Sunday, October 9th 9 am - 11 pm
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| Location: |
Columbia
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Outline
Qualitative research seems straightforward. In essence, gathering qualitative data seems to come down to talking to people, reading their documents, or, better yet, hanging out and observing them doing things. And then, you just write it up. No complicated statistics, elusive measurements, or experimental controls to worry about. Sample size does not seem to matter much. Questions of reliability and validity do not seem to apply; at least not in the way they can cause problems in quantitative research. In spite of the apparent simplicity, qualitative research often becomes a stumbling block: boxes with interview tapes gather dust in university storage places, ethnographic observers give up in frustration, and entire fields (such as anthropology) have gone through critical self-examination of their research practices. Qualitative research that is published inevitably invokes the dreaded "so what?" question.
In spite of the diversity of research approaches, a consensus exists among most qualitative researchers of what constitutes good research and how to evaluate it. The purpose of this short hands-on course is to offer an understanding of the history of qualitative research (particularly in sociology), the underlying epistemological principles, the wide variety of qualitative research, the process of gathering and analyzing qualitative data, and the strengths and limitations of various forms of qualitative research. Using examples with a health focus, the emphasis is on providing basic literacy to evaluate qualitative work, understand possible links between qualitative and quantitative research to explore collaborations, and help qualitative researchers improve their research. As such, the course is useful for scholars reading qualitative work, considering adding a qualitative component to their projects, or engaged in first qualitative projects. No background knowledge is required. The hands-on component of the course refers to the opportunity to conduct a practice interview and analyze qualitative data.
INSTRUCTOR
Stefan Timmermans is professor of sociology at UCLA. He was a first cohort Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society Scholar at Harvard University where he conducted research on childhood asthma. He is the author of Sudden Death and the Myth of CPR (Temple 1999), The Gold Standard: The Challenge of Evidence-Based Medicine and Standardization in Health Care (Temple 2003), and a forthcoming book on forensic medicine titled Suspicious Death (Chicago 2006).
TO REGISTER
This short course is open free of charge to faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate students at Columbia University as well as faculty and postdoctoral fellows at other sites of the Robert Wood Johnson Health & Society Scholars (H&SS) Program. Enrollment is limited; H&SS affiliates will have priority.
To register, please send an email to: chssp@columbia.edu. Please include your mailing address, as readings will be sent to course participants.
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The Health & Society Scholars Program at Columbia University is a postdoctoral program funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. It is a joint initiative of the Mailman School of Public Health and the Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy (ISERP) at Columbia, and is co-directed by Bruce Link and Peter Bearman. For more information call 212-854-3694 or email chssp@columbia.edu.
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