Duration
30h Th
Number of credits
Lecturer
Coordinator
Language(s) of instruction
English language
Organisation and examination
Teaching in the second semester
Schedule
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Learning unit contents
This course is designed to train students to qualitative research methods in the field of migration and ethnic studies with the purpose of giving them the necessary tools to design and conduct small-scale scientific projects according to academic standards in this field. To do so, the course is organized along a series of lectures that guide students through the entire research process from project design to publication.
The course is organized around lectures given by different researchers every week. Students are expected to come prepared to class by reading the preparatory material (e.g. scientific articles, book chapters...) and submitting preparatory work before each session. Active participation in class is expected from students.
Learning outcomes of the learning unit
The class aims to equip students with the appropriate tools for designing and conducting a small-scale scientific research project in the field of migration and ethnic studies. Skills learnt during this class can be put to use for the student's master thesis, the treatment of data and publication of research work conducted during their studies, or the preparation of a research proposal for students interested in joining a PhD programme.
Prerequisite knowledge and skills
Students are expected to have a sufficient knowledge of English to be able to follow an advanced methodological course in that language (this is not a language course). Having previously followed an introductory course to research methods in social sciences at the BA or MA level is recommended but not required.
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
- One or several mandatory reading before each class + response to preparatory questions on those readings BEFORE each class
- One or several optional readings will be put online. Reading them before class is not mandatory but they are useful for the evaluation.
- Additionally, students are strongly encouraged to attend academic conferences on the topic of migration that will be organized during the semester. These conferences could be held outside of the course hours and in a different location than that of the usual course classroom. These conferences are advertised via e-mail, CEDEM's webpage (www.cedem.ulg.ac.be )or CEDEM's Facebook page.
- Instructors: Hassan Bousetta, Jean-Michel Lafleur, Marco Martiniello
- Instructors: Hassan Bousetta & Larisa Lara
- Instructors: Maria Vivas & Shannon Damery
- Instructors: Alessandro Mazzola and Amanda Da Silva
- Instructors: Daniela Vintila and Angeliki Konstantinidou
- Instructors: Hassan Bousetta and Stephan Lipan
- Instructors: Marco Martiniello and Alissia Raziano
- Instructors: Elsa Mescoli and Jérémy Mandin
- Instructor: Jean-Michel Lafleur
Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning)
Students are expected to be present and active participants in the classroom. Students are also expected to connect online at least once a week on the course's page on my ULg ("support de cours" page) to prepare the next session's readings and submit answers to the preparatory questions. Several sessions will include practical exercises in which students are expected to participate actively.
Recommended or required readings
Before each class, students are expected to read at least one scientific article related to the topic of the lecture and, in some cases, answer online questions about those texts. These readings are indispensable to be able to participate in class. The reading material, the questions, and the PowerPoint slides of the ex-cathedra sessions will be available electronically (MyULg).
Assessment methods and criteria
First session:
Research Proposal (15 points)
Students who follow this class are expected to deliver a written assignment at the end of the semester. The assignment is a short research proposal. Students design week after week their own research proposal as if they were to submit it to a funder. In the proposal, students, identify a clear research question, compile a state of the art, choose their method(s), explain their strategy to collect and analyse their empirical data and present a limited amount of empirical evidence collected during the exploratory fieldwork that is conducted during the semester. Students have to submit their research question to the course assistants (Alissia Raziano & Megane Dethier) before 28/02/19 at 6PM. Students are strongly encouraged to contact supervisors directly for ideas about possible research topics.
The proposals are between 2,000 and 3,000 words long (excluding front page, footnotes, references and possible annexes). The word limit will be strictly enforced. The paper is written in English. Submission of written reports is to be done by 30/04/19 at 6PM and oral presentation in class will take place on 09/05/2019.
Active participation (5 points)
Participation in this class is measured using the students' engagement in the following activities: reading of online text, answers to all preparatory questions, presence and active participation in all lectures and practical exercises, oral presentation of the paper. Before each class, students send their response to the preparatory question via e-mail to Meganne et Alissia and to the instructor(s) in charge of that class (BEFORE 9AM each Thursday).
Second session:
Students submit a new research proposal based on a different research question than the one presented in the first session and provided to the student by the professor. Guidelines are the same as in the first session except that students have no choice for the topic of the proposal, that the proposal has to be between 3000 and 4000 words and that there is no oral defense.
Work placement(s)
Every year CEDEM offers a limited number of internship with institutions working in the field of migration. Contact your professors for suggestions.
Organizational remarks
Course starts on Thursday 14/02 at 3PM.
The location will be communicated on My ULg
Contacts
Details on the assignments, readings, and contact information for the professors can be found on the course's page on myulg under the section "support de cours".
Assistants of the course :
Alissia Raziano - alissia.raziano@uliege.be
Mégane Dethier - m.dethier@uliege.be
Items online
1. Introduction to qualitative methods in Migration and Ethnic studies
Introduction to qualitative methods in Migration and Ethnic studies (22/09/2017)
Instructor(s): Hassan Bousetta, Jean-Michel Lafleur, Marco Martiniello
- Presentation of class, objectives and evaluation
- Why qualitative research?
In this introductory section, we will present the objectives of the class, introduce the contents of the different lectures and discuss the modalities of evaluation of this course. The blackboard platform will also be presented. For this first class, students are expected to have done the preparatory readings before coming to class and answer questions on the reading either online or via e-mail to the professor. The lecture will first focus on explaining the concept of research, its goals and its limits with a focus on research in the field of ethnic and migration studies.
Readings:
Remler D. and Van Ryzin G. (2010) Research Methods in Practice. Strategies for Description and Causation, New York: Sage, pp. 3-31.
Preparatory question:
Reading is mandatory but no preparatory question for week 1
7. Analysing empirical material (21/03/2019)
6. Analysing empirical material (21/03/2019)
Instructor(s): Hassan Bousetta
- How to analyse your empirical data
- Strategies and types of qualitative analysis/Types of qualitative data
- Saturation and redundancy
- How to use interviews/documents/observation
- Software-assisted (nvivo) vs ¿manual¿ analysis
- Connecting empirical material to theory
In this section, we will discuss how to analyse the empirical material collected. We will discuss the notion of informational redundancy and data saturation. These concepts refer to a stage reached by the researcher when additional sampling delivers little or no additional information. This also corresponds to this situation where further data collection is not required and where data analysis may begin.
In this section, we will explain how to connect empirical material to theory. The process of data analysis is when researchers make use of their interview data, field notes, documents, etc. For that purpose, we will explain how to prepare your data and how to make triangulation and inferences. This lesson will also pay attention to the respective merits of computer assisted qualitative data analysis softwares (CAQDAS) such as (NVivo).
Readings:
- Chapter 5 of Marvasti, A (2004), Qualitative Research in Sociology, London: Sage
- Dey, Ian (1993) Qualitative Data Analysis: A user-friendly guide. London : Routledge.
- Seale, C. (2010). Using computers to analyse qualitative data. In David Silverman (2010), Doing qualitative research (pp.251-267). London: Sage.
Video Ressource :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opp5tH4uD-w
Preparatory questions:
When may data collection be stopped and may data analysis begin ?
Is data analysis a separate phase from the research process?
Is data analysis a separate phase from theorising ?
What are the main computer-assisted softwares for qualitative data analysis and what are their respective merits?
(Please respond in max 250 words)
7. Visual Methods in Ethnic and Migration Studies (28/03/2019)
7. Visual Methods in Ethnic and Migration Studies (28/03/2019)
Instructor(s): Marco Martiniello & Alissia Raziano
The purpose of this session is to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using visual sociology approaches and methods in migration, ethnic and racial studies. It first briefly presents the history of visual sociology and what it consists of. It then moves to immigration, ethnic and racial studies by presenting some examples of visual approaches in a few selected research projects dealing with immigrant electoral politics, the history of migration and music and ethnic politics.
Readings:
Ball, Susan, and Chris Gilligan. 2010. ¿Visualising Migration and Social Divisions: Insights
from Social Sciences and the Visual Arts.¿ Forum: Qualitative Social Research 11 (2).
http://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/1486/3002
Martiniello, Marco. 2017. "Visual sociology approaches in migration, ethnic and racial studies, Ethnic and Racial Studies", 40:8, 1184-1190, DOI: 10.1080/01419870.2017.1295163
Preparatory questions:
- Explain how you could include a visual method in your own research design?
- Are visual methods exclusively qualitative?
8. Communicating research (04/04/2019)
8. Communicating research (04/04/2019)
Instructor(s): Jean-Michel Lafleur
- Writing a research proposal/abstract
- Do¿s and don¿ts in scientific writing
- Presenting your paper in a conference/powerpoint
The purpose of this section is to provide guidance to students regarding key aspects of a) communicating scientific research and b) writing a research proposal. Firstly, we will focus on how to produce a text for scientific purposes such as conference papers and journal articles touching upon different aspects of the process of scientific production.
Readings:
Ghodsee, K. (2016) From notes to narratives, Chicago: Chicago University Press, pp. X-X
The Writing Center at UNC-Chapel Hill (2014) Abstracts. Accessible at: http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/abstracts/
Question:
- Write an abstract of your research project in maximum 200 words and bring it to class to discuss with your colleagues and the instructor
9. Collecting empirical material (25/04/2019)
9. Collecting empirical material (25/04/2019)
Instructor(s): Elsa Mescoli and Jérémy Mandin
Referring to concrete ethnographic experiences, and building upon the existing literature we will address some crucial questions related to the ethnographic fieldwork practice with particular reference to the study of migration issues. We will deal with the following themes:
- The choice of the field site
- The access to the field
- The mobilization of concrete research tools (interviews (semi-structured / narrative, individual / collective), observation, visual data, grey literature)
- The positioning of the researcher and its fieldwork implications.
The main goals of this lesson are 1) to equip students with concrete and usable technics for the implementation of their future fieldwork(s) and 2) to develop their awareness about the advantages, limits and implications of these technics as well as about the difficulties/questions one can encounter in the field. The course will include a discussion with the students around concrete fieldwork experiences and on their field explorations aimed at preparing their own research project.
Readings (please choose at least two articles from the following list):
Text 1: Reflection about ethnography (choose at least one text among these two)
Ong, A. (2003). Preface. In Ong, A. Buddha is hiding: Refugees, citizenship, the new America. University of California Press.
Whyte, W.F. (1969). Appendix, In Whyte, W.F. Street Corner Society: the social structure of an Italian slum, University of Chicago Press.
Text 2: Research tools (choose at least one text among these four)
Morgan, D.L. 1996. Focus Group as a qualitative method. In Morgan, D. L. (1996). Focus groups as qualitative research (Vol. 16). Sage publications, pp. 7-17.
Sánchez-Ayala, L. 2012. Interviewing techniques for migrant minority groups. In Vargas-Silva, Carlos. Handbook of research methods in migrations. Edward Elgar publishing, Massachusetts, pp. 117-136.
Eastmond, M. 2007. Stories as Lived Experience: Narratives in Forced Migration Research. Journal of Refugee Studies (Vol. 20), No. 2, Oxford University Press, pp. 248 -264.
Takyi, Enock, 2015, The Challenge of Involvement and Detachment in Participant Observation, in The Qualitative Report (vol. 20), pp. 864-872
Preparatory question:
Starting from the chosen readings, select a research tool among those presented under the ¿Text 2¿ list, and try to identify and explain two potential advantages and two potential limits in using this tool within the research project that you are designing (max 400 words).
Courses' contents
You may find in the attached document the dates and contents of the courses.