Tvisebrivi meTodebi socialur kvlevaSi - Center for Social Sciences

Tinatin Zurabishvili
QUALITATIVE METHODS IN SOCIAL RESEARCH
Course outline
As stated in the course syllabus, the main objectives of this 8-week course are two-fold:
as a result of attending this course, the students will: (a) get familiar with the theory and
history of qualitative research methods in social sciences; and (b) learn how to conduct
various types of qualitative research which are most frequently used in the contemporary
social research practice.
Main topics covered in the course are outlined below.
Week 1.
Qualitative Methods in Social Research: Introduction and Historical Overview.
Lecture, 3 hours; discussion, 1 hour
The first lecture offers introduction to qualitative research methods in social sciences.
We start with discussion of the nature and distinctive features of qualitative research
methods, which are compared with quantitative methods, such as surveys. We stress that,
unlike quantitative research method results, qualitative data are not representative, which,
however, does not mean that they are less scientific; they provide deeper understanding of
the social world than the quantitative methods do, although they can not be generalized and
claimed that their results are representative for the population under study.
Qualitative research methods offer more flexibility to the researcher while doing field
work. On the other hand, this leads to higher responsibility of the researcher, and poses
specific ethnical issues, which will be covered more in detail later on.
Major issues in the discussion of the nature of qualitative and quantitative research
methods are connected with the idea that qualitative and quantitative methods of social
research are of different, but not of opposite nature; they should be used appropriately in
order to achieve reliable results. The model of “qualitative – quantitative interactive
continuum” developed by Isadore Newman and Carolyn R. Benz (1998) is introduced, which
stresses the idea that the two groups of methods can mutually enrich the research.
First lecture also offers a historical analysis of development of qualitative research
methods, and a discussion of theoretical paradigms that lay behind qualitative and
quantitative research methods
At the end of the lecture, we discuss research design and the ways to develop it.
Detailed analyses of components of research design are presented, in order to make the
students familiar with the ways of thinking about new research projects and getting prepared
to start one.
At the end of the class, we will have discussion and/or Q&A session.
Required readings for this week are:
Earl Babbie. 2004. The Practice of Social Research. 10 th Edition. Belmont, Calif.:
Thomson/Wadsworth. Pp. 288-298 (“Some Qualitative Filed Research Paradigms”).
Michael Burawoy. 1991 “The Extended Case Method.” Pp. 271-287 in: Michael Burawoy et al.
1991. Ethnography Unbound. Power and Resistance in the Modern Metropolis. Berkley: University of
California Press.
Isadore Newman and Carolyn R. Benz. 1998. Qualitative-Quantitative Research
Methodology. Exploring the Interactive Continuum. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University
Press. Pp. 1-12 (“Qualitative-Quantitative Research: A False Dichotomy”).
104