Necessity of Empirical Evidence in Scientific Qualitative Methods (66539)
Session Chair: Katerina Zäch
Saturday, January 7, 2023 (14:20)
Session: Session 4
Room: 323B
Presentation Type:Oral Presentation
Teaching qualitative methods allows us to demonstrate how scientists work in the world of modern science, produce knowledge, and reflect on our positionality. Indeed, I felt compelled to think about how to embrace and augment empirical materials in the teaching and in the context of connecting the empirical and theoretical sides of knowledge production. To pinpoint that, I pondered the ever-shifting gap between theory and practice and to what extent both are intertwined in the practice of teaching. In this vein, I especially focused on the role of ethnography and the challenges posed to conventional ethnography over the years (Bernard, 1988; Scheyvens, 2014), as the encounters during the ethnographic process are an instrumental component of the qualitative method. Contextual illustrations allow students to examine what qualitative methods accomplish and how empirical awareness may enhance the coherence of one’s theoretical stance toward empirical questions. To recognize this is to acknowledge first what qualitative methods have accomplished in traditional fields and what are the theoretical, epistemological, and practical aspects of the social research. Secondly, there is a need to discuss new methodological tendencies as they relate and adapt to unforeseen human circumstances, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, or how past political events have influenced views on knowledge creation. Additionally, new ways of thinking about how to work with visual, digital, or participatory approaches merit more attention and detailed explanation so that they can be a more integral part of social research methods courses and seminars.
Authors:
Katerina Zäch, University of Fribourg, Switzerland
About the Presenter(s)
Ms Katerina Zäch is a University Doctoral Student at University of Fribourg in Switzerland
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