Whilst the module’s precise content may vary over time, it is envisaged that the syllabus will consider a range of issues that relate to interpretive approaches to research. The content is likely to include:

Methodology and ethics:

• Interpretive methodologies and  practical concerns relating to research design
• Criteria of judgment in interpretive research such as credibility, confirmability, coherence, completeness, trustworthiness and transferability
• The place of qualitative and quantitative data in interpretive research
• The central place of the researcher in interpretive research, and notions of subjectivity and reflexivity
• Ethical concerns in different interpretive approaches

 Techniques and sources:

• Interviewing – ways of asking, listening and recording
• Observation – ways of looking, seeing and recording
• Visual methods – ways of seeing, viewing, creating and recording

 Analysis and critique:

• Different approaches to qualitative data analysis, including grounded theory, discourse analysis, narrative analysis and thematic analysis
• Processes of theory generation
• Uses and limitations of data analysis software such as NVivo

Suggested journals:

Qualitative Research

International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education

Qualitative Inquiry