Teaching yourself & others 'breadth and depth method': secondary analysis of 'big' qualitative data

Date:

29/10/2018

Organised by:

The University of Edinburgh

Presenter:

Professor Lynn Jamieson is a Professor in Sociology at the University of Edinburgh, Co-Director of the Centre for Research on Families and Relationships and leads the research strand of NCRM at the University of Edinburgh.

In incorporating reflections on learning into this course Professor Jamieson is drawing on the skills and research in pedagogy of Dr Sarah Lewthwaite and Professor Melanie Nind at the University of Southampton. In presenting the ‘breadth and depth method’ Professor Jamieson is drawing on her collaboration with Emma Davidson, currently a Leverhulme Fellow in Sociology, Professor Rosalind Edwards, University of Southampton and Dr Susie Weller, Senior Research Fellow in the National Centre for Research Methods at the University of Southampton. It is possible that Dr Davidsons will also act as a facilitator.

Level:

Intermediate (some prior knowledge)

Contact:

Laura Marshall
0131 651 3001
L.marshall@ed.ac.uk

Working week: Monday - Wednesday

Map:

View in Google Maps  (EH3 9DR)

Venue:

Room EW10, Argyle House, 3 Lady Lawson Street, Edinburgh, EH3 9DR

Description:

The course and the pre-course tasks aim to provide the scaffolding that will help early career researchers and teachers explore ‘breadth and depth method’ -  a novel methodological approach to handling large volumes of qualitative data in a manner that maintains the integrity of qualitative work - with a view to subsequently using the method in their own research and teaching.

 

The course presumes previous experience in analysing qualitative data and this step in the process is not taught. An interest in conducting secondary analysis with archived qualitative datasets from repositories such as the ESRC Timescapes and the UK Data Archives and/or working across multiple qualitative data sets is essential along with an interest in teaching yourself or others how to do this. It will help your learning if your own research interest in the method is purposeful, that is you have a particular topic or issue in mind and at least the ghost of a question or questions you want to ask and/or comparisons you want to make while doing secondary analysis.

 

This is an intense 5-hour course with minimal breaks that will combine reflecting on the learning process and the challenges of (self-)teaching with trying out steps in the ‘breadth and depth method’. Drawing on the metaphor of archaeology you will trial moving back and forward between four steps: 1. an ‘aerial survey’ of data repositories scrutinising the available meta data, 2. a more detailed ‘geophysical’ survey of the landscape using techniques that are sometimes referred to as ‘data mining’ but in this case this is a misnomer as they are being used to cover breadth rather than depth, 3. shallow ‘test pits’ checking where to go deeper and 4. ‘deep digging’ using the conventions and tools of qualitative data analysis on a selected sample of cases.

Pre-registration is required by 24th October in order to receive materials containing instructions about tasks to be completed prior to the course.  This will involve 2 hours of work.

 

This is an intermediate level course. An understanding of qualitative research (including experience of at least one technique of qualitative data analysis) is a pre-requisite but prior knowledge of specialist computer software is not necessary.

 

Cost:

£30 per day for UK/EU registered students
• £60 per day for staff at UK/EU academic institutions, UK/EU Research Councils researchers, UK/EU public sector staff and staff at UK/EU registered charity organisations and recognised UK/EU research institutions.
• £220 per day for all other participants

Website and registration:

Region:

Scotland

Keywords:

Big data, Archive , Data Sets

Related publications and presentations:

Big data

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