EQUIPP Curriculum:Year One

EQUIPP participants may enroll for either a one or two year program. Year One consists of an intensive course load for the first section, followed by a Research Residency in the second section. The optional Year Two provides support for those who wish to maintain a close relationship with faculty and mentors as they conduct their own research project.

Year One

Principles of Qualitative Inquiry: An introduction to the principles of Qualitative Inquiry emphasizing evaluation of the research literature, principles of induction, methodological cohesion, sampling, data collection, analysis, writing for funding, writing qualitatively, and principles of application and utilization. Participants will complete interview, transcription and coding exercises, as well as complete a research proposal or methodological development assignment. 3 hrs/day, 3 days/wk.

Thinking Qualitatively Workshops: Four days of intensive, hands-on workshops offered by IIQM, delivered by EQUIPP faculty. Participants choose their own program of workshops based on specific interests and consultation with faculty. Topics include: designing qualitative research, interviewing, data management, formulating research questions, ethics, sampling issues, coding and categorization, writing proposals, communication with funding agencies, use of video technology, community-based research, ethnography, focus group research, narrative analysis, community-based PAR, writing proposals, computerized data management.

More information about Thinking Qualitatively is available on the IIQM website.

Issues in Qualitative Methods in Health Research: Core seminar covering issues in qualitative methods from the perspective of health and illness. Topics include: 1) The ethical conduct of qualitative inquiry 2) Issues in data collection (including training in use of digital video equipment and other new technologies) 3) Methodological cohesion 4) Data management/ methods of analysis (including use of data management software) 5) Applying for grant funding 6) Dissemination: Presenting and writing qualitative findings. In addition, a major component of the seminar will be driven by the needs of the participants as they develop their program of research and prepare for the mentored research residency. Trainees will be expected to share and discuss their own projects and bring forth issues for discussion and feedback.

Seminars at Noon: Seminars in qualitative methodology delivered by EQUIPP faculty and national/international visiting researchers from many disciplines on a variety of qualitative issues. The objectives are to: expose trainees to applications of learned qualitative methods by examining the work of active researchers; present problematic issues in various methodologies from the perspective of experts in that area, and promote the transdisciplinary mind-set of a contemporary qualitative health researcher. (These sessions will be videotaped for those participants off campus)

University of Alberta Substantive Health-Related Course: Contemporary Canadian qualitative health research examines the health and illness-related experiences and responses of individuals. These are not the purview of any specific discipline, but are of broad concern to social sciences and humanistic medicine. Trainees will thus be given the opportunity to supplement their existing substantive knowledge beyond their own discipline to meet the needs of their new and developing foci as transdisciplinary qualitative health researchers. Trainees will be required to take a University of Alberta graduate course during the fall session to expand the basis of their research foci. Courses are available from a number of Faculties and generally fall into the categories of socio-cultural health determinants (gender, class, ethnicity), lifespan, ethics, families, and health promotion. This course may also be taken as an independent study with one of the EQUIPP mentors or faculty.

University of Alberta Qualitative Methods Course: As the trainees develop their research foci, their research will involve methodologies and research perspective extracted from many disciplines, some of which will be unfamiliar. The selection of a methodology course from a new health-related discipline allows the trainee to examine that disciplinary knowledge from the perspective of a methodologist, and to evaluate and integrate those methodologies into their repertoire. Trainees will be required to select a graduate course at the Uof A during the fall session. This course may also be taken as an independent study with one of the EQUIPP mentors or faculty.

The Research Residency: Trainees participate in the data collection and analysis phases of their mentor's current research project(s). Our diverse mentor group has been assembled based on their international reputations and their expertise as active researchers and teachers, and the specific qualitative methodologies they employ. In the Research Residency, from January to June of Year One, trainees will be paired with a mentor (based on mutual substantive and methodological interests) at the mentor’s university. The hands-on approach to learning is invaluable in transferring theory into practice, thereby accelerating the learning curve as trainees grapple with real-life application of learned methodologies, rather than stumbling through their initial qualitative research efforts on their own. The research residency is designed to benefit both trainee and mentor. Mentors will cooperatively design the objectives for both mentor and trainee, and determine the evaluative process. Faculty-mentor-trainee will be selected in order to facilitate communication, to evaluate the progress of the trainee's work, and assure that the needs of trainee and mentor are being met.

Because trainees may be spread out across 7 university campuses, WebCT and Web4M, computer programs for distance education, will be employed to allow trainees to share experiences, problems, and successes with each other, communicate with faculty, access assignments, and participate in discussion forums.

Ethics and Scientific Integrity: EQUIPP trainees will be required to attend this 1.5 day program offered in November by the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Alberta, to assist in training faculty and research staff in the principles of research integrity, covering issues of ethics, fraud, plagiarism, and data collection. Consists of small group discussions on specific scenarios.

International Conference: Trainees will be required to attend sessions and one methods workshop at one of two conferences offered by the IIQM: 1. Advances in Qualitative Methods, a multidisciplinary conference on the development and application of qualitative methods 2. Qualitative Health Research, a multidisciplinary health research forum, including methods workshops.