1. science
2. social science
3. sociology

SAMPLE SYLLABUS:
THIS SYLLABUS IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY.
A FINAL SYLLABUS WILL BE DISTRIBUTED THE FIRST DAY OF CLASS
University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa
Department of Sociology
Sociology 609 (3 credits)
Seminar in Qualitative Research
Instructor:
Valli Kalei Kanuha, Ph.D., MSW
Office: Saunders Hall, Room 205
Office Phone: 956-8438
E-mail: [email protected]
I
Rationale for course
This seminar will focus on designing, conducting, analyzing and interpreting data
using qualitative research methods. The course will begin with an overview of the
epistemology of qualitative theory and methods, followed by selection of research topics
and questions, and designing a qualitative study by enhancing method-topic “fit.” The
course will focus on three specific qualitative research methods: Straus, Glaser and
Charmaz’s approach to grounded theory, in-depth interviewing, and community-based,
fieldwork. In addition, data analysis and interpretation using NVivo qualitative software
will also be covered.
The standpoint of this course will include epistemological perspectives from the
“borders,” which include indigenous and “insider” perspectives, i.e., when researchers
study those spaces, places, histories and peoples about which they have intimate
knowledge and/or experience. Critical analysis and discussion of such research
concepts as “objectivity,” “generalizability,” and “reliability” will be examined through the
lenses of researchers who are women, people of color, indigenous workers, the poor,
lesbians and gay men, community practitioners, and others from the margins.
Each student will engage in a qualitative research project over the course of the
semester that will serve as the reflexive substance to which course readings, lectures
and other class content will be applied.
II
Student Learning Objectives
Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:
A. Demonstrate understanding of the historical, social, and political contexts
upon which the research endeavor has been built
B. Describe key concepts, theories, perspectives and standpoints that inform
both “conventional” and “critical” research epistemologies
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C. Explain the major perspectives, concepts and methods associated with
interviewing, grounded theory, and community-based field work from a
qualitative approach
D. Be able to conduct preliminary data analyses using NVivo
E. Design and carry out a small scale qualitative research project
F. Show evidence of critical thinking regarding standpoints of researchers “at the
margins,” such as people of color, women, LGBT, immigrants, and others
who employ qualitative research methods
G. Be able to contextualize the qualitative research endeavor in the cultural,
social and historical context of Hawai‘i and the Pacific basin
III.
Course Texts and Readings
There are four required texts for the course, all available at the UH Bookstore
and other on-line, Web booksellers.
Denzin, N. K. & Lincoln, Y. S. (Eds.).(2008).The landscape of qualitative
research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Charmatz, K. (2007). Constructing grounded theory: A practical guide through
qualitative analysis. London: Sage.
Kvale, S. & Brinkman, S. (2009). InterViews: Learning the craft of qualitative
research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Silverman, D. & Marvasti, A. (2008). Doing qualitative research: A
comprehensive quide. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Additional readings and handouts will be distributed in class. In Section V.
Course Content and Class Schedule, reading assignments from the required texts are
designated by the initials of the author’s last names e.g., “D&L,” for Denzin and Lincoln.
Supplemental reading assignments are designated by author’s last name, e.g., “Smith.”
IV.
Assignments and the Criteria Used in Grading
As a graduate seminar, the main focus of this course is to engage learners in
complex and critical thinking about qualitative research methods. Critical dialogue is a
foundation of the course in the spirit and method of Paulo Friere’s conscientization and
praxis. This pedagogical approach refers to becoming fully conscious of one’s own
social world, internal states, and “station” in life, and blending theory + practice → action
with the goal of changing oppressive conditions in the world through the research
project. We are engaged in learning through this course to better understand how the
generation of knowledge, meaning-making, and exploring sociological questions occur
through qualitative research epistemologies and methods.
There are three main assignments for this course. Listed below is a description of
each assignment, learning objectives, and how the assignment will be evaluated.
1.
Class Participation (33% of grade)
Learning objectives of assignment: To actively participate in one’s own learning; to
contribute to others’ learning in the class; to show ability to think critically about diverse
ways we teach and learn from each other.
Description of assignment:
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As a graduate seminar, students are expected to interact with other students, the
instructor, the reading materials, guest speakers, and other learning activities in the
course. Active participation includes orally joining in class discussions, sharing external
information of interest relevant to the course, and assisting yourself and others to
enhance the learning environment of the class.
In addition, each student will prepare to facilitate a class discussion of assigned
readings at least once during the semester. There are readings assigned for each class
session, from which students will select one chapter or article to discuss with the class
during that session. Students should prepare a brief summary of the reading they’ve
selected, along with critical questions or issues to engage the class in an interactive
discussion related to the reading.
Evaluation of assignment:
Class participation will be evaluated based on meeting objectives for the
assignment as listed above.
2.
Qualitative Research Project (33% of grade)
Learning objectives of assignment: To practice designing and implementing a smallscale qualitative research study; to demonstrate knowledge and application of key
research concepts and methods as discussed in class; to use research project as
process for learning and sharing with other students in class.
Description of assignment:
All students will design and carry out a small-scale qualitative research project
over the semester. Topics for the project must be approved in advance and must be
realistic in scope such that it can be fully completed in one semester. The project will
include all steps including generation of research topic and questions; study design,
data collection, management, analysis and interpretation; final write-up of study
(assignment #3 below). Students may work together on research projects, as approved
by the instructor.
Students will share all aspects of their research process with peers in the class,
applying concepts, lectures, readings and discussions to their projects. There are three
parts to this assignment: 1) submission and approval of research proposal, 2)
maintaining a journal of notes, musings, questions about your research process that will
be shared in class, 3) using NVivo to analyze data collected, if appropriate to project.
Evaluation of assignment:
Students will submit each of the three parts of this assignment at various points
during the semester for review by other students and the instructor. Each of the three
parts of this assignment will be worth 11% of your grade (33% total).
3.
Qualitative Research Paper (34% of grade)
Learning objectives of assignment: To demonstrate in-depth knowledge of a specific
topic as studied using qualitative methods; to engage in critical thinking and integration
of knowledge, skills and analysis related to qualitative epistemologies and methods; to
show graduate-level research and writing skills.
Description of assignment:
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An integrative report of the research project carried out over the semester will be
submitted as the final paper for the course. Students will be required to submit to the
instructor the research proposal, preliminary findings, and outline of their final papers at
different points during the semester.
All papers must be substantive, and therefore at least 15-20 pages in length not
including references. References used in the paper must demonstrate in-depth research
into the paper topic. Web-based sources cannot comprise the main or sole references
for the paper. All papers should be written using the professional style guidelines of the
student’s major discipline, such as APA, ASA or Chicago.
Evaluation of assignment:
Papers will be graded on meeting learning objectives for this assignment above.
V.
Special Notes:
This course assumes that we are all adult learners in a collaborative learning
environment. We ask each other to respect and be accountable to the objectives,
activities and assignments established for this course, and by doing so we also ask
each other to respect the “spirit” of being collaborative learners in this venture.
Academic Conduct
The University of Hawai`i explicitly prohibits cheating or plagiarism of any kind in
the academic environment. The UH Code of Student Conduct, Section 1D. Academic
Dishonesty states:
“Cheating includes but is not limited to giving or receiving unauthorized assistance
during an examination; obtaining unauthorized information about an examination before it is
given; submitting another’s work as one’s own; using prohibited sources of information during
an examination; fabricating or falsifying data in experiments and other research; altering the
record of any grade; altering answers after an examination has been submitted; falsifying any
official University record; or misrepresenting of facts in order to obtain exemptions from course
requirements.
Plagiarism includes but is not limited to submitting, in fulfillment of an academic
requirement, any work that has been copied in whole or in part from another individual’s work
without attributing that borrowed portion to the individual; neglecting to identify as a quotation
another’s idea and particular phrasing that was not assimilated into the student’s language and
style or paraphrasing a passage so that the reader is misled as to the source; submitting the
same written or oral or artistic material in more than one course without obtaining authorization
from the instructors involved; or "drylabbing," which includes obtaining and using experimental
data and laboratory write-ups from other sections of a course or from previous terms.”
Also, any student who feels s/he may need an accommodation based on the
impact of a disability is invited to contact me privately. I would be happy to work with
you and with the KOKUA Program (Office for Students with Disabilities) to ensure
reasonable accommodations in my course. KOKUA can be reached at (808) 956-7511
or (808) 956-7612 (voice/text) in room 013 of the Queen Lili'uokalani Center for Student
Services.
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V.
Course Content and Class Schedule
Class
Date
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Class Session Content
Introductions; overview of course;
exploring research interests
The qualitative research project
Assignments
D&L: 1-3; S&M: 1-5
D&L: 8-10; S&M: 7; K&B: 3
Week 4
Epistemological conundrums in qualitative
research
Designing a qualitative research project
Week 5
Writing a qualitative research proposal
S&M: 10
Week 6
Interviewing I
K&B: 1, 2, 4, 5; D&L: 4
Week 7
Interviewing II
K&B: 6-9; C: 2;
Week 8
Grounded Theory I
C: 1, 3
Week 9
Grounded Theory II
C: 4-5
Week 10
Data collection & management
K&B: 10; S&M: 11-12; 16-17
Week 11
NVivo I
S&M: 13
Week 12
NVivo II
Week 13
Data analysis
K&B: 12-15; S&M: 14-15
Week 14
Constructing grounded theory
C: 6; D&L: 11-12
Week 15
Interpretation and writing
Week 16
Reflections on qualitative research
C: 7; K&B: 16; S&M: 20-24;
D&L: 13-14
C: 8; K&B: 17; S&M: 26;
D&L: 15-16
Week 17
Wrap up
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S&M: 6; 8-9; D&L: 6-7
Sociology 609
Qualitative Research Methods
Val Kalei Kanuha
SAMPLE Supplementary Authors/Articles/Chapter Readings
(Aguilar, 1981; Altheide & Johnson, 1994; Becker, 1986, in press; Bennoune, 1985; Blumer, 1954; Charmatz, 1995;
Collins, 1968; Denzin, Lincoln, & Smith, 2008; Fine, 1994; Guba & Lincoln, 1994; Harding, 1987; Hayano, 1979;
Kanuha, 2000; Kirby & McKenna, 1989; Leigh & Green, 1989; Lofland & Lofland, 1984; Miles & Huberman, 1994;
Ohata, 1987; Prus, 1996; Smith, 1999; Liz Stanley, 1991; L. Stanley, 1990; Strauss & Corbin, 1990)
Aguilar, J. L. (1981). Insider research: An ethnography of a debate. In D. A. Messerschmidt (Ed.), Anthropologists
at home in North America: Methods and issues in the study of one's own society (pp. 15-26). Cambridge,
England: Cambridge University Press.
Altheide, D. L., & Johnson, J. M. (1994). Criteria for assessing interpretive validity in qualitative research. In N.
K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (pp. 485-499). Thousand Oaks:
Sage.
Becker, H. S. (1986). Doing things together. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.
Becker, H. S. (in press). The epistemology of qualitative research. In R. Jessor, A. Colby & R. Schweder (Eds.),
Essays on ethnography and human development. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Bennoune, M. (1985). What does it mean to be a third world anthropologist? Dialectical Anthropology, 9, 357364.
Blumer, H. (1954). What's wrong with social theory? American Sociological Review, 19, 3-10.
Charmatz, K. (1995). Between positivism and postmodernism: Implications for methods. In N. K. Denzin (Ed.),
Studies in symbolic interaction (pp. 43-72). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
Collins, P. H. (1968). Learning from the outsider-within: The sociologcial significance of Black feminist thought.
Social Problems, 33(6), 14-32.
Denzin, N. K., Lincoln, Y. S., & Smith, L. T. (Eds.). (2008). Handbook of critical and indigenous methoodogies.
London: Sage.
Fine, M. (1994). Working the hyphens: Reinventing self and other in qualitative research. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S.
Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (pp. 70-82). Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Guba, E., & Lincoln, Y. S. (1994). Competing paradigms in qualitative research. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln
(Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (pp. 105-117). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Harding, S. (Ed.). (1987). Feminism and methodology. Bloomington, ID: Indiana University Press.
Hayano, D. (1979). Auto-ethnography: Paradigms, problems and prospects. Human Organization, 38(1), 99-104.
Kanuha, V. (2000). "Being" native vs "going native:" The challenge of doing research as an insider. Social Work,
45(5), 439-447.
Kirby, S., & McKenna, K. (1989). Experience, research and social change: Methods form the margins. Toronto:
Garmond Press.
Leigh, J., & Green, J. (1989). Teaching ethnographic methods to social service workers. Practicing Anthropology,
11(3), 8-10.
Lofland, J., & Lofland, L. (1984). Analyzing social settings: A guide to qualitative observation and analysis (2nd
ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Press.
Miles, M. B., & Huberman, A. M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: An expanded handbook (2nd ed.). Thousand
Oaks.
Ohata, M. (1987). Linguistic constraints on a structure of talk story. Unpublished Master's, University of Hawaii,
Honolulu.
Prus, R. (1996). Symbolic interaction and ethnographic research: Intersubjectivity and the study of human lived
experience. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Smith, L. T. (1999). Decolonizing methodologies: Research and indigenous people. London: Zed Books.
Stanley, L. (1991). The knowing because experiencing subject: Narratives, lives and autobiography. Women's
Studies International, 16(3), 205-215.
Stanley, L. (Ed.). (1990). Feminist praxis: Research, theory and epistemology in feminist sociology. London:
Routledge.
Strauss, A. L., & Corbin, J. (1990). Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques.
Newbury Park: Sage.
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