Philosophical Foundations of Qualitative Methods: Introduction and Overview

This course will introduce students to the general philosophical debates concerning scientific methodology, assessing their ramifications for the conduct of qualitative social research. It will enable students to critically evaluate major programmes in the philosophy of sciences, considering whether there are important analytic differences between the social and natural sciences; and whether qualitative methods themselves comprise a unified approach to the study of social reality.

• Postgraduate students and staff
• Further details regarding eligibility criteria are available here

• Session 1: Epistemological Foundations of Qualitative Social Research Part I
• Session 2: Epistemological Foundations of Qualitative Social Research Part II

• Chalmers, A.F. (1982). What is this Thing Called Science?: an Assessment of the Nature and Status of Science and its Methods. Milton Keynes: Open University Press.
• Bourdieu, P. & Wacquant, L.J.D. (1992). An invitation to Reflexive Sociology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press
• Weinberg, D. (ed). (2002). Qualitative Research Methods. Malden:Blackwell

This module is not assessed.

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