Gathering and Analysing Qualitative Data

Overview

Learn how to design, collect, analyse and make evidence-informed decisions based on qualitative or mixed methods data (qualitative data integrated with quantitative data).

During the course, you’ll be led through real-world examples of gathering and analysing qualitative data to better understand the research process.

You’ll also get to practice your skills by undertaking interviews, focus groups or visual research methods and gain feedback from the ISSR trainers.

This course will only proceed if there are 6 or more participants.

Who should attend

Research and policy officers in government or private sector
Researchers and evaluators
PhD students
Anyone gathering evidence from their stakeholders through interviews, observation, focus groups, or visual elicitation methods

Entry requirements

There are no entry requirements or prerequisites. You can do any Methods for Social Analysis and Statistics course in any order you wish.

What you'll learn

Understand the impact of bias in all aspects of the research process.
Understand the value and purpose of qualitative research and when to use these methods.
Gain the knowledge and skills to understand, design and conduct high-quality qualitative research to inform evidence-based decisions.
Gain the knowledge and skills to analyse and synthesise qualitative data.
Understand the complementarity between qualitative and quantitative methods and, where appropriate, integrate qualitative and quantitative data in mixed methods research.
Know how to critically review the quality of qualitative findings in reports, policy briefs and published papers.
Gain the knowledge and skills to interpret, write up and present qualitative findings for a range of audiences.

Time commitment

This is an online course that will require roughly 21 hours to complete.

Over either 3 days (9am - 5pm AEST) or 6 days (Tue to Thu from 9am -12:30pm AEST)

Course curriculum

Design

Appreciating how qualitative and quantitative methods can complement and enhance our understanding of a research problem.
Understanding qualitative methods such as observation, ethnography, cognitive/retrospective interviews, visual elicitation, and online methods (including using AI to collect your data).
Choosing the appropriate qualitative method and analytical approach for your study (including Grounded Theory Analysis, Thematic and Content Analysis, Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis and Narrative Analysis).
Developing qualitative research questions.
Understanding and addressing research bias.
Understanding how to make your research accessible and inclusive.

Collect

Planning research (including budget, ethics, sampling, participant recruitment and logistical arrangements).
Enhancing the validity and trustworthiness of qualitative research through best practices measures such as keeping a reflective journal, creating a well-developed coding framework and engaging others in your analysis.
Developing qualitative instruments (including interview guides, consent forms and participant information sheets).
Interviewing with confidence (including interview and facilitation skills, interview and focus group practice and feedback opportunities).

Analyse

Understanding the analytical process (including anonymising, step-by-step guidance through a worked example of coding, practical tips for developing a coding framework and code in ‘real world’ circumstances and developing themes from the codes).
Using computer-assisted software in qualitative analysis process (including documentation, file storage processes, transcription and analysis, thinking about how AI can assist your analyses and the ethical implications, and an introduction to NVivo and Leximancer).
Interpreting qualitative data (including how to interpret qualitative results from peer-reviewed papers).

Present

Assessment

There are no assessments for this short course.

Certification and accreditation

Students who successfully complete the course will receive a Certificate of Completion to verify their skills and achievements.

Facilitators

Principal Research Fellow, Institute for Social Science Research

View Associate Professor Jenny Povey's profile

Research Fellow, Institute for Social Science Research

View Dr Charlotte Young's profile

Elizabeth Hitches, Casual Senior Research Officer

Casual Senior Research Officer, Institute for Social Science Research

View Elizabeth Hitches's profile

Some really useful best-practice advice to better construct interview/survey questions and make sure that they are optimised for participants and will help to achieve the research question/outcomes. Also really great to test my analysis skills and see how the experts do it!
Simon Alperstein, National Acoustic Laboratories

Cost

Applicant	Price
Standard rate	A$1,830
Early bird (book 5 weeks before the course starts)	A$1,519
Groups of 3 or more (per person)	A$1,464
UQ students	A$1,281
Other students	A$1,373

Registration closes 7 days before the course starts.

The course will only proceed if there are 6 or more participants.

GST is included in the cost

Discounts can't be used with other discounts, offers or special promotions.

Payment options

We accept credit cards (Visa/MasterCard) for payment, including corporate credit cards. We can also invoice corporate and government clients. If you want to discuss payment options, please contact our team at issr.education@uq.edu.au.

Related courses

This course is part of the Social Research Methods suite. There are 11 courses within this suite – see the other related courses below:

Contact

Institute for Social Science Research

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issr.education@uq.edu.au