Application deadline

Applicants from Nordic countries: 1 June

Application for exchange students and Fulbright students: 15 April

Type of course

Admission requirements

Participants must be enrolled in a PhD program or a Student Research Program at UiT or another Norwegian/Nordic university. PhD students from other universities may also apply. All participants must have a qualitative design or a mixed methods design in their PhD research projects.

We recommend that participants have competence and knowledge of theory of science, research ethics and research design at PhD level (e.g. through HEL-8040 or a similar course).  Participants are also assumed to have basic skills in qualitative research.

The course will be held only with a minimum of 6 participants. The maximum number of participants is 12 students.

If there are more applicants than available seats in the course, students will be given priority from category 1 to 4:

• PhD students, research fellows and students participating in a Student Research Programme at UiT The Arctic University of Norway
• Participants in the Associate Professor Programme
• PhD students and students at a Student Research Programme at other universities

Applicants who have minimum a master's degree or equivalent, but have not been admitted to a PhD programme

Application code: 9301

Course content

Qualitative research methods are useful for the study of human experience and people’s way of understanding and reasoning. They also create understanding of social contexts, relations and practice/actions, i.e. the experience of patients, their relations to health professionals, the role of the health system and the practices of both patients and professionals.  This course will provide in-depth knowledge on what qualitative methods are and how to use them, how methodologies guide research and what are the important steps in developing a qualitative study. The course is a specialised and advanced course relevant for PhD-students within medicine, health sciences and social sciences.

In the course, we will first go in-depth with the most commonly used methods in health research (observation, interviews, focus group discussions, narrative inquiry, document analysis, visual methods). We will discuss each method and their prerequisites, adequacy, challenges and possibilities with special emphasis on what are the premises and assumptions for each method. Specific issues for each method will be critically discussed.

Second, all methods will be compared and discussed in terms of their sustainability for a given project design, their adequacy as methodic tool and their differences. We will focus on how different methodologies apply these methods and produce knowledge through a distinct ‘logic of inquiry’.

Third, the course will emphasize and demonstrate how all choices of methodologies and methods require consistency between theory of science, research question and design. Further, we will address how any research project is embedded in research communities informed by contemporary values, policies and economics.       

Recommended prerequisites

Objectives of the course

Knowledge:

By the end of this course, the candidate has knowledge that enables him/her to:

• Discuss and evaluate prerequisites for the use of common qualitative methods and methodologies
• Assess challenges pertaining to different methods and methodologies 
• Master the use of common qualitative research methods and reflect on their impact on knowledge production
• Contribute to the development of methodological strategies for the production of solid qualitative knowledge

Skills

By the end of this course, the candidate has skills that enable him/her to

• Select and carry out the application of different methods and methodologies in a consistent research design
• Critically judge and integrate common challenges of qualitative methods in a research process   
• Challenge and judge the scientific consistency of a given research design.

General competence

By the end of this course, the candidate is expected to be able to

• Manage the complex use of common qualitative methods and research methodologies, including how to create consistency between research problem, methodology and methods.
• Determine the relevance of qualitative research designs and reflect on their methodological challenges
• Participate critically in academic debates on qualitative research findings and conditions
• Participate in research communities engaged in qualitative research methods.

Language of instruction and examination

Teaching methods

The course will consist of 3x2 full day seminars during one academic year. Preparation in terms of reading the curriculum for the course is expected.  

Each seminar day will be a combination of teacher-led and student-led activities. The educational approach is based on lectures and student involvement through interactive teaching, group work, and peer learning. Seminars will be led by two teachers co-teaching and consist of:

• A long introductory lecture on a specific method and methodology, emphasizing a chosen challenge/topic. The lecture will contain short exercises, using student-activating tools to promote discussions on methodological choices

• Following lectures, the teachers present prepared specific tasks to be worked with, supervised by teachers and in collaboration with the participants during:
  • Discussion of challenges of the methodology and

method of the day

• Group work that encourages the students to engage with their own research projects in light of the lecture
• Exercises in groups on project designs and research questions
• Student presentations of own projects with feedback from a discussant and plenum discussion
• Student presentation of a qualitative research article relevant for the day’s topic, plenum discussion and feedback.

Assessment

An individually written home exam over two weeks on a given topic, length 2000 - 3000 words (written in English). Graded as pass or fail.

• Documented 80% attendance and active participation during the seminars
• Give one oral presentation of ones’ own PhD project on a subject related to a seminar topic
• Take the role of opponent once for a co-student’s presentation
• Give one oral presentation of an academic article

Students who fail the exam are allowed to deliver a revised version within 2 weeks after the marking has been announced.

Recommended reading/syllabus