Projects title:

Projektwerkstatt Qualitativ forschen (Qualitative Research Project Workshop)

Project management:

Nadine Günnewig, Nina Thieme

Funding:

Bielefeld University, university funds to improve studies and teaching

Project term:

01.04.2008 – 30.09.2009

Project description:

Research is an indispensable part of academic education. However, it is mainly the results of research that enter university courses, whereas students are rarely given the opportunity to learn about the individual steps structuring the research process, such as research planning, the development of a research question, the choice of method, survey, analysis, and interpretation. The Qualitative Research Project Workshop at Bielefeld University’s Faculty of Education sought to remedy this issue. In particular, students in higher semesters were offered a forum in which their own qualitative-empirical (final) theses could be presented and discussed (function of the interpretation community), but also the creation of theoretical references to their own work (colloquium function) and the discussion of ‘extracurricular’ problems (function of accompaniment/support/supervision).

In order to expand and deepen the theoretical and practical research skills already acquired in the Qualitative Research Project Workshop, funding was made available for students and doctoral candidates to attend the methodological meetings and workshops offered by the University of Magdeburg and the Free University of Berlin. In addition, as part of the Qualitative Research Project Workshop, two events lasting several days were held with proven experts on grounded theory (Prof Dr Jörg Strübing), conversation analysis (Prof Dr Heinz Messmer) and objective hermeneutics (Prof Dr Martin Heinrich), as well as a colloquium on basic questions of qualitative social research, to which Prof Dr Jo Reichertz was invited.
The central aim of the Qualitative Research Project Workshop was to develop and practise reflexivity and confidence in one's own abilities, which represent constitutive and indispensable competences for professional action in practice as well as for the disciplinary context, in addition to acquiring practical research expertise, which is important for final theses and other qualification papers. Furthermore, students were offered a decision-making framework for their own career prospects through insights into academic work as well as early initial contact with the academic community (Berlin Methods Meeting and Magdeburg Methods Workshop).