Unit information: Qualitative Research Methods in Human Geography in 2023/24

Unit name	Qualitative Research Methods in Human Geography
Unit code	GEOGM0041
Credit points	20
Level of study	M/7
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24)
Unit director	Dr. Behzadi
Open unit status	Not open
Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units)	None
Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units)	None
Units you may not take alongside this one	None
School/department	School of Geographical Sciences
Faculty	Faculty of Science

Unit Information

This unit explores the theory and use of qualitative approaches to research in human geography, including through an introduction to critical (feminist, postcolonial, decolonial and posthumanist) approaches, modes of knowledge production and practice. It covers foundational texts and approaches to research philosophies, ontologies, and epistemologies and methodologies as well as it trains students to the use of qualitative methods. The course particularly develops expertise in critically assessing how qualitative methods are used across geographical academic writing, applied knowledge and evidence-based policy, focusing on a wide range of methodological approaches and methods.

The unit particularly introduces students to a wide range of methods of data collection - ethnographic methods (participant observation and others), interviews, focus groups, case studies, archives and other historical methods such as oral histories, visual and creative/art-based methods, digital methods and participatory methods. It also introduces students to secure methods of data storage and data analysis of qualitative text based, visual or digital material (including through discourse and content analysis and through the use of data analysis computer packages such as NVivo). Finally, it involves discussions around methods of data dissemination (text-based, creative, visual and digital). The course is also directly relevant to helping students advance the design of their own research projects, such as dissertations and qualitative research conducted in non-academic jobs. As such, it complements the research design and training offered in the Dissertation Unit.

Aims:

• To expand the range of methodological experience and competence in preparation for framing and conducting a dissertation.
• To familiarise students from diverse disciplinary backgrounds with the methodological and ethical issues underpinning qualitative text based, visual, digital and other qualitative approaches to doing research
• To enable students to gain experience of using a wide range of different qualitative methods through practice
• To give students the awareness that their methodological and ethical decisions shape the outcomes of research
• To instruct students in the importance of linking theory with practice.
• To critically review the expectations of how methods are produced in published work.
• To prepare students to produce the methodology sections of their own dissertations.

Your learning on this unit

On completion of this Unit students should be able to:

1. Understand the theoretical and practical issues underpinning the application of qualitative research methods in the production of their own research;
2. Conduct, and critically evaluate the appropriate use of, a range of qualitative methods;
3. Understand and be able to mitigate the limits of particular quantitative methods.

The following transferable skills are developed in this Unit:

• Written and verbal communication
• Techniques in applying particular qualitative methods
• Problem solving
• Lateral and strategic thinking
• Analytical skills
• Planning and design of research methods for a specific problem

How you will learn

The unit will be taught through in-person teaching, including

• online resources
• in-person lectures
• in-person group seminars and/or office hours
• asynchronous individual activities and guided reading for students to work through at their own pace

How you will be assessed

Formative

In preparation for seminars students will prepare a series of 7 short 500-word summaries of their use of taught methods undertaken throughout the unit. 3 of these will then be submitted for marking (see below).

Summative

(100%) A 4500-word assignment consisting of 3 x 1500 essays. Each essay will be an expansion of 3 of the 7 short 500-word summaries of students’ use of taught methods undertaken throughout the course in the formative assessment [ILOs 1-3]

Resources

If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.

If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. GEOGM0041).

How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks, independent learning and assessment activity.

See the University Workload statement relating to this unit for more information.

Assessment
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit. The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. For appropriate assessments, if you have self-certificated your absence, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (for assessments at the end of TB1 and TB2 this is usually in the next re-assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any exceptional circumstances and operates within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.