NB: This course accrues 3 training points.

Theory concerns the general, theories as such, but also concepts that may or may not be articulated as theories. Theory stands in contrast with the empirical, which comprises local instances, contexts, settings. In QUANTITATIVE research—which commonly describes experimental and most survey research—at least some theoretical work generally precedes the research design, data colletion and analysis and sampling is generally designed to enable generalisation from a sample to a population. This course, however, is primarily concerned with QUALITATIVE social and educational research. In this mode, the aim is usually to generate theoretical categories—codes or themes—in transaction with the data, to 'let the data speak'. Starting out with theory already in place, forcing it on the data, will tend to silence it. A second important difference between qualitative and quantitative research is that the latter does not generally allow for generalisation from a sample to a population. Rather, qualitative research generalises either by the generation of theory or by the accumulation of cases.

Methodology might be described as the work that enables an argument ot be made. The content of the previous paragraph is essentially methodological. The observation relating theory to qualitative research might be taken to entail that one can or should avoid reading theoretical work in advance of one's study, but this would not be correct. Reading theoretical work and, indeed, research generally contributes to what Barney Glaser (1978) refers to as one's 'theoretical sensitivity' and is indispensible for the researcher: one would hardly be surprised to find that a sociologist, a psychologist and a historian would approach their research activities, including the generation of theoretical categories from data (or sources for the historian) with different sensitivities to what that data or those sources might tell them.

This seminar involves reflection on the analytic distinctions between the theoretical, the empirical and the methodological in the context of participants’ own work and the research reported in the set readings, which is largely qualitative. It is unimportant what stage of research you are at—previous participants have included students in their first term and students close to completion others at just about every point in-between and some have even attended the programme more than once—but you must come prepared to talk about and discuss your interests and to have some of your ideas opened up to critical scrutiny and to be involved in the discussion and scrutinizing of the interests and ideas of other participants.

Suggested Reading

Chung, S-y. (2011). ‘The modality of the textual institutionalisation of literary studies: towards a sociology.’ Sociological Research Online. 16/3/3. 1-14

Douglas, M. (2002). Purity and Danger. London. Routledge.

Collins, H. & Pinch, T. (1998). The Golem: what you should know about Science. London. CUP.

Dowling, P. C. (2009). Sociology as method: Departures from the forensics of culture, text and knowledge. Rotterdam, The Netherlands: Sense Publishers.

Dowling, P.C. (2013). 'Social activity method: a fractal language for mathematics.' Mathematics Education Research Journal. 25: 317-340.

Dowling, P.C. & Brown, A.J. (2010). Doing Research/Reading Research: Re- interrogating education. London. Rutledge.

Geertz, C. (1989). Works and Lives: the anthropologist as author. Cambridge. Polity.

Geertz, C. (2000 Edn (1977)). The Interpretation of Cultures. New York. Basic Books. 

Glaser, B. & Strauss, A. (1967). The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for qualitative research. New York. Aldine Publishing Company.

Whiteman, N. (2012). Undoing Ethics: rethinking practice in online research. New York. Springer.