NIFK21003U Cancelled Qualitative Methods: From Interviews and Observation to Analysis

Do you plan to use interviews, document analysis, or observation for your thesis or in a future job? Would you like to learn about case studies and other qualitative research designs, and about how to analyze and present data acquired through such methods and designs? Would you like to understand the theoretical and scientific foundations for qualitative data collection methods and research designs?

This course equips you to understanding people and their interactions with natural resources, the climate, and the environment by applying qualitative methods. Take the course in preparation for fieldwork, for writing your thesis or other assignments that include qualitative data. The course may also help you to gain deeper insights into practical and theoretical aspects of methods you have previously applied.

During the course, we will discuss how people’s experiences, rationalities, beliefs, and values are relevant in the study of biophysical phenomena. We will discuss what data is, what qualitative versus quantitative and mixed methods are, how they relate to different types of knowledge, and what the role of theories and concepts is in data collection and analysis.

We will examine theoretical and practical aspects of specific data collection methods and research designs. This includes when and how to apply these methods and designs, the pros and cons of each method and of combining them, and how to ensure the quality of data. You will learn how to construct and carry out a small-scale questionnaire survey, semi-structured interviews, elite interviews, focus group interviews, participatory rural appraisal, and participatory observation. With regard to research designs, our focus will be on different types of case studies, but we will also look at other research designs and discuss what determines their applicability.

In addition, the course provides you with hands-on experience with analysis of qualitative data: how to organize your data, when and how to use different types of coding, how to present your data (E.g.; Quotes? How many? How?), and how to interpret and analyze data within a selected conceptual and/or theoretical framework.

There will be plenty of exercises during classes. The lectures and exercises draw on a broad range of examples relevant to natural resources and the environment, such as climate change, nature conservation, agriculture, forestry, food waste, water, etc. The examples may come from all parts of the world, although with some emphasis on the Global South.  

During the course, you will work on a group assignment on a topic relevant in a Danish context. The assignment includes data collection in the neighborhood, and analyzing and reporting processes and results within a conceptual and/or theoretical framework defined early on during the course. Critical reflections on your choice of methods and implications to the quality of data form part of your final group report. You can chose from a broad range of predefined topics. The topics will vary from year to year, but could include food waste, climate change adaptation, forest certification, nature and health, fair trade, etc.

The basic premises of the course are that a) qualitative and quantitative methods can be defined on a continuum and are complementary rather than contradictory; b) choice of methods must follow from the type of knowledge you want to produce given the research context and available resources, and that c) qualitative methods are indispensable if you want to understand people and their interaction with the environment.