| Section | Name | Description |
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| Week 1: Introduction to qualitative methods. Qualitative investigation of nationalism and ethnicity | Topics What are methods? What do they do for us? What are qualitative methods? Studying everyday nationhood and vernacular forms of neo-nationalism Applying qualitative methods in nationalism studies Studying ethnicity and ethnic identities with qualitative methods
Readings Denzin, Norman and Yvonna S. Lincoln (2011): The Discipline and Practice of Qualitative Research and Part I: Locating the Field. In: Denzin, Norman and Yvonna S. Lincoln ed. Handbook of Qualitative Research. Sage, 1-26. Schiff, Claire (2014): Introduction: Understanding the Salience of Ethnicity in the Educational Experiences of Minority Adolescences across Europe. And Margit, Feischmidt: Dampened Voices. A Comparative Look at Roma Adolescences’ Discourses of Being ‘Othered’ at School. Both In: Szalai, J. and Schiff, C. ed. Migrant, Roma and Post-Colonial Youth in Education across Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, 2014, 1-15 and 120-135. Recommended readings Fox, Jon and Miller-Idriss, Cynthia “Everyday Nationhood”. Ethnicities, 2008, 8 (4), 536-582. |
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| Week 2: Research question and research structure | Week 2 Research question and research structure
Topics What is it you want to research? Why? Why does it matter? Research questions originating from everyday experiences Literature review. Refine your research question in analytical terms How do you go about finding the answers? Choosing and mixing methods Choosing your field and research subjects
Example: Research plan
Assignment: research plan Choose a topic (potential thesis topic) and formulate it into a research plan that indicates what you will study, what you want to find out, and what you want to understand or show through this inquiry. Indicate the methods and the analytic concepts to be applied. Please bring the research plan (1,5-2 page, 3000-4000 characters) to the next class.
Readings: Hammersley, Martyn and Paul Atkinson (1983): Research design. Problems, cases and samples. In: Ibid: Ethnography: Principles and Practice. London, NY: Routledge 23-53. Recommended readings Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb and Joseph M. Williams “From Topics to Questions” and “From Questions to Problems.” (1993): In Ibid. The Craft of Research. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 29-63. |
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| Week 3: Ethnographic methods | Week 3 Ethnographic methods
3.1. Discussion: students’ research plans Assignment: Please, bring with you and be prepared to read it out your research plan.
3.2. Entering the field and doing ethnographic research
Topics How to select research settings and cases? How can you find the informants? How to establish relationships? Stages of participant observation (entering the field and doing participative research) How to deal with personal attachments? What anthropologists do with fieldnotes? Professional and personal uses and meanings of fieldnotes Writing up fieldnotes. Concepts and styles in writing fieldnotes Organizing descriptions based on fieldnotes
Readings: Schensul, Stephen (1999): Entering the field. In: Schensul, Stephen et al ed. Essential Ethnographic Methods. Seven Oaks Innovation. CA: Altamira Press, 69-89 Bernhard, R. Participant observation. (2006): Ch 7 in Bernhard R. Research Methods in Anthropology. Oxford: Altamira Press, 136-164. Recommended readings Robert M. Emerson, Rachel I. Fretz and Linda L. Shaw (1995): “Fieldnotes in Ethnographic Research” and “In the Field: Participating, Observing, and Jotting Notes,” In: Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995): 1-38.
Assignment: Field notes and ethnographic observation Choose a field where you can do participant observation (min. two times in the field). Make a description of the observed event, interactions etc. based on your fieldnotes (max. 2 pages, 4000 characters) and bring your ethnographic description to the last class. (Week 5) |
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| Week 4: Interview methods: Unstructured, semi-structured individual interviews. Focus group interviews | Week 4 Interview methods: Unstructured, semi-structured individual interviews. Focus group interviews
Topics Structure, setting, and the role of the interviewer Interview types based on the research aim and degree of control Oral history, narrative interview Semi-structured individual interview How to stimulate the interviewee to produce more information? Interview guide examples: semi-structured and structured individual interview Interview guide example and exercise (In the class make a draft of your interview guide wording, order, and content of questions)
Readings: Bernard, R (2006): Unstructured and semi-structured interviewing. In Bernard R. Research Methods in Anthropology. Oxford: Altamira Press, 208-236 Recommended readings Briggs, Charles (1983) Learning how to Ask. Cambridge: CUP. Chapter 5 93-111. Holstein, James and Jaber Gubrium (1997) Active Interviewing. In: Silverman, David (ed.) Qualitative research: theory, method, and practice. London, Sage 113-129 Morgan, David L. (1997) Focus group as qualitative research. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications.
Examples Semi-structured individual and focus group interview guides
Assignment: interview guide Please prepare and bring your interview guides to the next last class. (Week 5)
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| Week 6: Writing: ethnography and the argumentative empirical study | Week 6 Writing: ethnography and the argumentative empirical study
Topics Creative reading, creative writing Writing up: making arguments flow from the data Interpretation, pre-existing theories and assumptions
Readings: Robert M. Emerson, Rachel I. Fretz and Linda L. Shaw (1995): Writing an Ethnography. In: Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995): 166-210. Recommended readings Hammersley, Martyn and Paul Atkinson (1983): The Process of Analysis. In: Ibid: Ethnography: Principles and Practice. London: Routledge 23-53. Atlas.ti – Quick tour http://atlasti.com/manuals-docs/ |