Qualitative research design

NatCen Learning

This two day intermediate level course is designed to equip participants with a clear understanding of the principles and practice of high quality, rigorous research design for qualitative studies.

Course outline
Course content covers:

designing effective research questions
choosing your methodology
- types of data
- choosing your data unit
- deciding the time frame
- choosing between different methods of data collection
sampling in qualitative research
ethics in research design
combining qualitative and quantitative research approaches
establishing quality in research design.

Who is it aimed at?
This is an intermediate level course. A general familiarity with qualitative research methods is assumed, but it is not necessary to have experience of using these methods.

You will find the course useful if:

you are new to qualitative research
you are intending to begin designing qualitative research studies for the first time
you commission or manage qualitative research in central or local government, health or other applied policy sectors.

Learning outcomes
By the end of the module participants will be able to:

identify and describe different stages in the qualitative research process
construct meaningful and appropriate research questions for qualitative studies
describe a range of qualitative research methods (relating to sampling approaches and data collection tools)
be able to recognise the advantages and disadvantages associated with different approaches to qualitative research
make informed choices about qualitative research design
recognise the factors which influence the type of research which can be done
better appraise the quality and feasibility of research designs, and (where appropriate) write higher quality research specifications for qualitative studies
demonstrate an awareness of the implications of design choices for timetables and the resources required for qualitative research studies.

Cost and booking
The full price of this course is £650.

We offer discounts to students, academics and those working in the voluntary sector.