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224.863.01
Doctoral Seminar in Research Methods in Applied Medical Anthropology I

Location
East Baltimore
Term
1st Term
Department
International Health
Credit(s)
4
Academic Year
2014 - 2015
Instruction Method
TBD
Class Time(s)
Tu, Th, 8:30 - 10:20am
Auditors Allowed
No
Available to Undergraduate
No
Grading Restriction
Pass/Fail
Course Instructor(s)
Contact Name
Frequency Schedule
Every Year
Prerequisite

224.690 and 224.691 Qualitative Research or equivalent

Description
Discusses advanced topics in qualitative research including 1) different ways in which the concept of ethnography as a methodology is operationalized in qualitative studies on health, 2) Michael Crotty’s framework for the research process (epistemology, theoretical framework, methodology, method); 3) Grounded Theory and Phenomenology; 4) Approaches to managing textual data; 5) Discourse analysis; and 6) Cognitive anthropology theory and methods.
Learning Objectives
Upon successfully completing this course, students will be able to:
  1. Describe different ways in which the concept of ethnography as a methodology is operationalized in qualitative studies on health
  2. Understand Michael Crotty's framework for the research process (epistemology, theoretical framework, methodology, method), and make the distinction between epistemology and theoretical framework, and between methodology and method
  3. Categorize qualitative research studies according to the four dimensions in the Crotty framework
  4. Describe and distinguish between (a) Grounded Theory, (b) the descriptive (eidetic) approach to phenomenology, and (c) the interpretive (hermeneutic) approach to phenomenology in qualitative research, and explain how they differ in terms of methodology
  5. Describe and list strengths and weaknesses of a highly systematic approach to the management and analysis of textual data including translation, back-translation and double-coding of interview transcripts
  6. Provide examples of where focus groups are preferable as a method, and describe different approaches to the conduct and analysis of focus groups
  7. List key features of Ainsworth-Vaughn's linguistic approach to discourse analysis, and describe settings in which her methodology would be appropriate for the collection and analysis of qualitative data
  8. Describe how understandings of what constitutes science have evolved over the past few centuries, the difficulties inherent in defining what is and is not science
  9. List key features of some of the major theories of the scientific process (Induction, falsificationism, Kuhns paradigms, Lakatos research programs, Feyerabends anarchistic theory of science, the Bayesian approach) and how they relate to qualitative research
  10. Describe the evolution in the concepts and methods of cognitive anthropology over the past 50 years
  11. Explain the implications of key concepts in cognitive anthropology for the design, analysis and interpretation of quantitative data collected with instruments informed by the findings of qualitative studies