COurses in Qualitative Inquiry

Below are course descriptions of those I have taught in qualitative inquiry. To see all course offerings in the area of Qualitative Research at The University of Alabama, please click here.

BER 631: Qualitative I

This course serves as an introduction to basic theory and history of naturalistic inquiry, including the growth of methods and frameworks for conducting research. Students will have a practical experience developing a qualitative research project.  This includes skills such as development of a basic research design, research questions, interviewing, and protocols.  Students also practice data analysis skills including coding, memo writing, and analysis. Throughout the semester, students learn to critically read and write about qualitative research while gaining understandings of this field of inquiry.

BER 632: Qualitative II

Anthropological methods and theoretical skills grounding data collection, analysis, and writing with a focus on ethical research practice concerning researcher/subject relations.  Students continue to build a data corpus and conduct a second hands-on project of ethnographic observation and field work to develop the skills of writing field notes and collecting field documents, coding, analysis, write up of data; focus groups are also covered in this course.

BEr 634: narrative Inquiry

 BER 637: Arts-Based Research
This course serves as an introduction to narrative inquiry and analysis in qualitative research. Topics covered include: theoretical and philosophical underpinnings of narrative inquiry, ethics and reflexivity in narrative inquiry, analytic methods in narrative inquiry, narrative interviewing, and (re)presenting narrative work.
How do we come to inquire differently in and through our research?
The possibilities in/of artistic expression and inquiry move many researchers to consider and systematically explore human experience through the modalities of visual arts, poetry, music, dance, fiction, performance, new media, and endless others. Arts-based research, then, creates spaces for researchers to think outside of written language (or normative research practices) and to inquire and make meaning through a more embodied artistic practice. This course considers both the historical and current landscape of arts-based research and its place in/against the field of qualitative research. Further, it engages students in readings that span the breadth of arts-based research practices, while cultivating opportunities for students to become arts-based research practitioners.

BEr 687: Field Experience

BER 690: Readings in Educational Research
This course offers one-on-one work with a select faculty member to design, implement, and write a research project resulting in a manuscript of publishable quality. Projects and deadlines must be arranged with the instructor.

Note: This course is only available to Qualitative Research Certificate students and students in the PhD in Educational Research program.
This course considers and critically examines contemporary dialogues and debates in qualitative inquiry. For spring 2017, the course centered (and decentered) around the notion of post- qualitative and new materialism work. The readings engaged students with the various theories, perspectives, criticisms, and arguments associated with post- qualitative inquiry. The aim was not to reach consensus, rather to grapple with the layers and complexities of post- qualitative inquiry in the current qualitative landscape.

Student Work

An important aspect of my qualitative pedagogy is cultivating opportunities for students to explore inquiry creatively. Some examples can be seen in the slideshow above as well as here.
Above: Interactive newspaper showing narratives (top section) and counternarratives (bottom section) from the Black Lives Matter movement. Work by doctoral students Erin Warner and Vanessa de Leon Rodriguez completed for
BER 634: Narrative Inquiry.
Below: Multimedia exploration of race and place on the University of Alabama campus. Listen to the audio and read the transcription to experience the layers of data. Work by Lauren Bennett and Maureen A. Flint completed for BER 634: Narrative Inquiry.