The Centre for Qualitative Research (CQR) at the University of Bath is hosting its annual workshop series on Tuesday 1st February 2022.
The workshops will precede QRS (symposium) and will focus on a range of issues related to qualitative research and will be delivered online by researchers and teachers with expertise in session areas.
Workshops
Workshops will be of interest to both researchers and practitioners.
A total of eight workshops are offered; participants can select whether to attend one (half a day) or two (full day) of the eight.
No prior knowledge of the subjects is required given the workshops are designed to be of an introductory level.
Each session lasts 2.5 hours (with an exception of workshop 4 lasting 1.5 hours) and has a maximum capacity of 25 attendees.
Morning Sessions (9:30am to 12:00pm)
Select one of the four workshops
Workshop 1: Using the Visual in Social Science Research and Teaching
Dr Rita Chawla-Duggan and Dr Stefanie Gustafsson
Visual methods comprise various approaches (drawings, illustrations, images, material culture, photographs, and videos) that have the potential to maximise participants’ capacity to engage in research and teaching. In this workshop we will explore the relationship between seeing and knowing, the methodological challenges and possibilities of visual approaches, and finally focus on two applications of our own work: video methods and mask making.
Workshop 2: Researching Thoughts and Feelings: Exploring Uncertainty and the Unknowable
This workshop investigates the ‘messiness’ and subjective process of researching thoughts and feelings. Whilst we will use climate change as a vehicle to explore these issues, this workshop is relevant to anyone researching thoughts and feelings about any subject. We will question the role of the conscious and the unconscious within human climate change contributions and solutions, attempting to approach the thorny problem of ‘researching the unknowable’ in qualitative research.
Workshop 3: Methods of Discourse Analysis
Participants will be introduced to the basics of different approaches to discourse analysis: critical discourse analysis (CDA), post-structuralist discourse analysis (PDA) and rhetorical analysis (RA). We will use tools drawn from the latter method to study a contemporary political speech. By the end of the session you will have a nuanced understanding of the different approaches to discourse analysis, allowing you to identify the most suitable method for your research.
Workshop 4: Researcher Vulnerability: Managing the Risks & Gaining the Rewards
Whilst personal safety has become an ethical and practical consideration academics are increasingly expected to address before beginning primary research, this workshop will explore how working from a position of certain vulnerability might enable the acquisition of knowledge and insight. In this session, you will be encouraged to reflect on how a researcher could become vulnerable, how to manage this, and how to embrace ambiguity. Lastly, we will consider the relationship of researcher vulnerability to the broad effort to decolonise the academy.
*This workshop has now been cancelled due to staffing issues.
Afternoon Sessions (13:00pm to 15:30pm)
Select one of the four workshops
Workshop 5: Analysing Interview and Focus Group Data using Thematic Analysis
In this session we will discuss some of the challenges to conducting qualitative data analysis before focusing on Thematic Analysis. We will go through Braun and Clarke’s (2006) six-phase approach to Thematic Analysis and see some examples of how it is applied in practice. You will then work in small groups, applying the method to analyse interview transcripts in relation to a research question. By the end of the session the whole group will combine their analysis to identify broad themes which capture the data set.
Workshop 6: Grounded Methodology
This workshop will introduce you to grounded methodology, explore the theory behind the methodology and show you how to use it to develop and evaluate research and public engagement projects. We will particularly focus on desk-based research. The workshop will also discuss covering data collection techniques used in the course of research, such as observations, interviews, course development, participant diaries and online data collection. Finally, we will look at the practical realities of researching in different institutional settings.
Workshop 7: Causal Qualitative Data Analysis (QDA) with the Causal Map: A Practical Introduction
Steve Powell, Professor James Copestake and Fiona Remnant
Casual mapping is an established approach to visualising and aggregating the causal models or ideas held by individuals. After briefly reviewing different approaches to causation in the social sciences, we present a new app, “Causal Map” (causalmap.app). Using this app we can construct causal maps from interview data or other text data through highlighting causal claims by applying pairs of codes simultaneously. We will also explore causal coding with hierarchical codes to further participants’ understanding of the uses of causal Qualitative Data Analysis.
Workshop 8: Making Inequalities Visible: Critical Data Analysis
Epistemic injustice is deeply embedded in qualitative analysis, diminishing part, or all, of the human beings whose experiences contribute to researchers’ findings. Adopting a critical qualitative research approach in this participatory session, we will explore issues of in/equity in data analysis to think about how data analysis might be more just. In the workshop you will create a short piece of textual data and engage in arts-based methods to prompt critical reflections on what has been made visible in the process. No artistic skills required!
Registration
You can register for the workshops online.The deadline for registration is 30 January 2022
Partial refunds are possible for participants who withdraw their booking before 13 January 2021. No refunds will be provided thereafter.