Critical Multimodal Qualitative Research Across the Professions

Catalog description

Created in collaboration with Schools of Design and Law, this course is designed to introduce professional school students to critical, multimodal and experimental ethnographic qualitative research methods. The coverage of the course includes both theoretical and applied components. The course is divided into five modules. The first module explores the theory of critical ethnographic qualitative research and the ethical issues that arise when undertaking collaborative research around the "everyday culture" of communities and institutions with which practitioners in the students' chosen areas of study typically interact. The second module allows students to analyze qualitative research in professional fields of study and engage in dialogue with Penn faculty whose qualitative research addresses significant issues of importance to practitioners in law, business, medicine and planning. This module will also begin a discussion of the tasks of formulating critical qualitative research projects and analyzing data. The third module is devoted to qualitative data collection methods (participant observation, oral histories and in-depth interviews) and the modes and tools used in collecting qualitative data and reporting results (traditional or text-based, multimodal, and experimental). The final module considers in greater depth the role of aesthetics, advocacy and activism in utilizing multimodal approaches for sharing research findings with audiences consisting of academics, collaborators, fellow professionals, and the general population.