How should social inquiry be designed? What sorts of questions can qualitative research address as opposed to quantitative research? How should scholars choose between different approaches? What cases should they look into? When can qualitative methods be combined with quantitative techniques?
The course seeks to enable students to create and think critically about cutting-edge qualitative and multi-method research designs, including case studies, tests of necessity or sufficiency, and critical or interpretive work. It explores the practical techniques, uses, strengths, and limitations of these methods, while emphasizing their relationships with alternative approaches.