Introductory Courses

 

Open to Masters and PhD students:

JRP 1000 - Theory and Method for Qualitative Researchers: An Introduction

This course is offered in alternate years within the Dalla Lana School of Public Health (DLSPH) and the Graduate Department of Rehabilitation Sciences (GDRS). This year the course will be taught by the DLSPH in the spring/summer term 2012 by Dr. Pia Kontos; in 2013 it will be offered by Dr. Barbara Gibson in the GDRS. The course provides an introduction to a range of qualitative research methods and theoretical perspectives, with particular emphasis on the role that theory plays across the different stages of the research process. It examines the underlying philosophical assumptions of qualitative research methods, and the implications that these assumptions have for framing a research problem, data collection, analysis, writing, and other dissemination strategies. It also provides some basic opportunities to attain practical, hands-on experience with developing research questions, techniques for data collection, and data analysis. The course has no prerequisites, although some knowledge of social theory is preferred. Priority will be given to students from the two units collaborating in its teaching (GRS and DLSPH) and to students from other CQ ‘contributing’ departments/programs other.  Course Outline

NUR 1028 - Introduction to Qualitative Research

This course is designed to provide master's students with a strong introduction to the philosophical foundations, approaches and methods associated with qualitative research, and to acquaint students with critical issues and debates among qualitative researchers.  This course will enhance students’ capacities to understand and evaluate qualitative research in nursing and health care. The course is required in the MN program is offered through the Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing. Taught by Drs. Marcia Facey, Denise Gastaldo or Jan Angus. Course Outline

CHL 5221/5111 - Community Health Appraisal Methods: Introduction to Qualitative Research

This course is an introductory course intended for Masters students in public health with limited prior exposure to qualitative research, and a required part of the program for MHSc students in health promotion. Students should not expect to be proficient in qualitative methods by the end of this course. However they can expect to have a good understanding of the qualitative research enterprise, be reasonably informed consumers of qualitative research, and be able to participate in the conduct of needs assessments, program evaluations and other applied qualitative public health research. A small number of places in this course are reserved for students in the EQR series from contributing CQ programs.  This course is offered through the Dalla Lana School of Public Health. Taught by Drs. Blake Poland and Ann Fox. Course Outline

 

Open to PhD students only:

SWK6307H - Designing and Implementing Qualitative Social Work Research

This course is an introduction to qualitative research, and is mandatory for first year Ph.D. students in Social Work. The course will introduce key features and issues in conducting qualitative research, with a focus on grounded theory approaches. Elements of community-based, participatory action research (CBR/CBPR), arts-based research, and indigenous research approaches will also be interwoven into the curriculum, with some introductions to interpretive methodologies. Pros and cons of each methodology are considered, and basic techniques of data collection and analysis are introduced, including interviews, observation, and coding. Selected other topics may include epistemological issues, researcher positionality, ethics, trustworthiness, use of qualitative data analysis programs, and working with community members/advisory boards. The course is constructed to ensure a cohesive progression across theoretical and methodological approaches. Throughout the class, close attention will be paid to our own social identities and their impact on our analysis and interventions. The lab sessions will be an integral part of this course with hands-on exercises and peer consultations to help students acquire basic tools to design and conduct qualitative research. There are two spaces reserved in this seminar course for doctoral students from CQ participating programs in 2011-12. This course is offered through the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, and is taught by Dr. Izumi Sakamoto with Billie Allan as the lab instructor. Course outline

NUR 1024 - Foundations of Qualitative Inquiry

This course provides the critical foundations to qualitative research. It examines the conceptual and philosophical bases of various frameworks/approaches to qualitative research and their methodological implications. Specific debates related to theories employed in the field of health, research questions, designs, the positionality of the researcher, rigour, and ethics will be discussed. The course sets the stage for the 'how-to hands-on' instruction that comes in the data generating and analysis courses. The course may be taken by those just entering this methodological arena, or by those familiar with techniques/methods but missing the theoretical dimension. The course is designed for PhD students who have committed to qualitative theses and who are taking the EQR certificate series. There are no prerequisites and enrollment is via ROSI on a first-come-first-serve basis, with priority given to those in the Essentials series, and to those from the participating CQ programs.  This course is offered through the Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing. Taught by Dr. Denise Gastaldo or Dr. Brenda Gladstone. Course Outline

 

Intermediate and Advanced Courses (previous training required)

 

NUR 1025 - Doing Qualitative Research: Design and Data Collection

This course addresses theory and practice of qualitative research fieldwork and data gathering. Picking up issues of research design started in NUR 1024, the focus is on the practical, hands-on considerations associated with writing research proposals, entering the field, coordinating fieldwork, techniques of data collection, and data management. Students can begin development of their thesis proposals. Prerequisites: Students must have taken NUR1024, JRP1000 or an equivalent doctoral-level introductory qualiative research course prior to taking this course. Enrollment is by ROSI on a first-come-first serve basis, with preference to those who have taken other courses in the Essentials series, and to students in ‘contributing’ CQ programs. The course is intended for PhD students. This course is offered every second year (starting 2011-12) through the Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing. Taught by Dr. Jan Angus. Course Outline

SOC 6713 - Qualitative Research Methods II: Qualitative Interviewing

An alternative or additional course at the same level as NUR 1025, this course focuses on the technical aspects of qualitative interviewing. That is, it will take students through all the steps in conducting and analyzing qualitative interviews. Using primary interview data from immigrant families from the Caribbean, China, Italy, and Sri Lanka, students will learn what types of interview data are needed to understand experiences of immigrant families, how to conduct qualitative interviews to elicit such types of data, how to analyze conceptual baggage in qualitative interviewing, and how to transcribe and analyze interview data. Students will acquire skills in qualitative interviewing by reading good examples and mistakes from transcripts of the 38 immigrant interviews, commenting on and revising the good examples and the mistakes, conducting and transcribing one interview of one's own, using interview data in the data set and/or collected by oneself to write a research proposal. The course is an introductory level course and does not require prior methodological experience, although since it is a course designed for sociology graduate students, prior experience with social science or completion of JRP 1000 is preferred. Permission of the instructor is required to enroll. The course accepts Master's and PhD level students. This course is offered through the Department of Sociology. Taught by Dr. Ping-Chun Hsiung. Course Outline

HAD5740 - Intermediate Qualitative Research Methods for Health Services & Policy Research

This seminar course will provide intermediate level instruction in the use of qualitative methods in health services research, clinical research, and policy research and is intended as part of a suite of qualitative methodology courses available to HPME students.  Students who are in the initial stages of designing and conducting their thesis research will be exposed to intense and pragmatic instruction related to issues in field research, including: study design; data collection; analysis; and writing. Students will be expected to come to class prepared to actively engage in group discussions and to discuss their own thesis work.  Students who complete this course will be able to begin conducting qualitative research. Prerequisite: HSR1001H or any other introductory level qualitative methods course at the graduate level. This course is offered every second year (starting 2012-13) through the Department of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation. Taught by Dr. Fiona Webster.

CHL 5115 - Qualitative Analysis and Interpretation

This course focuses on the theory, techniques and issues of data analysis and interpretation. Topics addressed include the implications of data collection for analysis and other components of the research process, problems of meaning, concept development, analytic devices, theorization, writing and representation. Students are expected to have their own data to work with, ideally from their own thesis projects, or from other or past research. Prerequisites for enrollment include grounding in the philosophical and theoretical foundations of qualitative research, qualitative research design, and data gathering. Students are expected thus to have completed at least one or two qualitative methodology courses (or the equivalent research experience). Preference will be given to those who have taken other courses in the Essentials series, and to those from programs that are contributing members of CQ. The course is designed primarily for PhD students. Auditors are generally not accepted. Permission of instructor is required for enrollment. This course is offered through the Dalla Lana School of Public Health. Taught by Dr. Joan Eakin. Course Outline

CHL 5122 - Advanced Qualitative Research: Framing, Writing & Beyond

This is a pass-fail course for students who have completed their program coursework and who are in the final stages of qualitative theses (normally in the last 6 months to 1 year of their programs). The course is a forum for presentation and discussion of thesis work, and for deeper exploration of methodological, theoretical and professional development issues. Topics include positioning within texts, writing for different audiences, cross-paradigm 'communication', thesis design and writing, publication and grant writing, issues of evidence and quality. Designed to counter the isolation of late-stage thesis work and the challenges of working within a research tradition that runs 'against the grain' of conventional science, this course will assist students in establishing contact with like-minded colleagues, set the stage for establishing on-going work groups that continue after completion of the course, facilitate the timely completion of projects and prepare students about to enter academic and other fields. The course is designed for PhD students. Permission of instructors is required for enrollment, with preference being given to students in the Certificate program and to students from contributing CQ programs. This course is offered through the Dalla Lana School of Public Health. Taught by Drs. Ellen MacEachen and Joan Eakin. Course Outline

Recommended Courses on Social Theory

These courses are highly recommended to students enrolled in the Essentials Series because of the importance of social theory to qualitative health methodology. These courses are not formally part of the Essentials series (i.e., not subject to priority enrolment for CQ contributing member students). Students should inquire of the course instructors regarding enrolment. 

NUR1085H - Topics in Critical Perspectives in Health and Health Care

This PhD-level course will focus on critical-social theories which have been applied to the health sciences in order to policitize and theorize health issues that traditionally have been taken for granted as unproblematic, such as caregiving, prevention, and professional practice. The course will focus on critical, neo-marxist, feminist, post-colonial, and post-structuralist frameworks. Students will be required to read classic texts and applied studies which utilized such approaches to discuss the key tenets of each theoretical framework. Course assignments will consist of explorations of the links between a particular theory and the student’s research topic. This course is offered through the Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing. Taught by Dr. Denise Gastaldo. Course Outline

CHL5101 - Social Theory and Health

This course is an introduction to key theoretical contributions of sociology to accounts of health and illness. Emphasis will be on a critical analysis of competing discourses on health, including those based on structural functionalism, interpretive perspectives, political economy, social constructionism, feminist perspectives, Foucauldian perspectives, Pierre Bourdieu’s work, sociology of the body and sociology of emotions. The focus of discussion will be core concepts of the sociology of health arising from theoretical interpretations of what it means to be healthy or ill in western industrialized nations. Concepts include, but are not limited to, the sick role, labelling, lay health beliefs, the experience of illness, medical dominance, the medical industrial complex, social causation of disease, medical social control, medicalization, surveillance medicine, risk, discipline and the body, the social construction of medical knowledge, habitus, capital, and body projects. The course, taught by Professor Peggy McDonough, is offered through the Dalla Lana School of Public Health.  Course Outline

CHL 5102 - Social and Political Forces in Health

The purpose of the course is to explore, theoretically some of the major factors and forces influencing the emergence, development and nature of health care systems. The underlying premise of this course is that health care systems do not develop in a vacuum; that is, they can only be understood with reference to the historically contingent social, political and economic contexts within which they emerge and exist. The course, taught by Professor Peggy McDonough, is offered through the Dalla Lana School of Public Health. There are no pre-requisites.