Apologies for Cross- Posting
Focusing on the Case in Quantitative and Qualitative Research
ESRC Research Methods Training Programme Advance Notice
The purpose of this email is to give advance notice of the following
ESRC funded training / research methodology initiative. Attendance at
each seminar will be limited to 25 people and all travel and subsistence
costs will be born by the programme.
Focusing on the case in quantitative and qualitative research
Researchers:
David Byrne University of Durham
Wendy Olsen University of Manchester
Aims
This project has two interlinked aims:
" To develop the expertise of UK based researchers in the integrated
employment of a range of case centred methods including
o Numerical Taxonomy methods
o Qualitative Comparative Analysis
o Qualitative Statistical Modelling
o Traditional Case Study approaches
" To engaged in a dialogical research exercise with researchers about
their needs for and understanding of case based approaches in relation
to the actual research problems with which they are engaged.
Rationale
One of the major tasks of social science is establishing how things come
to be as they are establishing causal systems in the real world. Its
a truism to say that the social world is complex. In other words you
cant explain it in terms of single causes with single effects. However,
the traditional quantitative approaches in social science based on
variable analysis have tended towards such simple explanations.
Sociology has a long tradition of another approach in the form of the
comparative method based on detailed comparison across a range of cases.
Recently, developments in computer based methods have facilitated an
integration of quantitative and qualitative approaches in a way which
focuses upon the cases and allows us to address the complexity of social
causes. This project combines training in the use of such approaches
with an exploration of the way in which social researchers, at all
stages of their careers, have thought about these issues in the past and
can develop new strategies in the future based on case centred methods.
Workshops
The combined training and research dialogues will be run through a
series of 2 day research workshops to be held during July, September and
December 2004, and January 2005. Participants will be fully reimbursed
for travel costs and accommodation and training is free. It is intended
that participants will attend all the sessions if possible but this is
negotiable. Applications are invited from academics, graduate students,
and practitioners and it is intended to achieve a mix of people,
interests, and academic / practitioners. The package has a value of some
£2,500 per person.
Anyone interested in participating should send a note of not more than
250 words (email or Word attachment) outlining why they are interested
to David Byrne on: [log in to unmask]
I can be contacted to discuss this as above or on 0191 33 46826
Participants will be selected on the basis of their indication of
interest and general background. There is no formal deadline as yet but
early indication of interest would be helpful.
This project is part of the ESRC Research Methods programme details of
which can be found at:
http://www.ccsr.ac.uk/method
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