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Aug 31, 2025
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Fall 2025 Health Sciences Catalog
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HPH 564 - Qualitative Methods
In this course, students learn about the logic, theory, and methods of qualitative research within population health and related fields (e.g., social welfare, nursing, medicine, sociology, and psychology). The course begins with an introduction to the epistemological and ontological underpinnings of qualitative inquiry, with special attention to how these factors affect the types of research questions often asked (and answered) by qualitative researchers. Students then learn the nuts-and-bolts of qualitative research design and data collection through review of existing qualitative studies and hands-on application. Homework and in-class exercises over the course of the semester give students practice in (a) designing a feasible qualitative research study, and (b) collecting three kinds of qualitative data: participant observation, in-depth interviews, and focus groups. The course concludes with an overview of steps for data analysis, including coding, memo-writing, and triangulation. Emphasized throughout the course are methodological issues germane to qualitative (and quantitative) research: reflexivity of the researcher, appropriate treatment of human subjects, and obtaining quality data.
3 credits
Prerequisite(s): Admission to Graduate Public Health Program or Department Consent; HPH 501
Grading Letter graded (A, A-, B+, etc.)
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