Advanced Qualitative Research Design and Data Collection (HSO-40806)

Course schedule

This course is not scheduled yet.

Course description

This course deals with qualitative social science research design and data collection. Students learn about and practice key qualitative methods while gaining exposure to how diverse theoretical lenses make use of these methods.

General information:

Dates: January 5 until February 6, 2026
Contact person (logistics): Marcella Haan
Contact person (content): Lenneke Vaandrager
Credits: 6 ECTS
Venue: Wageningen Campus

Registration:

You can register for this course via Osiris. For PhD candidates: first you need to apply or renew your student enrolment number. Please contact WASS for the application form.

Lecturers:

  • dr.ir. Lenneke Vaandrager (HSO)
  • dr.ir. Clemens Driessen (GEO)
  • prof.dr. Robert Fletcher (SDC)
  • dr. Stasja Koot (SDC)
  • dr. Rico Lie (KTI)
  • dr. Elisabet Rasch (SDC)
  • dr. Peter Tamas (Biometris)
  • Anke de Vrieze, MSc (SDC)
  • prof.dr.ir. Annemarie Wagemakers (HSO)

Advanced Qualitative Research Design and Data Collection (HSO40806) offers PhD candidates and advanced master’s students enrolled in the graduate programme:

  • A fuller grasp of the analytical value of arrange of qualitative methods relative to your own project's research questions and epistemological/theoretical positioning;
  • The knowledge required to identify different methods’ particular logistical requirements and challenges;
  • The knowledge and skills for anticipating and responding to ethical issues posed by the use of specific methods;
  • The time and space to design a well-rounded strategy for data collection for your own research project aligned with your project's purpose and epistemological/theoretical framework.

Course structure

This course comprises 4 framing and 8 method sessions:

  • Framing sessions in Weeks 1 & 4 enable participants to critically investigate the values and forces underpinning their research projects, reflect on their researcher positionality and render their research project design more nuanced and robust.
  • Method sessions in Weeks 2 & 3 cover a range of qualitative data collection methods and techniques (see list below). Participants write their assignments based on sessions that best fit with the research they are undertaking or wish to undertake.

Topics and methods covered

  • Research as a formal system and the role of data in it
  • "Quality" in qualitative methods and developing the Medicine Wheel assingment
  • Researcher Reflexivity
  • Participatory action research
  • Interviewing
  • Ethnography and participant observation
  • Arts based methods and nature-based methods
  • Visual research methods
  • Data collection for discourse analysis
  • More-than-human approaches

Assumed knowledge on:

Qualitative Data Analysis (YRM-60806) PLUS EITHER Critical Perspectives on Social Theory (PhD course) OR Advanced Social Theory (CPT-55306) OR WASS Research Methodology: From Topic to Proposal (PhD course)

Contents:

Students learn about & practice key qualitative research methods while gaining exposure to how diverse theoretical lenses make use of these methods. The course covers: participatory action research, interpretation, representation, comparison & validity; reflexivity & positionality, power relations & ethics; interviews & focus groups; (auto)ethnography & participant observation; arts-based and nature based methods; visual research methods and more-than-human approaches.

Learning outcomes:

After successful completion of this course students are expected to be able to:

  • assess the analytical value of different types of methods relative to the student’s own research questions and theoretical framework;
  • identify different types of methods’ particular logistical requirements and challenges;
  • anticipate ethical issues posed by the use of specific research methods;
  • design a data collection methods strategy aligned with the student’s own research questions and theoretical framework.

Activities:

Workshops with lectures & interactive learning;

  • exercises to practice specific methods & reflect on their effects;
  • development of an individualised data collection methods strategy;
  • self-study.

Examination:

Performance in this course is assessed based on two assignments: 1) a group-generated portfolio of methods session reflections (25%) and 2) a personised medicine wheel (75%). To pass the course, each assignment must receive a mark of 5.5 or higher.

Schedule

This course will run in period 3, on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 14.00-17.15h. It spans 4 weeks (5 Jan-30 Jan, 2026).