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Theory and Practice in Qualitative Data Analysis and Interpretation for the Social and Behavioral Sciences

Prepares students to articulate and address core theoretical and methodological issues of qualitative inquiry. Develops students’ capacity to engage in critical qualitative research, including understanding the role of power and social position (race, gender, health status) in data collection, analysis, and interpretation. Introduces narrative, content, discourse, and life history analysis, and institutional ethnography. Considers analysis of both textual (e.g., interview transcripts) and visual (e.g., observations, images) data. Prepares students to select an analytic approach that is appropriate for particular research questions. Explores multiple ways in which health-related phenomena can be analyzed and interpreted. Uses a publicly available data set on women and substance use to provide students with hands-on data analysis and interpretation experience. Introduces students to MAXQDA, a qualitative data management and analysis software.