RLB90 Qualitative Methods in the Study of Religions

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2009
Extent and Intensity
1/1. 5 credit(s). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
Teacher(s)
PhDr. Eleonóra Hamar, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Mgr. Michaela Ondrašinová, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
prof. PhDr. Dušan Lužný, Dr.
Department for the Study of Religions – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Lucie Čelková
Timetable
Thu 11:40–13:15 B31
Prerequisites (in Czech)
Kurz rozšiřuje znalosti získané v kurzu RLB40 (Terénní výzkum současných náboženství) a je tak určen pro studenty a studentky magisterského studia religionistiky na Filozofické fakultě MU zajímající se o metody a techniky kvalitativního religionistického výzkumu. Kurz předpokládá schopnost pracovat s odbornými texty v anglickém jazyce a práci s diktafonem.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

The capacity limit for the course is 30 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/30, only registered: 0/30
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The aim of this course is to familiarize students with main features and forms of qualitative research, particularly with various forms of a qualitative interview and with possibilities of their employment in research within the Study of religions. The course is based on the perspective of the interpretive sociology which tries to approach experience of studied people as meaningful life worlds and which emphasizes the understanding of meanings that studied groups and individuals ascribe to their actions.
At the end of the course students should be able to:
formulate a research question which can be answered by the means of qualitative research;
propose a qualitative research design;
apply acquired knowledge of the qualitative methodology to realization of their own research interview;
analyse and interpret qualitative data from an interview;
evaluate and revise the research question and applied methods on the basis of the analysis of gained data.
Syllabus
  • 0. Introduction to the course
  • 1. What is qualitative inquiry? Paradigms and interpretive frameworks
  • 2. Designing a qualitative research
  • 3. Qualitative interviews I. – Semi-structured interviews
  • 4. Qualitative interviews II. – Narrative and episodic interviews
  • 5. Relationships in the field and the research ethics
  • 6. Seminar I. – Presentations of student's research plans and feedback
  • 7. Seminar II. – Presentations of student's research plans and feedback
  • 8. Practice – Realization of the interview and the reflexive description of interview situation
  • 9. Transcription as the first form of interpretation
  • 10. Coding and analyzing transcriptions
  • 11. Reliability and validity of interview knowledge
  • 12. Final discussion
Literature
  • FLICK, Uwe. An introduction to qualitative research. 3rd ed. London: SAGE Publications, 2006, xii, 443. ISBN 1412911451. info
  • Qualitative research methods. Edited by Darin Weinberg. 1st pub. Malden: Blackwell Publishers, 2002, viii, 342. ISBN 0-631-21762-2. info
  • SILVERMAN, David. Doing qualitative research : a practical handbook. 1st pub. London: Sage Publications, 2000, xv, 316. ISBN 0761958231. info
  • SILVERMAN, David. Interpreting qualitative data :methods for analysing talk, text and interaction. 1st ed. London: Sage Publications, 1997, x, 224 s. ISBN 0-8039-8758-7. info
  • KVALE, Steinar. Interviews : an introduction to qualitative research interviewing. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, 1996, xvii, 326. ISBN 080395820X. info
  • Handbook of qualitative research. Edited by Norman K. Denzin - Yvonna S. Lincoln. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, 1994, xii, 643 s. ISBN 0-8039-4679-1. info
Teaching methods
Class discussion, lectures, homework (commentaries of the compulsory readings, preparation of the research design)
Assessment methods
Commentaries of the compulsory readings and preparation for the class discussion; presentation of the research design; realization, transcription and analysis of an interview; submission of a final research paper.
The final evaluation has the form of colloquim. The colloqium is granted to a student when she/he has realized all of the above mentioned outcomes.
Language of instruction
Czech
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught once in two years.
Information on course enrolment limitations: Zápis mimo religionistiku je podmíněn souhlasem vyučující.
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2005, Autumn 2011, Autumn 2013, Autumn 2015, Autumn 2017, Spring 2021.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2009, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/autumn2009/RLB90