Qualitative coursework study
This is a coursework you will undertake a small-scale case study where you gather and analyse three kinds of qualitative data. The aims of this exercise are to assess your abilities to:
1. undertake a qualitative study using three different techniques;
2. develop a preliminary analysis of your data;
3. discuss the methodological issues that arise in selecting particular research methods and in undertaking qualitative research.
IT is 3500 words, I would appreciate if we could discuss a topic and then I can give you all the information
For this coursework you will undertake a small-scale case study where you gather and analyse three kinds of qualitative data. The aims of this exercise are to assess your abilities to:
1. undertake a qualitative study using three different techniques;
2. develop a preliminary analysis of your data;
3. discuss the methodological issues that arise in selecting particular research methods and
in undertaking qualitative research.
To successfully accomplish the coursework you will:
• identify a setting in which to undertake your research;
• undertake fieldwork;
• undertake one or two semi-structured interviews;
• and either gather audio or audio visual recordings of naturally occurring activities, or
documents and images relevant to the setting or activities in question.
As part of undertaking your case study you will:
• make detailed field notes;
• document and where necessary transcribe materials from your interview(s) or transcriptions from the data you collect;
• identify and discuss one or two themes or issues that arise from your data;
• support your discussion of these themes or issues with regard to the data you have
gathered;
• discuss the methodological issues that informed and arose from your study;
• discuss the implications of your findings for future research.
We do not wish to restrict the kinds of activity you may study. Therefore, you can choose to observe any organisation or social setting. This may be one with which you are familiar or one you are interested in. In previous years students have undertaken studies in a diverse range of settings including those in workplaces, public places and the home. It is also up to the student to identify an aspect of social behaviour on which to focus. In the past examples of what students have focussed on include: informal interaction in an office; the work of security staff in an accommodation block; how receptionists greet customers; the ways customers justify returning goods they have bought; customer behaviour in show rooms for luxury goods; conversations with hairdressers, waiting behaviour in stations; how street performers maintain an audience; how visitors to a museum inspect exhibits together; the etiquette of a nightclub queue, how customers in a busy cafe´ manage to secure a table to sit at and how people co-ordinate the order in which they go through revolving doors. Although the choice is up to you, you cannot choose the same setting as one you have used for another piece of coursework in a different module.
We suggest one of three kinds of setting
1. a workplace (e.g. a place where you, a friend or a member of your family work);
2. a public service (e.g. a form of transportation, a help, advice or reception service)
3. a public setting (e.g. a museum or gallery, a shopping mall, a tourist venue)
Despite the large number of students doing the course there is a notable variety of settings the students chose for their qualitative fieldwork. In many cases, students went to some trouble to secure access and undertake observation. As was the case last year there is also strong evidence that the longer format of the coursework and later submission date led to better performance, with students undertaking detailed observational research and in depth analysis of their fragments. Most students structured their coursework well, with stronger students presenting fragments of their data clearly to support their analysis, such as through the use of images, diagrams and fragments. Many identified an appropriate literature to relate their findings to, however, few demonstrated very strong engagement with research methods texts and debates.
The students gaining the higher marks developed quite sophisticated analysis that focused on the details of everyday behaviour, some drawing on conversational analysis and related approaches to produce systematic analyses of interaction in their setting, The excellent students also showed originality in either in their analysis, review or in their discussions.
A large number of students high 2:1s and 1sts also showed evidence of reading and research beyond the methodological texts provided for the course or on the reading list. There was a notable number who developed quite distinctive analyses related to Goffman or to social scientific work the students themselves had identified as relevant. We were disappointed that relatively little of relevant issues from other lectures were discussed and few readings for the course were referenced in the course work – for example on the analysis of field observations or video data. There was also a tendency amongst a large number of students to consider retail settings, issues related to consumer behaviour and customer service. These tended to be discussed with respect to that literature and less towards methodological and social scientific issues discussed in the lectures. This, and the tendency for analyses to be rather descriptive seemed to result in a flattening off of the upper range of marks.
4. Those who received a 2:2 tended to not develop their analysis from descriptions of their observations, gave less of a motivation for their study or failed to relate their findings to the literature. 33% received 2:2s this year, compared to 36% last year.
5.
6. Students with 3rds tended to be ones who showed little evidence of undertaking a substantial observational study. These students tended towards generic or anecdotal descriptions of their domain or drew more from responses to interview questions than from observation (9% this year, compared to 5% last year). The failures were those that misunderstood the kind of coursework required, usually these presented either no evidence of collecting any qualitative data or produced general essays about a setting or activity. Perhaps reflecting the higher attendance and participation, there were fewer of these this year than last year (2% compared to 5%).
7.
THE REPORT
The report should include five key sections. The word counts for each section are only guidelines. You are free to organise your report in any way you feel would help present your study. You can include images and figures in the main text of the report. You need to provide an appendix to provide evidence of data gathered.
1. Introduction (500 words)
A general introduction to the case study. This should include a discussion of why you chose to undertake the study of the particular area or field in question. You also need to discuss why you chose to gather recorded data or collect images and documents – that is the third type of data that forms the basis of your case study. It would also be useful, where relevant, to discuss any relevant academic studies that bore on your choice of setting or field to study.
2. Method and Approach (300 words)
A description of the research process you have undertaken including:
o how you gained access to the settings, engaged participants, collected
materials;
o how you gathered data,
o when and where you gathered your data;
o that nature of the material you gathered, for example the number of times
you undertook fieldwork observation, the length of interview(s), the
number of documents gathered, length of time recorded;
o any additional data you gathered;
o how you addressed the ethical issues raised by your study;
o any specific problems you needed to solve to gain access and/or collect
data.
3. Analysis (1500 words)
(This should form the greater part of the coursework and will be awarded most of the marks)
You need to focus on one or two key activities and analyse them in depth. You need to identify one or two key themes or issues from your analysis to help to structure the analysis and support your analysis with specific data extracts. You need to show evidence of how you developed these themes from the data you gathered. You also should show how each kind of data you have collected contributes to the analysis. Analysis of each kind of data should not just illustrate of what was found in the analysis of the other kinds.
The tutorials will provide guidance on how you develop analyses from different kinds of qualitative data.
4. Methodological Discussion (800 words)
Discuss the methodological issues and challenges that arose in undertaking your case study. For example, what were the benefits and challenges from collecting data in the way you did, analysing these data and presenting them. Discuss whether there are additional kinds of data that could be collected and whether you have any suggestions for future research that arise out of your study. Critically assess you own data collection and analysis, its weaknesses and strengths and how, in retrospect, you might have undertaken the case study differently.
5. Academic and Practical Implications (400 words)
Briefly consider the potential implications of your study for academic research in this or related fields. Discuss how your findings relate to relevant academic studies of work, organisations or social behaviour. Considering the issue(s) mentioned in your introduction, describe the contributions of your study, for example how it provides a better understanding of the critical issue, helps refine an existing concept or theory, suggests a critique of a concept or model in the literature or implies some innovation required to understand your topic. You should support your discussion with references to the academic literature.
Briefly discuss any implications you case study has for the setting you have considered. This could, for example, concern guidelines for better performance of an activity, a change in practice or the introduction of a new technology.
Appendices (compulsory but not included in word count)
Use the appendices to provide evidence of data you have gathered. You do not need to include all your data, only examples. For each type of data this will be different.
o for fieldwork, this should include: (i) details of the periods of field observations (ii) field notes from one period of observation and (ii) analytic notes on the these arising from your observations;
o for interviews, this should be: (i) an interview schedule, (ii) a transcript or detailed notes of an interview and (iii) the coding you have used in your analysis;
o for audio recordings, this should be a transcription of a short period of talk (not more than 20 seconds) with a description of when and where this was recorded;
o for video recordings this should be 2 or 3 still frames taken from the video with a description of when and where this was recorded;
o for documents, this can be a scanned image of the document or part of a document;
o for images, this should be 2 or 3 examples.
Do not include all the data collected or any recordings, but keep these in case you are
asked to produce them later.
For this coursework you will undertake a small-scale case study where you gather and analyse three kinds of qualitative data. The aims of this exercise are to assess your abilities to:
1. undertake a qualitative study using three different techniques;
2. develop a preliminary analysis of your data;
3. discuss the methodological issues that arise in selecting particular research methods and
in undertaking qualitative research.
To successfully accomplish the coursework you will:
• identify a setting in which to undertake your research;
• undertake fieldwork;
• undertake one or two semi-structured interviews;
• and either gather audio or audio visual recordings of naturally occurring activities, or
documents and images relevant to the setting or activities in question.
As part of undertaking your case study you will:
• make detailed field notes;
• document and where necessary transcribe materials from your interview(s) or transcriptions from the data you collect;
• identify and discuss one or two themes or issues that arise from your data;
• support your discussion of these themes or issues with regard to the data you have
gathered;
• discuss the methodological issues that informed and arose from your study;
• discuss the implications of your findings for future research.
We do not wish to restrict the kinds of activity you may study. Therefore, you can choose to observe any organisation or social setting. This may be one with which you are familiar or one you are interested in. In previous years students have undertaken studies in a diverse range of settings including those in workplaces, public places and the home. It is also up to the student to identify an aspect of social behaviour on which to focus. In the past examples of what students have focussed on include: informal interaction in an office; the work of security staff in an accommodation block; how receptionists greet customers; the ways customers justify returning goods they have bought; customer behaviour in show rooms for luxury goods; conversations with hairdressers, waiting behaviour in stations; how street performers maintain an audience; how visitors to a museum inspect exhibits together; the etiquette of a nightclub queue, how customers in a busy cafe´ manage to secure a table to sit at and how people co-ordinate the order in which they go through revolving doors. Although the choice is up to you, you cannot choose the same setting as one you have used for another piece of coursework in a different module.
We suggest one of three kinds of setting
1. a workplace (e.g. a place where you, a friend or a member of your family work);
2. a public service (e.g. a form of transportation, a help, advice or reception service)
3. a public setting (e.g. a museum or gallery, a shopping mall, a tourist venue)
Despite the large number of students doing the course there is a notable variety of settings the students chose for their qualitative fieldwork. In many cases, students went to some trouble to secure access and undertake observation. As was the case last year there is also strong evidence that the longer format of the coursework and later submission date led to better performance, with students undertaking detailed observational research and in depth analysis of their fragments. Most students structured their coursework well, with stronger students presenting fragments of their data clearly to support their analysis, such as through the use of images, diagrams and fragments. Many identified an appropriate literature to relate their findings to, however, few demonstrated very strong engagement with research methods texts and debates.
The students gaining the higher marks developed quite sophisticated analysis that focused on the details of everyday behaviour, some drawing on conversational analysis and related approaches to produce systematic analyses of interaction in their setting, The excellent students also showed originality in either in their analysis, review or in their discussions.
A large number of students high 2:1s and 1sts also showed evidence of reading and research beyond the methodological texts provided for the course or on the reading list. There was a notable number who developed quite distinctive analyses related to Goffman or to social scientific work the students themselves had identified as relevant. We were disappointed that relatively little of relevant issues from other lectures were discussed and few readings for the course were referenced in the course work – for example on the analysis of field observations or video data. There was also a tendency amongst a large number of students to consider retail settings, issues related to consumer behaviour and customer service. These tended to be discussed with respect to that literature and less towards methodological and social scientific issues discussed in the lectures. This, and the tendency for analyses to be rather descriptive seemed to result in a flattening off of the upper range of marks.
4. Those who received a 2:2 tended to not develop their analysis from descriptions of their observations, gave less of a motivation for their study or failed to relate their findings to the literature. 33% received 2:2s this year, compared to 36% last year.
5.
6. Students with 3rds tended to be ones who showed little evidence of undertaking a substantial observational study. These students tended towards generic or anecdotal descriptions of their domain or drew more from responses to interview questions than from observation (9% this year, compared to 5% last year). The failures were those that misunderstood the kind of coursework required, usually these presented either no evidence of collecting any qualitative data or produced general essays about a setting or activity. Perhaps reflecting the higher attendance and participation, there were fewer of these this year than last year (2% compared to 5%).
7.
THE REPORT
The report should include five key sections. The word counts for each section are only guidelines. You are free to organise your report in any way you feel would help present your study. You can include images and figures in the main text of the report. You need to provide an appendix to provide evidence of data gathered.
1. Introduction (500 words)
A general introduction to the case study. This should include a discussion of why you chose to undertake the study of the particular area or field in question. You also need to discuss why you chose to gather recorded data or collect images and documents – that is the third type of data that forms the basis of your case study. It would also be useful, where relevant, to discuss any relevant academic studies that bore on your choice of setting or field to study.
2. Method and Approach (300 words)
A description of the research process you have undertaken including:
o how you gained access to the settings, engaged participants, collected
materials;
o how you gathered data,
o when and where you gathered your data;
o that nature of the material you gathered, for example the number of times
you undertook fieldwork observation, the length of interview(s), the
number of documents gathered, length of time recorded;
o any additional data you gathered;
o how you addressed the ethical issues raised by your study;
o any specific problems you needed to solve to gain access and/or collect
data.
3. Analysis (1500 words)
(This should form the greater part of the coursework and will be awarded most of the marks)
You need to focus on one or two key activities and analyse them in depth. You need to identify one or two key themes or issues from your analysis to help to structure the analysis and support your analysis with specific data extracts. You need to show evidence of how you developed these themes from the data you gathered. You also should show how each kind of data you have collected contributes to the analysis. Analysis of each kind of data should not just illustrate of what was found in the analysis of the other kinds.
The tutorials will provide guidance on how you develop analyses from different kinds of qualitative data.
4. Methodological Discussion (800 words)
Discuss the methodological issues and challenges that arose in undertaking your case study. For example, what were the benefits and challenges from collecting data in the way you did, analysing these data and presenting them. Discuss whether there are additional kinds of data that could be collected and whether you have any suggestions for future research that arise out of your study. Critically assess you own data collection and analysis, its weaknesses and strengths and how, in retrospect, you might have undertaken the case study differently.
5. Academic and Practical Implications (400 words)
Briefly consider the potential implications of your study for academic research in this or related fields. Discuss how your findings relate to relevant academic studies of work, organisations or social behaviour. Considering the issue(s) mentioned in your introduction, describe the contributions of your study, for example how it provides a better understanding of the critical issue, helps refine an existing concept or theory, suggests a critique of a concept or model in the literature or implies some innovation required to understand your topic. You should support your discussion with references to the academic literature.
Briefly discuss any implications you case study has for the setting you have considered. This could, for example, concern guidelines for better performance of an activity, a change in practice or the introduction of a new technology.
Appendices (compulsory but not included in word count)
Use the appendices to provide evidence of data you have gathered. You do not need to include all your data, only examples. For each type of data this will be different.
o for fieldwork, this should include: (i) details of the periods of field observations (ii) field notes from one period of observation and (ii) analytic notes on the these arising from your observations;
o for interviews, this should be: (i) an interview schedule, (ii) a transcript or detailed notes of an interview and (iii) the coding you have used in your analysis;
o for audio recordings, this should be a transcription of a short period of talk (not more than 20 seconds) with a description of when and where this was recorded;
o for video recordings this should be 2 or 3 still frames taken from the video with a description of when and where this was recorded;
o for documents, this can be a scanned image of the document or part of a document;
o for images, this should be 2 or 3 examples.
Do not include all the data collected or any recordings, but keep these in case you are
asked to produce them later.
For this coursework you will undertake a small-scale case study where you gather and analyse three kinds of qualitative data. The aims of this exercise are to assess your abilities to:
1. undertake a qualitative study using three different techniques;
2. develop a preliminary analysis of your data;
3. discuss the methodological issues that arise in selecting particular research methods and
in undertaking qualitative research.
To successfully accomplish the coursework you will:
• identify a setting in which to undertake your research;
• undertake fieldwork;
• undertake one or two semi-structured interviews;
• and either gather audio or audio visual recordings of naturally occurring activities, or
documents and images relevant to the setting or activities in question.
As part of undertaking your case study you will:
• make detailed field notes;
• document and where necessary transcribe materials from your interview(s) or transcriptions from the data you collect;
• identify and discuss one or two themes or issues that arise from your data;
• support your discussion of these themes or issues with regard to the data you have
gathered;
• discuss the methodological issues that informed and arose from your study;
• discuss the implications of your findings for future research.
We do not wish to restrict the kinds of activity you may study. Therefore, you can choose to observe any organisation or social setting. This may be one with which you are familiar or one you are interested in. In previous years students have undertaken studies in a diverse range of settings including those in workplaces, public places and the home. It is also up to the student to identify an aspect of social behaviour on which to focus. In the past examples of what students have focussed on include: informal interaction in an office; the work of security staff in an accommodation block; how receptionists greet customers; the ways customers justify returning goods they have bought; customer behaviour in show rooms for luxury goods; conversations with hairdressers, waiting behaviour in stations; how street performers maintain an audience; how visitors to a museum inspect exhibits together; the etiquette of a nightclub queue, how customers in a busy cafe´ manage to secure a table to sit at and how people co-ordinate the order in which they go through revolving doors. Although the choice is up to you, you cannot choose the same setting as one you have used for another piece of coursework in a different module.
We suggest one of three kinds of setting
1. a workplace (e.g. a place where you, a friend or a member of your family work);
2. a public service (e.g. a form of transportation, a help, advice or reception service)
3. a public setting (e.g. a museum or gallery, a shopping mall, a tourist venue)
Despite the large number of students doing the course there is a notable variety of settings the students chose for their qualitative fieldwork. In many cases, students went to some trouble to secure access and undertake observation. As was the case last year there is also strong evidence that the longer format of the coursework and later submission date led to better performance, with students undertaking detailed observational research and in depth analysis of their fragments. Most students structured their coursework well, with stronger students presenting fragments of their data clearly to support their analysis, such as through the use of images, diagrams and fragments. Many identified an appropriate literature to relate their findings to, however, few demonstrated very strong engagement with research methods texts and debates.
The students gaining the higher marks developed quite sophisticated analysis that focused on the details of everyday behaviour, some drawing on conversational analysis and related approaches to produce systematic analyses of interaction in their setting, The excellent students also showed originality in either in their analysis, review or in their discussions.
A large number of students high 2:1s and 1sts also showed evidence of reading and research beyond the methodological texts provided for the course or on the reading list. There was a notable number who developed quite distinctive analyses related to Goffman or to social scientific work the students themselves had identified as relevant. We were disappointed that relatively little of relevant issues from other lectures were discussed and few readings for the course were referenced in the course work – for example on the analysis of field observations or video data. There was also a tendency amongst a large number of students to consider retail settings, issues related to consumer behaviour and customer service. These tended to be discussed with respect to that literature and less towards methodological and social scientific issues discussed in the lectures. This, and the tendency for analyses to be rather descriptive seemed to result in a flattening off of the upper range of marks.
4. Those who received a 2:2 tended to not develop their analysis from descriptions of their observations, gave less of a motivation for their study or failed to relate their findings to the literature. 33% received 2:2s this year, compared to 36% last year.
5.
6. Students with 3rds tended to be ones who showed little evidence of undertaking a substantial observational study. These students tended towards generic or anecdotal descriptions of their domain or drew more from responses to interview questions than from observation (9% this year, compared to 5% last year). The failures were those that misunderstood the kind of coursework required, usually these presented either no evidence of collecting any qualitative data or produced general essays about a setting or activity. Perhaps reflecting the higher attendance and participation, there were fewer of these this year than last year (2% compared to 5%).
7.
THE REPORT
The report should include five key sections. The word counts for each section are only guidelines. You are free to organise your report in any way you feel would help present your study. You can include images and figures in the main text of the report. You need to provide an appendix to provide evidence of data gathered.
1. Introduction (500 words)
A general introduction to the case study. This should include a discussion of why you chose to undertake the study of the particular area or field in question. You also need to discuss why you chose to gather recorded data or collect images and documents – that is the third type of data that forms the basis of your case study. It would also be useful, where relevant, to discuss any relevant academic studies that bore on your choice of setting or field to study.
2. Method and Approach (300 words)
A description of the research process you have undertaken including:
o how you gained access to the settings, engaged participants, collected
materials;
o how you gathered data,
o when and where you gathered your data;
o that nature of the material you gathered, for example the number of times
you undertook fieldwork observation, the length of interview(s), the
number of documents gathered, length of time recorded;
o any additional data you gathered;
o how you addressed the ethical issues raised by your study;
o any specific problems you needed to solve to gain access and/or collect
data.
3. Analysis (1500 words)
(This should form the greater part of the coursework and will be awarded most of the marks)
You need to focus on one or two key activities and analyse them in depth. You need to identify one or two key themes or issues from your analysis to help to structure the analysis and support your analysis with specific data extracts. You need to show evidence of how you developed these themes from the data you gathered. You also should show how each kind of data you have collected contributes to the analysis. Analysis of each kind of data should not just illustrate of what was found in the analysis of the other kinds.
The tutorials will provide guidance on how you develop analyses from different kinds of qualitative data.
4. Methodological Discussion (800 words)
Discuss the methodological issues and challenges that arose in undertaking your case study. For example, what were the benefits and challenges from collecting data in the way you did, analysing these data and presenting them. Discuss whether there are additional kinds of data that could be collected and whether you have any suggestions for future research that arise out of your study. Critically assess you own data collection and analysis, its weaknesses and strengths and how, in retrospect, you might have undertaken the case study differently.
5. Academic and Practical Implications (400 words)
Briefly consider the potential implications of your study for academic research in this or related fields. Discuss how your findings relate to relevant academic studies of work, organisations or social behaviour. Considering the issue(s) mentioned in your introduction, describe the contributions of your study, for example how it provides a better understanding of the critical issue, helps refine an existing concept or theory, suggests a critique of a concept or model in the literature or implies some innovation required to understand your topic. You should support your discussion with references to the academic literature.
Briefly discuss any implications you case study has for the setting you have considered. This could, for example, concern guidelines for better performance of an activity, a change in practice or the introduction of a new technology.
Appendices (compulsory but not included in word count)
Use the appendices to provide evidence of data you have gathered. You do not need to include all your data, only examples. For each type of data this will be different.
o for fieldwork, this should include: (i) details of the periods of field observations (ii) field notes from one period of observation and (ii) analytic notes on the these arising from your observations;
o for interviews, this should be: (i) an interview schedule, (ii) a transcript or detailed notes of an interview and (iii) the coding you have used in your analysis;
o for audio recordings, this should be a transcription of a short period of talk (not more than 20 seconds) with a description of when and where this was recorded;
o for video recordings this should be 2 or 3 still frames taken from the video with a description of when and where this was recorded;
o for documents, this can be a scanned image of the document or part of a document;
o for images, this should be 2 or 3 examples.
Do not include all the data collected or any recordings, but keep these in case you are
asked to produce them later.
