1. Roundtable on your “Day-One” projects (preliminary project sketches). The importance of CED research. We will introduce questions of epistemology in CED research, including discussion of the ways in which the criteria for “knowing” or for “relating to the world” may influence the choice of research methods. This should include attention to issues of positivism and phenomenology, hypothesis formulation and testing, and theory as discovery.

Friday Evening:
Reading: First Steps, Chapter One.

Reading: Qualitative Research Design, Preface & Chapter One.

Video: Worlds Without End. PBS Home Video.

Please complete Exercise 2.1, “Researcher Identity Memo” (Maxwell book, pg. 27, and reprinted here) before coming to class.

2. Finding, and refining a topic: the structure of research. The “why” in the planning of your ideas. We will have a discussion of the basic steps involved in social science research, from finding out what has been done to becoming more informed on the topic and how to refine your search. Planning is the key to the process.

Saturday Morning:
Reading: First Steps, Chapter Two.

Reading: Qualitative Research Design, Chapter Two.

Reading: Introduction to Qualitative Research by Beverly Hancock, Nottingham University, supplied in PDF format or available online at: http://www.trentfocus.org.uk/Resources/Qualitative%20Research.pdf

Please complete Exercise 4 from this reading before coming to class.

Note: You might wish to begin making additions to the Researcher Identity Memo.

3. Planning your ideas: theorizing about what’s going on. Conceptualization is the process of taking a construct or concept and refining it by giving it a conceptual or theoretical definition. Conceptualization is guided by a theoretical framework, perspective or approach the researcher is committed to. i.e. a CED researcher operating within a Marxist framework will have a different conceptual definition for a research question or hypothesis than a non-Marxist researcher.

Saturday Afternoon
Reading: Qualitative Research Design, Chapter Three.

Please complete Exercise 3.1, “Creating a Concept Map for Your Study” (pg. 52) prior to this class.

Review Exercise 3.2, “Creating a model of the development of friendship patterns” for the afternoon class (give it some thought, jot down your reactions, this is for your own use in our class discussion, you will not submit these points as a formal memo).

4. Planning Your Ideas: what do you want to understand? We will explore the different types of research questions that will allow you to develop the three basic types of questions (descriptive, relational, causal) that research projects can address.

Sunday Morning:
Readings: Qualitative Research Design, Chapter Four.

Readings: How to Use Observations in a Research Project by Nick Fox, supplied in PDF format or available online at: http://www.trentfocus.org.uk/Resources/How%20to%20Use%20Observations....pdf

Please complete Exercise 11 from this reading for the nest class (class 5). You should plan, record and transcribe the interview with the key informant, in addition to the other requirements of the exercise. Please keep the interview to 10 minutes or less to keep this exercise manageable.

Please complete Exercise 4.1, “Developing Your Research Questions” (pg. 76) for class 5.

5. Planning “the How”: selecting which basic research methods to use
Research methods are used to collect information. The overall goal in selecting basic research method(s) is to generate the most useful information for your research project in a cost-effective and realistic fashion. CED researchers typically use a variety of research methods, including questionnaires, surveys, interviews, documentation review, observation, focus groups and case studies.

Friday Evening:
We will explore each of these basic research methods as well as the process of random and non-random sampling.

Readings: First Steps, Chapter 4, 5, 6, 7 & 8.

Readings: Qualitative Research Design, Chapter Five and Six.

Readings: Soy, Susan K. “The Case Study as a Research Method.” Availiable here or http://fiat.gslis.utexas.edu/~ssoy/usesusers/l391d1b.htm

Please complete Exercise 5.1, “Reflecting on Your Research Relationships” (pg. 86) for the next class.

Please review Exercise 5.2, “Questions and methods matrix” (p. 102) for the next class.
OPTIONAL: You might choose to work from this matrix, rather than the concept map developed earlier. Review them together, and adjust as necessary.

Please complete Exercise 6.1, “Identifying and Dealing with Validity Threats to Your Study” (pg.114) for the next class.

6. Field Research and Ethics. An introduction to strategic, logistic and ethical concerns in the conduct of research including discussions on means of entry, openness versus concealment of objectives, relationships with informants or subjects, “playing the role” of researcher, leaving the field, and ensuring reliability and validity. We will also discuss when and how to use appropriate methods of data collection, including structured and unstructured interviews, focus groups, observations, and participant observations.

Saturday Morning
Advance Readings: First Steps, Chapter 7.

Cape Breton U Research Ethics Guidelines (http://www.capebretonu.ca/research/forms.htm).

7.
Participatory Action Research. Saturday Afternoon
We will discuss the differences between basic, applied, evaluation and participatory action research. The roles of researchers and participants, application of research to theory building and action strategies will also be explored.

Readings: Trunkey, Larry. “Principles of Community-Based Action Research.” 2000. .

Explore: Glace Bay GPI Project (www.glacebaygpi.com; www.gpiatlantic.org)

Readings: Jobs are not the answer but then what is? By Angus MacIntyre. Read this short text as an example of 4 qualitative CED research projects, critique the report from a methodological point of view.

8. Writing the Research Report. Sunday Morning
The step-by-step approach to writing qualitative and quantitative research reports will be discussed in some detail.

Advance Readings: First Steps, Chapter 10.

Readings: Readings: Qualitative Research Design, Chapter Seven & Appendix A.

Readings: Assessing Quality in Qualitative Research by N. Mayes and C. Pope, 2000, supplied in PDF format and available online at: www.bmj.com, search for authors Mays and Pope.