Psychology 3740 Advanced Qualitative Research (Fall 2024)

The purpose of this course is to help students gain a theoretical, practical and critical understanding of qualitative research methodology, and to teach skills for the execution of research projects based upon qualitative data. Qualitative research is research that focuses upon understanding, rather than predicting or controlling phenomena. Nine different paradigms of qualitative research methodology, their implications, and applications, are examined in this course. These paradigms are: data display, grounded theory, phenomenology, ethnography, psychobiography and historiography, psychoanalytic approaches, narrative psychology, hermeneutics and textual deconstruction, and social constructivism. Political and ethical issues are also highlighted in order to problematize and promote more critically informed inquiry.