You are cordially invited to a
Qualitative Research Program Open House
October 10, 2015
9.00 a.m. – 3.30 p.m.
136 River’s Crossing
850 College Station Road
Athens GA 30602
The Qualitative Research program offers two graduate programs. These include:
1. The well-established Interdisciplinary Qualitative Studies Graduate Certificate Program that has served the needs of graduate students from across the university. This program is also available in a fully online version for non-degree distance students. See UGA Online for more information about the online Graduate Certificate in Interdisciplinary Qualitative Studies.
2. A Ph.D. in Qualitative Research and Evaluation Methodologies (REM) offering an area of emphasis in either Qualitative Research or Program Evaluation. See our website for more information. Applications are now open for Fall 2016 admissions.
To learn about our programs and expand your skill set, you are invited to attend free workshops at the University of Georgia in Athens on October 10, 2015. You will be able meet the faculty and ask questions about the different options available to learn about approaches to qualitative research.
For more information, please email the Program Coordinator, Dr. Kathy Roulston at roulston@uga.edu
To register for the workshop, please complete this registration form.
Saturday, October 10, 2015
9:00-10:30 AM Session I – Research interviewing as reflective practice with Kathleen deMarrais & Kathy Roulston Room 136
10:30 AM Break
10:45 AM-12:15 PM Session 2 – Fostering culturally responsive evaluation with Jori Hall and Melissa Freeman Room 136
12:15-1:15 PM Small Group Discussions and Lunch with faculty (lunch provided)
1:15-2:45 PM Session 3 – Digital tools for qualitative research with Trena Paulus Room 136
2:45-3:15 PM Student panel Room 136 with Current PhD students
3:15-3:30 Overview of programs: Program Coordinator, Dr. Kathy Roulston Room 136
• Graduate Certificate in Interdisciplinary Qualitative Studies (On-line and Campus versions)
• PHD in Qualitative Research and Evaluation Methods
Workshop descriptions
Research Interviewing as Reflective Practice with Dr. Kathleen deMarrais and Dr. Kathy Roulston
Research interviews are the predominant method used in qualitative research studies. In this interactive workshop participants will engage in activities that examine the relationship between research topics and research questions, and provide an introduction to the formulation of interview questions. Participants will be encouraged to reflect on relationships between participants and interviewers, and implications for research design; and discuss strategies used by qualitative researchers to demonstrate quality. This workshop is designed for new qualitative researchers, as well as established researchers who would like to improve knowledge and skills in use of qualitative interviews.
Fostering Culturally Responsive Evaluation with Dr. Jori N. Hall and Dr. Melissa Freeman
How does culture shape evaluation practice? How do cultural perspectives influence how we approach evaluations, how we conduct evaluations, and how we share evaluation results? How can evaluators be responsive to stakeholders’ culture and context? In 2011, the American Evaluation Association (AEA) addressed these questions in their Public Statement on Cultural Competence in Evaluation, asserting that “cultural competence is a stance taken toward culture, not a discrete status or simple mastery of particular knowledge and skills.” At this session, we will explore key concepts in cultural responsive evaluation that can be applied in fields such as public health, human services, and education. This interactive session will offer attendees an opportunity to discuss the role of culture in evaluation approaches and activities. Attendees will also be provided with resources to engage further in issues of cultural competency both personally and professionally.
Digital Tools for Qualitative Research with Dr. Trena Paulus
Cloud computing, mobile devices and social media have fundamentally changed how we interact with each other and the world. These new technologies provide both new contexts and new tools for qualitative researchers to study social life. Participants in this workshop will explore how the qualitative research process in its entirety can be supported by digital tools in ways that can add robustness and depth to qualitative work. A variety of both free and commercial tools, including qualitative data analysis software (QDAS) such as ATLAS.ti, NVivo and MAXQDA, will be discussed. We will examine how tools can be integrated into all phases of the research process, include engaging in reflexivity (blogs); collaborating with stakeholders (Google Scholar); managing projects (Evernote); reviewing the literature (GoodReader, Mendeley); generating and managing data (social media and mobile apps); transcribing (Inqscribe) and analyzing textual, audio and visual data (QDAS and Transana); and representing findings (Scrivener, Prezi.)
Faculty Bios
Kathleen deMarrais, Professor and Department Head
Dr. deMarrais’s research interests focus on qualitative pedagogy, the teaching of qualitative research methodologies, fictional approaches to qualitative research, ethnography and autoethnography, as well as tracking the network of philanthropic funding for educational non-profits and its impact on educational policy in the U.S. In addition to numerous articles and chapters, her authored and edited books include Teach for America Counter-Narratives: Alumni speak up and speak out (2015), Foundations for research: Methods of inquiry in education and the social sciences (2004), Educating young adolescent girls (2001), The way schools work: A sociological analysis (1999), Inside stories: Reflections on qualitative research (1998).
Melissa Freeman, Associate Professor
Dr. Freeman studies qualitative research theories and practices with special focus on 1) philosophical and analytical forms of inquiry, 2) qualitative evaluation, and 3) research with children. Her research into different traditions such as philosophical hermeneutics, culturally-responsive and critical evaluation, and recently actor-network theory, has been to try to understand different ways of thinking about the social world, to bring different questions into the field of “science,” to disrupt conventional ways of thinking, and to open up new theoretical and practical trajectories for qualitative research and evaluation. Dr. Freeman’s work is cross-disciplinary and she is committed to addressing social and educational problems in ways that contribute meaningfully to new ways of conceptualizing the role of inquiry in everyday practice. She has published articles in Qualitative Inquiry, International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, American Journal of Evaluation, and has a co-authored book, Researching children’s experiences (2009).
Jori Hall, Associate Professor
Dr. Hall’s research focuses on investigating and applying mixed methods and qualitative approaches to inquiry to improve educational programs. Dr. Hall uses qualitatively driven mixed methods approaches to interrogate the internal accountability system of schools and how it interacts with external accountability policies at the district and state levels. In addition to studying mixed methods and qualitative designs, Dr. Hall is an evaluator. Because Dr. Hall is committed to social justice, she urges investigators to consider responsive approaches to evaluation. Dr. Hall’s main concern is how participants’ values have been engaged responsively in various educational contexts. Her work on responsive evaluation approaches has resulted in multiple articles published in the American Journal of Evaluation. In addition, Dr. Hall clarifies assumptions related to ethics, ontology, and the epistemology of Dewey’s pragmatism, and the extent to which his thoughts on pragmatism can be used as a philosophical stance for mixed methods and evaluation research. Her work is featured in the Sage Handbook of Mixed Methods in Social & Behavioral Research (2010), New Directions for Evaluation (2013), and the Oxford Handbook of Multi and Mixed Methods Research Inquiry (2015).
Trena Paulus, Professor
Dr. Paulus explores how new technologies impact qualitative research methodologies. Her recent book, Digital Tools for Qualitative Research, examines the role of new tools across the research process – from embarking on the paperless literature review to using mobile apps to collect data to representing findings in novel ways. She is particularly interested in how conversation and discourse analysis techniques can be used to understand computer-mediated communication in contexts such as learning environments, online support groups and social media. Dr. Paulus is one of the founding members of the international Micro-Analysis of Online Data network which has held symposiums in the Netherlands, England and Switzerland.
Kathryn Roulston, Professor and Program Coordinator
Dr. Roulston’s research interests include the study of qualitative research methodology (including ethnomethodological and conversation analytic approaches to research); and the study of topics in music education. She uses ethnomethodology and conversation analysis as tools to do close analyses of interview talk and talk-in-interaction. This work has informed her work as an instructor, especially the teaching of qualitative interviewing. She is interested in reflective practice, and has examined her own and others’ teaching, focusing on how to work with doctoral students as they select topics for research, and design dissertation studies. She has also examined topics in music education in collaboration with faculty members in the Hodgson School of Music. She is an editorial board member of Qualitative Research and the Bulletin for the Council for Research in Music Education. Her publications include Reflective Practice: A Guide to Theory and Practice (Sage, 2010), articles in Qualitative Inquiry, Qualitative Research, Music Education Research, and other journals, and chapters on interviewing in the Sage Handbook of Data Analysis (ed. Kelle, Sage, 2014) and The Oxford Handbook of Qualitative Research in American Music Education (ed. Conway, OUP, 2014)
Listening between the lines 