David Hughes,Swansea University, Wales, UK

This module will assist students who aspire to produce a dissertation or published article based on qualitative or mixed-methods research.  It will help them select an appropriate method for their chosen research topic, and to explain and justify their fieldwork strategy.  We will cover the common qualitative methods of the in-depth interview, the focus group, and participant observation (ethnography), and consider how these can be deployed in single-method studies or combined to achieve “triangulation”.  The application of qualitative methods to both conceptual academic studies and policy-oriented research will be discussed. Students will learn how to analyse qualitative data, and about the steps that can be taken to increase and demonstrate rigour in the research process. Finally, the module will offer advice on how to write a qualitative thesis chapter or article, and some tips on what to do if a student submits an article to a journal for publication. Where relevant, we will discuss adjustments that will help to optimise qualitative methods for application in the Asian context. A reading list will be provided for each of the topics covered, as will pdfs of key sources.