Field Methods (403-0-20)
Instructors
Simone Zinaida Ispa-Landa
Ispa-Landa’s scholarship concerns the sociology of education, race and gender, and youth peer cultures. She is interested in understanding how individuals and groups respond to stigma and discrimination, maintain the meaning systems that support it, and seek to overcome its negative consequences. She is currently working on two projects: first, how college men and women in historically white Greek life navigate gendered power dynamics and sexual violence. Her second project is a book about the strengths and challenges of various approaches to racial disparities in discipline in a self-consciously liberal suburban school district. Her areas of teaching include race and ethnicity, gender, sociology of education, sociology of youth and childhood, and qualitative research methods.
Meeting Info
Parkes Hall 222: Wed 2:00PM - 4:50PM
Overview of class
This course is designed to introduce graduate students to qualitative research, including field work and interviewing. Students will explore qualitative research approaches by undertaking their own research study as well as reading and discussing relevant writing on the subject. The readings, topics for discussion, and assignments in this course center on three issues:
• The epistemological underpinnings of approaches to qualitative research. In addition to considering different theoretical traditions, students will also consider issues such as trustworthiness and the use of negative or deviant cases.
• The practice of qualitative inquiry. Students will explore sampling strategies; instrument and research design; observation and interview techniques; and a variety of approaches to data analysis and data presentation.
• Key issues that researchers encounter in doing qualitative research. Students will consider a range of practical issues that they will have to deal with as researchers including access to sites and ethical issues relating to qualitative work.
The course will be conducted as a "clinical seminar." Class work will be organized around prescribed readings on a particular issue as well as students' fieldwork. Materials (e.g., research design, instruments, data) from students' research projects (a required assignment for this course) will be used to ground weekly discussions.
Learning Objectives
Understand the epistemological foundations of various qualitative research approaches.
Evaluate and discuss issues of trustworthiness, transparency, and negative or deviant cases in qualitative research.
Develop skills in qualitative research design, including sampling strategies and instrument creation.
Practice and refine observation and interviewing techniques for data collection.
Explore and apply different approaches to qualitative data analysis and presentation.
Identify and address practical challenges in conducting qualitative research, such as gaining access to research sites.
Recognize and navigate ethical considerations specific to qualitative research.
Design and conduct an original qualitative research study.
Critically analyze and discuss relevant literature on qualitative research methods.
Develop skills in presenting and discussing qualitative research findings.
Teaching Method
Clinical seminar
Evaluation Method
Grades on weekly assignments, research project components, and class participation.
Class Materials (Required)
Books and articles