Northeastern
State University
College of
Liberal Arts
Department of
Communication, Art, & Theatre
Tahlequah, OK
Fall 2011
syllabus for
COMM 4623/5623
Qualitative Research Methods
MC 4203/5013
Qualitative Research Methods
(last updated
07.07.11)
Professor:
Amy Aldridge Sanford, PhD
Office: 351
SH (Tahlequah Campus)
Ext.: 3608
E-mail:
aldridga@nsuok.edu (This
is the best way to contact me)
Office Hours: See
Contact Info on webpage.
Facebook: Amy
Aldridge Sanford
Class Meetings: Blended;
Tuesdays and Thursdays 3:30-4:45 p.m.; SH 204 and online
Your professorÕs philosophy of
education: I am a facilitator of learning.
The participants in any given classroom enter with different paradigms and
truths. I aid in the exploration of those truths. I do NOT believe
that the instructor is THE holder of Truth; therefore we must all participate
to co-construct knowledge and create synergy. When a student starts to
feel uncomfortable in his/her existing paradigm that means s/he is growing as a
scholar. My desire is that all of my students feel the joy of
discomfort from time to time.
Grading Philosophy: I
prefer intrinsic motivations, and therefore, am not a fan of letter grades.
I believe this extrinsic reward is too often the only motivation for students
to complete assignments. A college education should be viewed as a
privilege and an opportunity to become learned and scholarly. However,
until there is a better system, grades will be assigned in this class.
Work that meets the minimum requirements of an assignment, is completed on time
and displays average involvement with the course content is deserving of a ÒC.Ó
Higher grades are awarded to work that goes above and beyond the minimum
standards to produce papers and presentations that reflect superior
intellectual effort, excellence in critical analysis and overall creativity in
the approach towards any given assignment. In other words, grades are
earned in this class. An ÒAÓ is attainable but will require far
more than minimal effort.
Pre-requisites:
none
Description of Course:
An introduction to the characteristics and various approaches to designing and
conducting qualitative research projects in communication studies.
Students will gain hands-on experience in qualitative methods and analysis
techniques.
Course Purpose: This
course allows our undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to learn
about qualitative research and utilize it as both a consumer and producer of
qualitative research.
Learning Outcomes:
á
Understand the role of the Institutional Research Board (IRB) and its
oversight;
á
Propose, conduct, and write up original research;
á
Become familiar with the characteristics, language, and logic of qualitative
research methods;
á
Understand the available techniques (ethnography, interviewing, participant
observation, etc.) for designing a qualitative research study;
á
Understand techniques for qualitative data analysis;
á
Recognize and assess quality and rigor in evaluating a qualitative research
study.
Required Texts:
Publication Manual of the
American Psychological Association (APA). (6th ed.)
(2009). American Psychological Association. ISBN:
9781433805615
Roose, K. (2009). Unlikely
disciple: A sinnerÕs semester at AmericaÕs holiest university.
New York: Grand Central Publishing. ISBN: 044617842X
Sunstein, B.S. & Chiseri-Strater,
E. (2007). Fieldworking: Reading and writing research. (3rd
ed.). Boston: Bedford/St.MartinÕs. ISBN: 0-312-43841-9.
Warren, C.A.B. and T.X. Karner (2010).
Discovering qualitative methods: Field research, interviews and
analysis. (2nd ed.). NewYork: Oxford University Press.
ISBN: 978-0-19-538429-1
Attendance:
An attendance sheet will be passed out
at the beginning of every class period. NOTE: You are absolutely,
positively 100% responsible for signing the attendance sheet each class period.
If you are late, you must get the sheet and sign it after classÉ ÒI forget to
sign itÓ or ÒIÕm sure I was thereÓ will not be sufficient to document your
attendance at the end of the semester.
The emphasis on performance and
participation in this class requires close attention by students and the
instructor to attendance. You are allowed three hours of unexcused
absences (i.e., three unexcused absences for a MWF class, two unexcused
absences for a T Th class, or one three hour session in the summer or with an
evening class). For every unexcused absence over the limit, 2%
will be deducted from your final grade. Absences will be excused only
under the following circumstances:
Absence
while under a doctorÕs care (written documentation required).
Absence
due to participation in an authorized college activity (advance notification
and written documentation required).
Absence
due to attendance at legal proceedings requiring your presence (advance
notification and written documentation required).
Absence
due to the death or serious illness of an immediate family member (written
documentation required).
I consider an excused absence one
in which the absence is beyond your control. (For example, the time of a check
up or a dental appointment can be controlled). I will not excuse
an absence in which you have to take somebody else to the doctor, hospital,
dentist, court, etc. That is why I give you the three unexcused absences.
Use them wisely. I think good attendance is very important.
Documentation is due by the last day of classes before finals week.
An excused notes will only excuse one day of absence unless a memo is attached
explaining why multiple dates should be excused.
Administrative Withdraws:
Students who enroll this course and
have poor attendance and/or poor participation (as determined by the
instructor) may be administratively withdrawn (involuntarily). Students who
are administratively withdrawn will be responsible for payment and repaying
any financial aid received for the course or courses that must be returned to
the provider. If you are concerned about your absences, progress, or
success in a particular course, meet with your instructor immediately.
Missed/Late Assignments:
Assignments
should be turned in on or before their due dates. If they are not, there
will be a 10% penalty for every 24 hours an assignment is late (including
weekends). If you plan to be absent from class, please arrange to get anything
due that day to me BEFORE you miss class.
Please
contact your classmates to get any homework or notes from the day you miss
class. Do not contact me until you have tried to reach at least two
classmates.
Class Participation:
You are expected to attend class regularly and be prepared so that you may
intelligently discuss assigned material. Proper preparation means reading
the assigned chapters and completing daily assignments. Warning:
This professor is well known for counting students absent when they are not
prepared for class.
Food and Drink: Feel
free to bring food and drink to class. Just be sure to dispose of it
properly when you are finished.
Classroom Climate: The
success of this course is directly related to the sense of community that we
will develop in this classroom. Participation is essential to this
process. I encourage you to share your views and listen to those of
others. Debate and discussion are an important part of the learning
process. While there will no doubt be disagreements, I expect the members
of this community (including myself) to challenge ideas in a manner that
reflects respect and recognition of opposing viewpoints without attacking
individuals. There is no doubt in my mind that controversial topics
will come up during the course of this class. They always do. If you are
a person who is easily offended by the topics of sex, alcohol, abortion, the
death penalty, racial stereotypes, and other potentially controversial topics,
then it is advised that you enroll in another communication course not taught
by this instructor.
Visitors in the Classroom:
We may have visitors in our classroom from time to time. Please make them
feel welcome. Encourage them to participate if they would like. Let
them know that we are happy to have more voices in our classroom.
Outline of Course: All
of the following assignments are considered tentative and may change over the
course of the semester due to your progress and interests. The hyperlinked
readings below are available electronically (password is comm4623). The
readings provided here are for educational purposes only. We will use
them for teaching, scholarship, research, criticism, and comment. You
should no financially profit from these works.
|
Date/Topic |
Reading |
Lecture |
Assignment
due (Assignments
are explained in detail below) |
|
8/16 Orientation
to the class |
|
Syllabus; Research Proposal
assignment |
|
|
8/18 |
|
Research Proposal assignment (cont);
Introduction to the IRB application |
Name tents |
|
WHAT IS
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH? |
|
|
|
|
8/23 |
|
Discuss research proposals; IRB
(cont) |
Draft of Research Proposal |
|
8/25 ONLINE |
Warren & Karner Preface Ch 1
& 2 |
|
Research Proposals on BB (see below) RR 1 and discussion on BB (see below) |
|
INTERVIEWING |
|
|
|
|
8/30 |
|
IRB (cont) |
first draft of IRB |
|
9/1 ONLINE |
Warren & Karner Ch 6 & 7 |
|
RR 2 and discussion on BB |
|
9/6 |
|
Research Design & Interview
Protocol |
|
|
9/8 ONLINE |
|
|
Updated IRB (including protocol) on
BB |
|
9/13 ONLINE |
Sunstein & Chiseri-Strater Ch 5 |
|
RR 3 and discussion on BB |
|
9/15 |
|
Catch-up Day; Discuss Upcoming
Participant Observation Assignment |
|
|
FIELD
RESEARCH |
|
|
|
|
9/20 ONLINE |
|
|
Completed IRB application on BB (see
below) |
|
9/22 ONLINE |
Warren & Karner Ch 3 & 4 |
|
RR 4 and discussion on BB |
|
ETHNOGRAPHY |
|
|
|
|
9/27 ONLINE |
Roose, pp 1-44 |
|
RR 5 and discussion on BB |
|
9/29 ONLINE |
Roose, pp 45-96 |
|
RR 6 and discussion on BB |
|
10/4 |
Roose, pp 97-144 |
Discussion on reading (in class) and
updates on final paper progress |
RR 7 |
|
10/6 ONLINE |
Roose, pp 145-213 |
|
RR 8 and discussion on BB |
|
10/11 ONLINE |
Roose, 214-271 |
|
RR 9 and discussion on BB |
|
10/13 ONLINE |
Roose, 272-316 |
|
RR 10 and discussion on BB |
|
WRITING
& ANALYSIS OF THE DATA |
|
|
|
|
10/18 ONLINE |
|
|
Outline of final paper on BB (and
feedback) |
|
10/20 FALL BREAK—NO
CLASS |
|
|
|
|
10/25 ONLINE |
Warren & Karner Ch 5 |
|
RR 11 and discussion on BB |
|
10/27 ONLINE |
Sunstein & Chiseri-Strater Ch 1 |
|
RR 12 and discussion on BB; |
|
11/1 ONLINE |
|
|
Participant Observation Summary (see
below) and feedback |
|
11/3 ONLINE |
Warren & Karner Ch 9 |
|
RR 13 and discussion on BB |
|
11/8 |
|
Catch up day/discussion of your
research; Discuss Presentations |
|
|
11/10 ONLINE |
Sunstein & Chiseri-Strater Ch 2 |
|
RR 14 and discussion on BB |
|
11/15 ONLINE |
Warren & Karner Ch 10 |
|
RR 15 and discussion on BB |
|
11/17 ONLINE |
Sunstein & Chiseri-Strater Ch 8 |
|
RR 16 and discussion on BB |
|
11/22 and
11/24 THANKSGIVING—NO
CLASS |
|
|
|
|
11/29 |
|
Catch up day |
|
|
12/1 |
|
|
Presentations (see below) |
|
12/6 |
|
|
Presentations (see below) |
|
12/8 at 3
p.m. FINAL |
|
|
Final papers due—put them in my
box in the DeanÕs office |
Student Evaluation:
Research Proposal (10%): Select a
communication research topic that you would like to study qualitatively.
Conduct preliminary research on the topic and prepare a research proposal in
which you explain your general topic. The paper should be a minimum of 5
FULL pages (Times New Roman, double spaced, 1Ó margins) and should include an
extensive literature review and your research design. The following areas
should be addressed in the research proposal: What is your motivation for
choosing this topic? Why should this topic be studied qualitatively? What
research has already been done on this topic? What are you hoping
to learn from the interviews? What is/are your main research question(s)?
(Keep these narrow). What kinds of questions will you ask to answer the
main RQ(s)? (DonÕt just simply list your questions. Instead, talk
about the motivation for the questions). What one population will you
interview? How many people will you interview? How will you recruit
participants? When and where do you plan to conduct your interviews?
Completed IRB Application (10%):
Includes application and all attachments (could include site letter, interview
guide, recruitment materials, informed consent/information sheet). We
will complete this in numerous drafts throughout the semester. You are
responsible for bringing/posting an updated draft each time one is due.
Reading Responses (20%): Reading
responses are reflections you have on the reading. They should be posted
on the discussion board by the deadlines listed in this syllabus. The RR
should be at least 500 words and thoroughly thought out. You are
to include information from the sessionÕs assigned readings in ONE reading
response. Mark up your book/articles while you are reading and discuss
the items that got your attention. Reading responses should include
brief summaries of the text (be sure to use page numbers when directly
quoting from the readings), your analysis of the material, and examples when
appropriate. This will add depth to your responses. At the end of
your response, write some possible discussion questions.
Participation in Blackboard Discussion
(20%): Every student needs to respond to the posted Discussion
Starters/Reading Responses by the deadlines listed in this syllabus. This
will facilitate a computer-mediated dialogue with your classmates and
instructor. This interaction is crucial to building an online learning
community. Here are some general guidelines:
á
When you reply to a Reading Response, don't just say "I agree." Give
the name or names of person(s) with whom you are agreeing, a brief, sentence or
two summary of what they said you are agreeing with, and then your views.
Please make sure you post this as a response rather than a new discussion
thread.
á
Reading assignments need to be read prior to your participation in the
discussion. Please come to the discussion forum with an understanding of the
required material. Your understanding should become clarified through
discussion, not to be based on discussion.
á
Responses should be at least 100 words.
á
You must reply to at least three Reading Responses each time.
á
When you express an opinion, be sure and support it with material from our
readings or from other sources that are available to the class. When you quote
or paraphrase from the text be sure to give the page number(s).
á
YouÕre encouraged to post links to external material that help illustrate and
strengthen your arguments.
á
While there will no doubt be disagreements, I expect the members of this
community (including myself) to challenge ideas in a manner that reflects
respect and recognition of opposing viewpoints without attacking individuals.
Participant Observation Summary (10%): This
assignment is based on participant observation (P.O.), an important qualitative
research technique that you may or may not incorporate into your final paper.
Writing a P.O. will help with your research and writing skills. Your
objective is to collect field notes for an hour or so and then write at least
five pages (Times New Roman, double spaced, 1Ó margins, page numbers in the top
right corner) summarizing the experience. It is important that your
fieldwork be done in a public, yet unfamiliar environment (a church service, a
mall food court, the park, a bus ride, the gym, a restaurant, a bar, etc.).
Use your notes to write the summary of your experiences and your observations.
Write about themes you found; do not write a chronology (or agenda) of events.
Focus on the social setting (i.e., people and their interactions, space) and be
very descriptive. Put your readers there with you; do not be a distant
observer. Include where you were, the date and time, mood, and anything that
will "thicken" the description. The paper should be written in
a descriptive mode and can include outside research in order to triangulate
your experience. Be careful not to be ethnocentric or judge your research
subjects. Feel free to include images (photos, sketches, etc.) within
your write up, but the images will not count in your minimum page limit.
Include an introduction to warm your readers up to your fieldwork. In the
conclusion you may include analysis of what you saw, report questions that
arose for you during your fieldwork (if there were any), and write about any
surprises or disappointments you may have encountered. Papers will be
evaluated for content, creativity, grammar, punctuation and spelling.
Attach all of your field notes to the summary.
Final Paper Presentation (10%):
In a 6-12 minute speech, educate your audience with the material you gathered
in your final paper. This gives your cohorts an opportunity to learn from
your research efforts and rhetorical criticism. Remember, you are the
expert in this room on your particular topic. You will be required to
submit both an outline and bibliography before your presentation. You may only
use the outline during your presentation. Please see the rubric
for the grading criteria.
Final Paper (20%): This is the
write up of the original research you have completed while in this class.
The paper should include an introduction, in-depth literature review, an
argument for why your research question(s) needs to answered, explanation of
your qualitative research design, findings, analysis of findings, limitations,
ideas for future research, and a conclusion. Undergraduates must have a
minimum of 8 pages (not including the cover page, abstract, appendix, or
references) and graduates must have a minimum of 14 pages (not including the
cover page, abstract, appendix, or references). Papers much conform to
APA standards. I would like to see papers from this class sent to an academic
conference.
Class Grievances:
I am willing to meet with you to discuss our class and/or particular
assignments. I ask that you please wait 24 hours after you have received
a graded assignment to come see me. Before we discuss your work, you are
required to type out a document detailing what particular elements of your work
you feel merit discussion.
Plagiarism: According
to WebsterÕs New Universal Unabridged Dictionary (1983, 2nd Ed.), to
plagiarize is Òto steal or pass of ideas or words of another as oneÕs ownÉto
use created productions without crediting the sourceÉto commit literary theftÉto
present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing sourceÓ
(p.1371). Students in this course will be responsible for authenticating
any assignment submitted to the instructor. If asked, you must be able to
produce proof that the assignment you submitted is in fact your own work.
Therefore, it is recommended that you engage in a verifiable working process on
assignments. Keep copies of all drafts of your work, make photocopies of
research materials, write summaries of research materials, keep logs or
journals of your work on assignments and papers, learn to save drafts or
versions of assignments under individual file names on computer diskettes, etc.
In addition to requiring a student to authenticate his/her work, the instructor
may employ various other means of ascertaining authenticity—such as
engaging in internet searches, creating quizzes based on student work,
requiring students to explain their work and/or process orally, etc.
Please go to http://offices.nsuok.edu/academicaffairs/SyllabiInformation.aspx
for required information pertaining to:
Academic Misconduct
American Disabilities Act Compliance
Inclement Weather/Disaster Policy
Teach Act
Accessibility
Release of Confidential Information
Common courtesies:
á
Please turn all cell phones on silent while you are in class. Check your
messages AFTER class and return the calls then. Do not text during class.
á
Do not pack up before I dismiss you. You never know when I may say
something important or give a last minute assignment. YouÕre going to
want to have that pen and
paper handy.