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School of Politics and International Relations · ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences
This course will not run in semester 2, 2026. SOCY2043 has been identified as a substitute course for students in the BIR, BPPOL and BPLSC. This seminar style course will teach students the three main qualitative methods used in political science: (elite) Interviewing, document analysis and participant observation. In this practically-focused course, students will learn to generate research questions suited to qualitative methods, design research protocols and implement them. They will then learn how to go about analysing the data they produce or encounter.
Class Participation
Learning outcomes 1, 2, 3
Research design paper (approx 1000 words)
Learning outcomes 1, 2, 3
Poster Assignment (Max 500 words)
Learning outcomes 1, 2, 3, 4
Research Paper (approx 3000 words)
Learning outcomes 1, 2, 3, 4
130 hours of total student learning time made up from: a) 36 hours of contact over 12 weeks: 24 hours of lectures/interactive activities, and 12 hours of tutorials; and b) 94 hours of independent student reading, writing and diagramming. Work Integrated Learning Projects In this course, students will learn to design and management a project of their own devising.
There are no prescribed texts for this course. Readings will be provided via wattle. Preliminary Reading Beach, Derek, and Rasmus Pedersen. Process-Tracing Methods: Foundations and Guidelines. Accessed November 21, 2018. https://www.press.umich.edu/2556735. Brady, Henry E, and David Collier. Rethinking Social Inquiry : Diverse Tools, Shared Standards. 2nd ed. Lanham, Md. : Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2010. http://trove.nla.gov.au/version/48781380. Dowding, Keith. The Philosophy and Methods of Political Science. Political Analysis. London ; New York, NY: Palgrave, 2016. Gerring, John, and Lee Cojocaru. “Selecting Cases for Intensive Analysis: A Diversity of Goals and Methods.” Sociological Methods & Research 45, no. 3 (August 1, 2016): 392–423. https://doi.org/10.1177/0049124116631692. Jacob, Stacy, and S. Furgerson. “Writing Interview Protocols and Conducting Interviews: Tips for Students New to the Field of Qualitative Research.” The Qualitative Report 17, no. 42 (October 15, 2012): 1–10. Moravcsik, Andrew. “Transparency: The Revolution in Qualitative Research.” PS: Political Science & Politics 47, no. 1 (January 2014): 48–53. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1049096513001789. Ragin, Charles C., and Howard Saul Becker. What Is a Case?: Exploring the Foundations of Social Inquiry. Cambridge University Press, 1992. Toshkov, Dimiter. Research Design in Political Science. Palgrave Macmillan, 2016.