The course part Qualitative Methods covers the following topics: • Setting the scene: theoretical frameworks, ontological positions, main features and uses of qualitative research • Designing qualitative research: initial steps, research approaches, building comparison into qualitative research design • Generating data: sampling strategies, overview of basic methods (interview, focus groups, observation), secondary/digital sources • Interviewing: types of interviews, doing in-depth interviews (process, questions, and probes), issues and challenges • Analysis of qualitative data: analytic strategies, processing, and coding data • Interpreting and reporting data: description, explanation, generalization in qualitative research, displaying qualitative evidence • Quality criteria, ethical issues and note on mixed methods
The course part Quantitative Methods covers the following topics: • Basic concepts: Measuring, estimating, testing, and forecasting • Introduction to the statistical software R • Basics of descriptive statistics: Scale levels, statistical parameters • Basics of inferential statistics: Sample and population, probabilities, random variables, and distribution families, basic elements of hypothesis testing • Investigation of differences: Procedures for one- and two-group comparisons • Examination of relations: Correlations and their test • Analysis of dependencies: Linear and generalized linear models |