About Teaching with Qualitative Data
This project examines the pedagogical practices and effects on learning of using data to teach qualitative analytic methods at the graduate level in the social sciences and beyond. Our research entails a broad survey of methods instructors in multiple disciplines, observing classroom instruction, surveying students, interviewing instructors and students, and assessing course materials. Aiming for cross-field impact on qualitative methods instruction, the project will develop training materials, guidelines, and lesson plans for integrating shared qualitative data into graduate research methods courses. Our ultimate goal is transforming the instruction of qualitative methods, and thereby the conduct, rigor, and contributions of qualitative research.
Our Research
- In 2020, we surveyed instructors of graduate research methods courses in education, health, political science, and sociology at 250 US universities regarding their teaching practices. Initial findings show that instructors often use qualitative data to teach research methods (typically their own rather than shared data) and that they believe teaching with data improves student learning. (with Beatriz Rey; funded by a Syracuse University CUSE grant)
- A second funded study (started Fall 2021) examines and compares the teaching and learning of thematic analysis in two graduate-level qualitative methods courses in education research programs at different institutions using class observations and participant interviews. (with Darcy Furlong; funded by an Indiana University SSRC grant)
Resources for Teaching with Qualitative Data
- The Qualitative Data Repository has curated a list of data projects particularly well suited for teaching.
- The UK Data Archive has produced resources for teaching with qualitative data it archives.
Diana Kapiszewski is Provost’s Distinguished Associate Professor of Government at Georgetown University. She studies law and legal institutions in Latin America, and qualitative research methods. Her book High Courts and Economic Governance in Argentina and Brazil (Cambridge, 2012) received the APSA Law and Courts Section's C. Herman Pritchett Award. She has co-edited Consequential Courts: Judicial Roles in Global Perspective (Cambridge, 2013), Beyond High Courts: The Justice Complex in Latin America (Notre Dame, 2019). In the area of research methods, Kapiszewski, co-authored Field Research in Political Science: Practices and Principles (Cambridge, 2015), serves as Director of Research for the Qualitative Data Repository and co-edits Cambridge's “Methods for Social Inquiry” book series.
Sebastian Karcher is the Associate Director of the Qualitative Data Repository and Research Assistant Professor of Political Science at Syracuse University. His main interests are in research transparency, management and curation of qualitative data, and the integration of technology into scholarly workflows. He is an active contributor to several scholarly open source projects such as Zotero and the Citation Style Language, and has taught widely on digital technology and data management. He has published in both social science journals such as International Studies Quarterly and Socio-Economic Review and information science journals such as Nature Scientific Data and Data Science Journal.
Jessica Nina Lester is an Associate Professor of Inquiry Methodology (Qualitative Research) in the School of Education at Indiana University, Bloomington. Dr. Lester has published over 80 peer-reviewed journal articles, as well as numerous books and book chapters focused on discourse and conversation analysis, disability studies, and more general concerns related to qualitative research. She is a co-author of the first edition of Digital Tools for Qualitative Research, published with SAGE. In 2014, Dr. Lester received AERA's Division D's Early Career Award in Measurement and Research Methodology (Qualitative Methodology) and has also won several teaching awards at Indiana University. She has most recently published in journals such as Qualitative Inquiry, Qualitative Research, and Discourse Studies.