Dr Cate Jerram
Email cate.jerram@adelaide.edu.au
Work Phone 088313 4757
Office Location 09.03 Nexus 10
Office Hours: Flexible about time, but email for appointments.
Personal Link http://www.adelaide.edu.au/directory/cate.jerram

This course meets on irregular fortnights (avoiding public holidays)
for two x 3 hour seminars on Mondays from 10:00am – 1:00pm then 2:00pm – 5:00pm. in Nexus10, Room 220 (Computer Suite, level 2). 
Important – there will sometimes be a change of venue, so always check the course website (MyUni) and announcements, in case you need to go somewhere else.

NOTE 1: there is an expectation that members of the Qualitative Methods course will participate actively in the online components of the course, and that MyUni will be accessed (asynchronously) at least 2-3 times per week, in addition to physical attendance at class.

NOTE 2: It is a Business School requirement that all Research Candidates and MBR Students participate in several research seminars each semester. These are mainly scheduled for Fridays in the School of Accounting & Finance. School of Marketing & Management has a much more distributed timetable for both guest speaker and brown bag seminars. Please carefully read emails that are sent to you about these seminars, and attend those that are in your discipline or otherwise relevant to you. When the University of Adelaide Business School research seminars are less appropriate to a student’s discipline and/or research topic, it is acceptable to attend more relevant research seminars presented in other schools/disciplines/faculties or at UniSA or Flinders. It is recommended that the candidate negotiate such alternative seminar attendances with their supervisor.

By the end of this course students should be able to:

1. Design a research approach that appropriately and ethically addresses a research objective within a consistent conceptual framework, selecting from a range of methods.
2. Investigate, evaluate and select research methods for data gathering and data analysis that are appropriate to the chosen research approach and design.
3. Understand how question design relates to survey, focus group and interview question creation; and to design and evaluate questions for semi-structured interviews (with understanding of variations for structured and unstructured interviews) and focus groups.
4. Conduct (and record / transcribe) interviews and focus groups in a professional and ethical manner.
5. Apply and evaluate different methods and orders of analysis to rich, complex, qualitative data.
6. Select and use appropriate techniques, methods and tools for management of rich and complex research data and information.
7. Use Nvivo11 Pro (software) to support data management and facilitate data analysis.
8. Present the results of qualitative research in a professional academic manner in both oral and written formats.

[1] (absolutely required)
Symon, Gillian & Cassell, Catherine. 2012. Qualitative Organizational Research: Core Methods and Current Challenges. SAGE Publications Ltd
• eBook ISBN 13:9781446258279
• Print ISBN 13:9780857024114

[2] (very strongly recommended - highly desirable)
Cassell, Catherine & Symon, Gillian (Eds). 2004. Essential Guide to Qualitative Methods in Organizational Research [Paperback]
- Pub ISBN-10: 0761948880
         ISBN-13: 978-0761948889

**strongly recommended**
** King, Nigel & Horrocks, Christine (2010) Interviews in Qualitative Research. Sage, London.**
** Gill, J & Johnson, P. (2010) Research Methods for Managers 4th Ed. Sage: London. **
** Neuman, W. Lawrence (2010) Social Research Methods: Qualitative & Quantitative Approaches (7th Ed) Allyn & Bacon (6th ed 2005)**

• Checkland, Peter & Holwell, Sue. 1997 Information, Systems and Information Systems: Making Sense of the Field. Wiley.
• Cresswell, John W. (2007) Qualitative Inquiry & Research Design: choosing among five approaches. 2nd ed. Sage: London.
• Crotty, M (1998) The foundations of social research: meaning and perspective in the research process. Sage: London.
• Eriksson, Paivi: & Kovalainen, Anne (2008) Qualitative Methods in Business Research. Sage: London.
• Flick, Uwe (2006) An introduction to qualitative research. 3rd ed. Sage: London.
• Silverman, David (2005) Doing Qualitative Research. 2nd ed. Sage: London.

This course is a combined offering for Honours, MBR, MPhil & PhD students and candidates. Consequently, difficulties are often encountered in enrolling in / accessing MyUni.

IF YOU HAVE TROUBLE ACCESSING the MyUni site for this course: “COMMERCE 7100 Qualitative Methods (M)”, please contact the Lecturer in Charge (LIC) Dr Cate Jerram immediately! (Remember to give your official name, your preferred name, and your student id#.)

Note: An enrollment into MyUni takes 24 hours to take effect, so - the sooner the better!

This course uses Blended Learning (combined face-to-face and online) and is very much geared to developing independent and inter-dependent researchers.

The course is designed to contribute to the overall output of a thesis at the end of the year (ie: as much as possible, all assignments and activities should become a part of your research, your thesis, and journal papers you will write*)**.

This means that:
- participation in face-to-face classes is vital
- participation in online activities is crucial
- participating in and developing a community of practice is not only important now, but will ideally start to build a network of collegial peers who will continue as a support network for life

*Qualitative Methods is primarily designed for students undertaking qualitative or hybrid research. Students who plan to use quantitative methods in their thesis but are required to take this Qualitative Methods course need to communicate with the LiC so some negotiation of applicability can be arranged.

**Important note: in coursework, using material from one course in another is considered "self-plagiarism" and is unethical and unacceptable practice. In Higher Degree by Research (HDR) work - and therefore in this course - an important part of professional practice is peer review and building on works to produce more works (with appropriate referencing). It is acceptable and advisable practice to use the work produced in this course in your thesis (&/or proposal) and any journal articles you write about your research. However, it is NOT acceptable to use material produced in this course to submit  as an assessment activity in any other course during your Honours / MBR / MPhil or PhD program.

This course has a 6-8 hour per fortnight face-to-face component, and requires multiple (asynchronous) online engagements each week.

Note: The University expects full-time students (i.e. those taking 12 units per semester) to devote a total of 48 hours per week to their studies. This means that you are expected to commit approximately 9 hours (for a three-unit course) or 13 hours (for a four-unit course) of private study outside of your regular classes.

Auditing Students

Being permitted to audit a course is a privilege, and it is requested that students who have been granted this privilege honour the workload, reading, preparatory and participatory requirements to the same degree as enrolled students. Non-participatory auditing of the class is unfair to enrolled students, as engagement, interaction, and peer-learning are critical factors in the success of the class.

Topics (note: This course is constructed on emergent design principles, so is built with a flexible design. Printing in bold refers to fixed topics, other topics are negotiable).

01. Pragmatics of planning research design (includes iterative and emergent design).
02. Common research methods (& the methodologies in which they are commonly used) (Case Study; Action Research; Grounded Theory; Historical Method; Hermeneutics; Phenomenology; Ethnography...) [Different methodologies can be studied at student request]
03. How conceptual lenses and theoretical frameworks are used in framing research questions, planning research design, and managing data analysis and different orders of data analysis.
04. Common data gathering Methods (Interviews: Semi-structured (and Structured & Unstructured; and electronic interviews); Focus Groups; Participant Observation; Archival; Oral Histories; Critical Incidents; Journaling & Memos; Repertory Grid; Web Analysis; Hermeneutic Circles) [can vary by student request].
05. Data analysis Methods (various forms of inductive and deductive coding, thematic and pattern analysis; filtering through theoretical lenses; soft systems analysis; data matrices; repertory grids; content analysis). [selection by student request].
06. Building theoretical models and concepts as a posterior formative or summative research output, or implementing them a priori.
07. Analysis and evaluation of methodological literature.
08. Discussant & Peer Review: theory, practice and example.
09. Writing and evaluating the Methodology Chapter of a Research Proposal or Thesis.
10. Use of CAQDAs (particularly NVivo) to conduct many of items 1 – 11 above.

Participation in both face-to-face and online activities is critical and therefore is required.

Any need to deviate from any of the stated expectations must be negotiated with the Lecturer-in-Charge.

There is no official "teamwork" or "groupwork" in this course.

However, this course, with a focus on developing independent and interdependent researchers capable of producing professional journal articles, theses, and peer reviews, moves students to the next stage of collaboration beyond the Small Group Discovery Experience and works at the level of Community of (Research) Practice.

Collaboration is encouraged. Collusion is unacceptable.
Peer Review and support is required.
Critical Analysis (of own work and each other's) is absolutely necessary.

Ideally, if a Community of Practice is genuinely developed during this course, it will help each of you create a network that can build to sustain and support you throughout your entire career.

Weight	Assessment Item	Due	Learning Outcomes
20%	Method/ology Class (plan & deliver)	assigned & negotiated date in-class	1-4, 7, 10
30%	Weekly readings and activities	Thurs 23:59 pm (readings) weekly  Sat 11:59 am (feedback) weekly  Sun 18:00 pm (defence) weekly	1-10
20%	NVivo11Pro Project	Monday 23 May 09:00 am	8, 9 & 10
30%	Methodology Chapter: Data  Collection & Analysis component	First draft:Wednesday 27 April 12:00 noon Final submission: Friday 20 May 12:00 noon	1-7
[alt 30%]	Alternative Final Assignment (quant)	First draft:Wednesday 27 April 12:00 noon Final submission: Friday 20 May 12:00 noon	1-7

The critical things to note about the assessments in this course are that:

1. they are very interdependent - built on the concept of community of scholars and peer support. ie: if you miss deadlines or mess up, your colleagues suffer as well as you.
   
2. the assesment activities all contribute to your actual research project (or your peers') and/or to your future career strengths (whether your future career is as an academic or in the business professional world)

Therefore:

1. be timely - meet deadlines
2. but be sane - when you can only do it by half-killing yourself - negotiate
3. collaborate (note: acknowledged collaboration is a powerful professional and academic strength; UNacknowledged collaboration is called 'collusion' and is seen as cheating)
4. do your best - not just for your own work, but when in investing in others' growth
5. be excited about your learning and growth and about your peers' learning and growth - it is exciting!
6. and have fun (if you don't learn to enjoy it now, it will always be 'unpleasantly hard work' rather than deeply satisfying and rewarding endeavour)
7. know that it DOES get easier - every piece you do makes the next one easier; every impossible-to-understand article you read makes the next one more possible and more readable - and your blogs will help you scale that wall faster and more easily than you can expect... the collaboration with your peers will make a world of difference. Therefore (again) your feedback to one another is critical!

Wherever possible, assessment details remain consistent but due to the emergent design nature of the course can sometimes change. Any and all changes will always be posted in the Assessment Folder in MyUni and in the Announcements, with accompanying Email.

Submission Dates & Times
1. Presentation in class individually negotiated
2. Weekly Readings, Responses & Exercises weekly due dates & times posted MyUni
3. Methodology Chapter DC & DA (Mandatory First Draft) Wednesday 27 April 12:00 noon
4. NVivo11 Pro Project (in class) Monday 23 May 09:00 am
5. Methodology Chapter DC & DA (Final Submission) Friday 20 May 12:00 noon

Marking Rubrics and greater detail on assessment items are available in MyUni in the Assessments folder.
Method/ology Specialty Class

The goal of this assignment is to teach your peers about a method (or methodology) so that they may understand it well enough to know whether to use it or not themselves, and to be able to recognise and evaluate research using that method.
Arrange with the LiC to select two (or one) of the topics from the Method/ology Topics list.
• Prepare a 20 minute class on your topic/s with Handouts (use of whiteboard is encouraged. PowerPoints are discouraged except where necessary)
o giving a comparative analysis of two (research) methodological approaches or research methods (or one of each)
OR
o sharing an extensive review of a single methodology or method and how it might best be used to support Business Research for the research topics of at least two members of the class.
o Note: activities or exercises that help acquire an understanding of the method through practice are encouraged but not required.
• Teach your planned class to your peers.
o 20 mins presentation and 10 mins Questions & Answer time = 30 mins (this timing may be modified if there is an activity or practice incorporated)
o This class/presentation MUST NOT BE READ – no reading from notes or slides – TEACH the class, don’t read aloud to them.
 Note: sourcing teaching notes from elsewhere is acceptable but must be credited appropriately
Rubric available in MyUni.
Possible Specialty Class Topics

1 Action Research & Research Action 10 Historical Analysis & Archival
2 Analytic Induction 11 Metaphor as Analysis
3 Cognitive Mapping 12 Netnography
4 Content Analysis – quant & qual approaches 13 Pictorial / Imagery & Graphic Method
5 Critical Incident Technique 14 Repertory Grid
6 Discourse Analysis (vs) Paradigms 15 Soft Systems Analysis
7 Ethnography & Phenomenology 16 Story & Narrative
8 Grounded Theory 17 Symbolic Interaction
9 Hermeneutic & Hermeneutic Circles 18 Other topics by negotiation with Cate

Weekly Readings & Activities

Each week, students are required to do the set readings including text chapters and selected journal articles.
(Readings schedule is posted in MyUni.)

Some weeks, specific additional activities will be scheduled and required (eg: Participant Observation Exercise).
(Activity schedules and deadlines will be posted in MyUni.)

Students are required to post annotated bibliographies in their own blogs. These analytical responses to readings must be posted by Thursday 23:59 pm every week.
Students are then required to read and provide feedback to peers’ blogs (by Sat 12 noon).
(Schedule for postings & feedback on MyUni).

Readings, analyses, feedback and activities will be discussed in class. Students must be prepared to defend their postings and their feedback.
(In-class discussions will be on Mondays between 09:00 and 17:00).

Methodology Chapter, Data Collection & Data Analysis (Mandatory First Draft)

(100% quantitative researchers can negotiate alternative assessment with the LIC - see Alt Assessment below)

Write a methodology section of a Research Thesis or Proposal (appropriate to your current HDR research) including:
• your research question/s and/or objectives;
• a literature-based methodological justification and explanation;
• detailed explication of your chosen method steps for data gathering, data analysis and meta-analysis;
• ethics;
• participant selection;
• and all other relevant detail specific to your thesis and methodology and method-sets;
• anticipated problems, and planned strategies for dealing with them.

NOTE: First draft submission & deadline are mandatory. Inadequate attempts at first submission, or missed deadline, result in 10% – 30% being deducted from final submission marks.

A comprehensive marking rubric is available. It is advisable to use the rubric as a guide for the writing and submitting of this assessment chapter.

[Quant] Alternative to Methodology Chapter, Data Collection & Data Analysis

(must be negotiated with LiC)
Source a significant research work (or 2 works maximum) from your discipline, appropriate to your current HDR research, which was conducted using either qualitative research approach or hybrid design with a significant qualitative component.
Write a review paper that
critically evaluates the research study/ies methodologically; and
can contribute to the literature review for your own research (ie: it/they must be relevant to your thesis study).
Your critical evaluation should take into account all aspects of research design including (but not limited to):
relevance and applicability of methodology to the research question/s or objective/s;
relevance and applicability of methods to the methodological approach and to the research question/s or objective/s;
rigour and trustworthiness (eg: credibility, transferability, dependability, confirmability, and member checking);
ethics;
consistency of methodological language (ie: using qualitative not quantitative terminology);
how these methodological approaches and methods might be applicable (or not) for your research, and why you have chosen not to use them / why your chosen design and methods are more appropriate.
The finished review should require approximately 2500 – 3000 words to address all issues adequately.
NOTE: First draft submission & deadline are mandatory. Inadequate attempts at first submission, or missed deadline, result in 10% – 30% being deducted from final submission marks.

NVivo11 Pro Project

Objective: demonstrate the ability to use fundamental tools in NVivo11 Pro to support research activity
Deadline: this NVivo project will be built (partially) during classes throughout semester, and will be assessed during the last scheduled class of semester.
Details:
Create a number of relevant folders for organizing your project and your data. Include:
Admin folder
Ethics sub-folder
Literature folder
Folders relevant to your data collection (relevant to your chosen methodology).
Import a minimum of:
3 articles (including both Word.docx and .pdf files)
1 image (.jpeg) and
1 one audio or video file
1 dataset (questionnaire, survey or classification sheet) including classifiable & code-able data
1 social media (facebook, linked in, or twitter) or EverNote or OneNote file
that are relevant to the development of your research questions/propositions/(hypotheses if doing a quantitative thesis).
Import EndNote meta-data and link to journal articles in your project.
Create an internal document named “Research Journal”. Populate your research journal with a number of relevant date-and-time-stamped entries.
Create a coding list including at least 10 nodes, incorporating at least two parent/child nodes (child nodes with ‘siblings’).
Create a minimum of
2 memos (at least one linked and one unlinked)
1 see-also link
1 annotation
1 hyperlink.
Create at least one set.
Create at least one relationship type and at least one linked relationship.
Create at least one set of node classifications with attributes and assigned values.
Create at least two dynamic Maps (Concept Map or Project Map that are linked to Project Items (minimum 5 shapes connected, including three linked to data). The Map may be a priori, a posteriori, or both, your own creation or a theoretical framework, conceptual lens or theory you are applying to your research.
Design, run and save at least three different types of query.
Generate at least two different visualisations (additional to the 2 Maps) of some element of your data. These may include 2- or 3-dimensional charts; tree maps; word trees; or cluster analysis.
Export (as a Project): One node (entire content) including references from text; audio OR video (both is fine); and a minimum of one (coded) image/picture. Email the export to your LiC (Cate) as a zipped file incorporating the html file and the html folder.
The entire NVivo project must have some basic coherence as a single project that is genuinely representative of the students’ research and proposal or thesis.
* Although this is a Qualitative Methods course, and Literature Reviews are taught and developed in your discipline-specific Readings and Theory courses, Literature Review materials (rather than your research Data Gathering and Analysis) are developed in this assessment activity because:
Development of research question / propositions / hypotheses (ie: identifying gap) is a core component of methodology and method and is usually built through and justified in the Literature Review.
The timing of this course requires assessment item completion at a date before most students will have completed adequate data gathering, but at a similar time when they will need to use exactly the same processes as data analysis to complete their Literature Review.
ALL students taking Qualitative Methods as a course will need to conduct a Literature Review, even if they are not using a qualitative methodology for their research design, thus making this assessment item completely relevant to all students.
The design of this course is purposefully geared to ‘usefulness’ in the students’ thesis year, and this assessment item in NVivo will be useful for students’ Literature Review assignment in Readings courses as well as the Literature Review in their theses.
For students using qualitative research design or methodology for their thesis, having the Literature Review already complete within an NVivo project will simplify, speed and aid further use of NVivo for data gathering and analysis.
Methodology Chapter, Data Collection & Data Analysis (Final Submission)

(100% quantitative researchers can negotiate alternative assessment with the LIC - see Alt Assessment below)

Write the Data Collection and Data Analysis component of the method/ology section of your Research Thesis or Proposal (appropriate to your current HDR research) including:
• your research question/s and/or objectives;
• a literature-based methodological justification (of your methods choices - not your research gap);
• detailed explication of your chosen method steps for data gathering, data analysis and meta-analysis;
• ethics;
• participant selection;
• and all other relevant detail specific to your thesis and method-sets (framed within your methodology and consistent to that methodology);
• anticipated problems; and planned strategies for dealing with them.

NOTE: First draft submission & deadline are mandatory. Inadequate attempts at first submission, or missed deadline, result in 10% – 30% being deducted from final submission marks.

A comprehensive marking rubric is available. It is advisable to use the rubric as a guide for the writing and submitting of this assessment chapter.

[Quant] Alternative to Methodology Chapter, Data Collection & Data Analysis (Final Submission)

(must be negotiated with LiC)
Source a significant research work (or 2 works maximum) from your discipline, appropriate to your current HDR research, which was conducted using either qualitative research approach or hybrid design with a significant qualitative component.
Write a review paper that
critically evaluates the research study/ies methodologically; and
can contribute to the literature review for your own research (ie: it/they must be relevant to your thesis study).
Your critical evaluation should take into account all aspects of research design including (but not limited to):
relevance and applicability of methodology to the research question/s or objective/s;
relevance and applicability of methods to the methodological approach and to the research question/s or objective/s;
rigour and trustworthiness (eg: credibility, transferability, dependability, confirmability, and member checking);
ethics;
consistency of methodological language (ie: using qualitative not quantitative terminology);
how these methodological approaches and methods might be applicable (or not) for your research, and why you have chosen not to use them / why your chosen design and methods are more appropriate.
The finished review should require approximately 2500 – 3000 words to address all issues adequately.
NOTE: First draft submission & deadline are mandatory. Inadequate attempts at first submission, or missed deadline, result in 10% – 30% being deducted from final submission marks.

Presentation of Soft Copy Assignments

Rather than submit an electronic Assignment Cover Sheet for every upload, please upload ONE electronic Assignment Cover Sheet to MyUni for your first upload, committing to the signed acknowledgement of the University’s policy on plagiarism as applicable to all work you will do throughout the duration of the course.

Presentation of Hard Copy Assignments

• Students must retain a copy of all hard copy assignments submitted.
• Please attach an ‘Assignment Cover Sheet’, which is signed and dated by you before submission.

Because of the combined student body nature of this course, grades are published privately either by email or through MyUni. Therefore, final results for this course will NOT be made available through Access Adelaide (https://access.adelaide.edu.au/sa/login.asp), except for MBR students.

Although SELTs are not often conducted in Higher Degree Research courses, this course is continually refined (as well as being conducted on emergent design principles) in response to student feedback. SELTs will be conducted, anyway, but further independent feedback is requested and welcomed.