Qualitative Research Methods

Syllabus Fall 2007
Class meets MWF 8:00 - 8:50, Final time Monday, Dec 17, 4:30-7 pm

Course Objectives & Goals

1. Understand steps involved in planning and designing naturalistic/qualitative research and be able to conduct your own (small) qualitative research projects in the real world and online as demonstrated by the quality of their assigned research projects
2. Know and be able to use qualitative research techniques, including observation, interviewing, document analysis in the real world and online as demonstrated by in class assignments and qulaity of data collected for assigned research projects
3. Be able to analyze qualitative data by hand as demonstrated by results in assigned research projects
4. Be able to discuss ethical implications of qualitative research in the real world and online as demonstrated by inclass discussion, in world exercises and behavior during data collection for their own assigned research projects
5. Be able to find and understand academic journal articles that use qualitative methods to collect and analyze data as demonstrated by in class activities and quality of the literature review in their assigned research projects
6. Improve academic writing fluency and style as demonstrated by improvements in writing over the course of the semester

Major Assignments

• Participant Observation paper, 100 points, due
• Interview paper, 100 points, due Monday 12/10
• Presentation of Interview research results, 50 points, due 12/17 (final exam time)

Grades

	95-100 A	90-94 A-
87-89 B+	83-86 B	80-82 B-
77-79 C+	73-76 C	70-72 C-
67-69 D+	63-66 D	60-62 D-
	0-59 F

Textbook & Readings

• online articles and news stories linked in the syllabus
• handouts
• NO assigned textbook

Semester Schedule
Here's the weekly schedule for the semester. Sometimes we will make changes - I might find a cool new article or we might get caught up in an inclass discussion or activity. So check back here frequently.

Week	Topics	Readings & Assignments
Week 1	Introductions, Accounts, Academic articles	W: introductions sign up for blogger.com account write your thoughts - what is a (video) game? F: before class, do this project, in class discuss your homework (if you don't have anything on your blog, you will be asked to leave class)
Week 2	More definitions, What's qualitative research, reading academic research	M: before class read Qualitative Research - Airy Fairy or Fundamental - from The Qualitative Report (an online journal) and Introduction - stop after the intro chapter, we're not interested in the rest of this part of the book and post discussion notes in your blog your definition of what qualitative research is, we'll discuss more in class W: what's an academic journal article, where to find them F: before class, do this exercise
Week 3	More Definitions, What is a game, experience a lot of what might or might not be games	M: before class, do this project, in class discuss your homework (if you don't have anything on your blog, you will be asked to drop the class - if you can't get these assignments done at the beginning of the semester, you won't be able to successfully do the work required in this class) W: before class, do this project, in class discuss results and sign up for SecondLife Account F: before class - go thru orientation island in SL, play with your avatar's appearance, learn how to move and chat, then we'll do more SL in class. I expect that everyone will be out of the island before class and will have done some customization of their avatar. I will give you a location in class where we will all meet to begin our tour. This part of the action phase of research. You will post your reactions to your blog during class (part of the thinking and discussing phases).
Week 4	observation, data analysis, writing up results	M: before class, DO THIS ASSIGNMENT in class we'll discuss what is observation and practice here or here or even here W: before class read about participant and direct observation on this page and Social Interaction in There watch this video in class F: before class, spend at least 20 minutes in SL on each of 2 separate occasions and post notes about it on your blog (2 times in SL, 2 blog posts) and read One of Us article about participant observation in an online world, in class we'll go over the first asisgnment - your participant observation in SL before class next friday your avatar needs to look as much like you as possible for our fashion show
Week 5	Observation and Research	M: before class, go back to the place where you observed last week - dn't talk to anybody - just watch, make more notes - do you see anything different, think about what assumptions you're making because you know the culture, come up with some alternate explanations for things you've assumed, post your notes on your blog (this is part of the thinking and discussing stage) before Friday have your avatar look as much like you as possible before class read this academic journal article: Computer-mediated communication as a virtual third place: building Oldenburg's great good places on the world wide web by Charles Soukup from New Media & Society, 8(3), p. 421-440, June 2006. Get it from the library's webpage, the Communication Studies: sage full-text collection database - be ready to discuss how they defined their main concepts W: before class read Listening to the Voices in an Online Class by Scott Campbell in Qualitative Research Reports in Communication, volume IV, 2003, p. 9-15 - get it from the library website - the Communication and Mass Media Complete database F: no assignment - Fashion show in SL - i'll give you a location where we'll all meet to show off how much you look like your avatar
Week 6	Reading/Writing Academic Research and Ethnography	M: before class - put several pictures of the process of changing genders on your blog and make some notes - what was difficult, what was easier... You have to play for 2 weeks as the opposite gender so pictures along the way and lots of notes too read Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, August 2001 v30 i4 p465(46) Being in the Zone: Staging Retail Theater at ESPN Zone Chicago. J.F. Sherry Jr; R.V. Kozinets; D. Storm; A. Duhachek; K. Nuttavuthisit; B. Deberry-Spence. Multi-method case study, participant observation, interviews (in Sage Sociology) W: before class - read Community Standards for SecondLife and ch5 from Writing Up Qualitative Research (handout) (suggestions for improving the writing phase of the research process), write a one page description of the thing you found most surprising in SL so far - have an intro and conclusion - good writing style counts - to turn in, F: we'll play SL in class
Week 7	SecondLife time, Kim gone Wednesday & Friday to Virtual Worlds conference	M: review for midterm W:>midterm in class F:work in SecondLife (assignment to come - you'll post results on your blog so I can see too)
Week 8	Ethnography continues	M: Participant Observation paper due at beginning of class - no late papers accepted, start ethnography W: before class read Conducting an In-Depth Interview and post your observations about interviewing from the article and how you think it might work in SL F: Fall break - no class
Week 9	Ethnography continued, midterm grades turned in this week	M: before class do an educational event in Second Life - the intro class for new users, an intro building class, go to a public talk/discussion/presentation. You find them in the event list on the community page of the Secondlife site - click on events in the left hand menu- pick educational as the category and then summarize the class on your blog (with pictures) W: read You can see anything on the internet, you can do anything on the internet!: young Canadians talk about the internet by Leslie Shade, Nikki Porter and Wendy Sanchez in Canadian Journal of Communication volume 30, 2005, p. 503-526 go to a welcome area in the game and just hang out, listen to conversations, start talking to people, blog about your experience and email me with a link to the post F: Discuss interviewing (last method of data collecting)
Week 10	Interviews	M: W: Interview people in person in pub, the library, or the gym - spread out, we don't want everyone swamping the poor people in the pub - you have to interview 3 people. Ask them each these questions: How did they decide what to wear today? How did they choose the major they're in? If they could do anything over in their life to guarantee they get the future they want, would you do it? Why or why not? (we don't want to pressure them to tell us what it is they're going to redo - that's not we're interested in - and it could be very personal) Come back at =:30 and discuss your findings. F: Click the link SL Backchatter Example here or at the top of the page. Analyze the first 3 screens of conversation. Write down any patterns you see - look at how individuals talk, how they talk to each other, topics of conversation, tone of conversation, etc. Write down anything that strikes you as strange, other than it is online church service, that if you were there in person you would have asked somebody about it.
Week 11	interviewing in SecondLife	M: read Realtime Interviewing using the World Wide Web by Chen and Hinton, in Sociological Research Online, 4(3), 1999 W: go thru the first 5 sections of this online course on interviews F:
Week 12	interviewing in SecondLife	M: W: work in SL F: work in SL
	Thanksgiving Break
Week 13	Analyzing Content	M: W:
Week 14	Analyzing Content	M:
Week 15	Finishing Up, Summarizing	M: Ethnography paper due 12/10 (presentations during final exam week)
Exam Week		Presentations of interview paper and the data collected in SecondLife

Policies
Ithaca College Attendance Policy
Students at Ithaca College are expected to attend all classes, and they are responsible for work missed during any absence from class. At the beginning of each semester, instructors must provide students in their courses with written guidelines regarding possible grading penalties for failure to attend class. Students should notify their instructors as soon as possible of any anticipated absences. Written documentation that indicates the reason for being absent may be required. These guidelines may vary from course to course, but are subject to the following restrictions:

1. In accordance with New York State law, students who miss class due to their religious beliefs shall be excused from class or examinations on that day. Such students must notify their course instructors at least one week before any anticipated absence so that proper arrangements may be made to make up any missed work or examination without penalty.

2. Any student who misses class due to a verifiable emergency - such as an illness requiring attention by the health center, or hospitalization, death, or serious illness of a family member, or required appearance in a court of law - shall be excused. Students may notify the Office of Student Affairs and Campus Life, which will notify the student's dean's office, as well as residential life if the student lives on campus. The dean's office will disseminate the information to the appropriate faculty. Follow-up by the student with his or her professors is imperative. Students may need to consider a leave of absence, medical leave of absence, selected course withdrawals, etc., if they have missed a significant portion of classwork.

A student may be excused for participation in college-authorized co-curricular and extracurricular activities such as athletic events, ROTC, musical and theatrical performances, and professional conferences if, in the instructor's judgment, this does not impair the specific student's or the other students' ability to succeed in the course

The course instructor has the right to determine if the number of absences has been excessive in view of the nature of the class that was missed and the stated attendance policy. Depending on the individual situation, this can result in the student being removed from or failing the course.

APC Approval: 4/22/05
Faculty Council Approval: 5/3/05
Provost/VPAA Approval: 5/11/05

My Attendance Policies
Three absences will result in a loss of one full letter grade (from an A to a B, not from an A to an A minus). Six absences and I will ask you to withdraw from the class.

If you miss class when we have a scheduled group work day, you lose 10 points on the final project (take the grade the group gets and subtract 10 for your grade). The group project is very important and group time in class is not to be wasted. More importantly, you need to treat your group members with respect by showing up prepared to work.

Students must follow the usual add/drop/withdrawal procedures; however, faculty members have the right to remove a student from a course in accordance with official College policy, as follows:

Faculty Right to Remove Students from a Course
1. An instructor can drop any student on his/her roster if s/he does not attend the first class meeting of the semester and fails to notify the instructor in advance that s/he cannot make the class; and/or

2. For nonattendance after the first full week of classes (or after the first class meeting of a physical activity, leisure, and safety [PALS] course) if the student has made no contact with the faculty member; and/or

3. Any time a student violates the written rules for remaining in good standing in the course.

Faculty action to remove a student from a course is not automatic and will be undertaken at the discretion of the faculty member. During the first week of class, students may be removed from the course. In weeks 2-10, a grade of W will be recorded. Students should not rely on faculty members to remove or withdraw them from courses.

STUDENT CONDUCT CODE OF ITHACA COLLEGE (http://www.ithaca.edu/link_index.php?url=http://www.ithaca.edu/attorney/policies/vol7/Volume_7-70102.htm&source=handbook)

STANDARDS OF ACADEMIC CONDUCT
A. Academic honesty is a cornerstone of the mission of the College. Unless it is otherwise stipulated, students may submit for evaluation only that work that is their own and that is submitted originally for a specific course. According to the traditions of higher education, forms of conduct that will be considered evidence of academic misconduct include, but are not limited to the following: conversations between students during an examination; reviewing, without authorization, material during an examination (i.e., personal notes, another student's exam); unauthorized collaboration; submission of a paper also submitted for credit in another course; reference to written material related to the course brought into an examination room during a closed-book, written examination; and submission without proper acknowledgment of work that is based partially or entirely on the ideas or writings of others. Only when a faculty member gives prior approval for such actions can they be acceptable.
B. It is the responsibility of instructors to inform students clearly in writing of specific rules, procedures and/or expectations pertinent to their particular course that differ from those identified in paragraph A of this section. In those courses where limited consultation among students is permitted in the preparation of assignments, it is extremely important for instructors to clarify the guidelines for appropriate conduct.
C. In situations where a student may have difficulty in distinguishing between acceptable behavior and academic misconduct, it is the responsibility of the student to confer with the instructor. This is particularly important for avoiding plagiarism when written sources are used in the preparation of papers or take-home examinations.
Because Ithaca College is an academic community, ignorance of the accepted standards of academic honesty in no way affects the responsibility of students who violate standards of conduct in courses and other academic activities.
D. All members of the academic community are expected to assist in maintaining the integrity of Ithaca College, which includes reporting incidents of academic misconduct. Such instances may be reported to a faculty member, the dean of the school involved, or the director of judicial affairs.

PLAGIARISM
Whether intended or not, plagiarism is a serious offense against academic honesty. Under any circumstances, it is deceitful to represent as one's own work writing or ideas that belong to another person. Students should be aware how this offense is defined: Plagiarism is the unacknowledged use of someone else's published or unpublished ideas, whether this use consists of directly quoted material or paraphrased ideas.

Although various disciplines follow styles of documentation that differ in some details, all forms of documentation make the following demands:

• That each quotation or paraphrase be acknowledged with footnotes or in-text citation;
• That direct quotations be enclosed in quotation marks and be absolutely faithful to the wording of the source;
• That paraphrased ideas be stated in language entirely different from the language of the source;
• That a sequence of ideas identical to that of a source be attributed to that source;
• That all the sources the writer has drawn from in paraphrase or direct quotation or a combination of paraphrase and quotation be listed at the end of the paper under "Bibliography," "References," or "Works Cited," whichever heading the particular style of documentation requires.

A student is guilty of plagiarism if he/she fails, intentionally or not, to follow any of these standard requirements of documentation.
In a collaborative project, all students in the group may be held accountable for academic misconduct if they engage in plagiarism or are aware of plagiarism by others in their group and fail to report it. Students who participate in a collaborative project in which plagiarism has occured will not be held accountable if they were not knowledgeable of the plagiarism.
What, then, do students not have to document? They need not cite their own ideas, references to their own experiences, or information that falls in the category of uncontroversial common knowledge (what a person reasonably well-informed about a subject might be expected to know.) They should acknowledge anything else.

Other Forms of Academic Dishonesty
Other violations of academic honesty include, but are not limited to, the following behaviors:

• Handing in to a class a paper written by someone else;
• Handing in as an original work for a class a paper one has already submitted to another course;
• Handing in the same paper simultaneously to two courses without the full knowledge and explicit consent of all the faculty members involved;
• Having someone else rewrite or clean up a rough draft and submitting those revisions as one's own work;

These offenses violate the atmosphere of trust and mutual respect necessary to the process of learning.

Note: Students who would like help in learning how to paraphrase or document sources properly should feel free to come to the Writing Center in room 228 of Roy H. Park Hall for assistance.

Students With Disabilities: In compliance with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act, reasonable accommodation will be provided to students with documented disabilities on a case by case basis. Students must register with the Office of Academic Support Services and provide appropriate documentation to the college before any academic adjustment will be provided. To contact that office call 274-1005, or contact Leslie Schettino, Director of Support Services for Students With Disabilities, at lschettino@ithaca.edu.

This page last updated 15 November 2007 by Kim Gregson

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