Fall Methods Workshops

PhD level courses in process-tracing methods and qualitative interviewing will be offered at this year’s Fall Methods Workshops, hosted by the Department of Political Science, Aarhus University and organised by the Methods Excellence Network (MethodsNET). The courses are designed to bring the methodological aspects of your research project to the next level.

Workshops 16th October to 20th October 2023:

Process-tracing methods

Instructor: Derek Beach, Aarhus University

This hands-on course gives you the methodological tools to refine your use of process-tracing methods in your own substantive research. It will also enable you to embed process-tracing case studies in mixed-methods research design. The course requires that your research project has  theoretical conjectures that can be turned into process theories, and you have ideas about potential empirical observations and have collected some empirical data. Topics include discussing how to distinguish process tracing from other methods; including large-n variance-based methods, but also other small-n case-based methods such as analytical narratives and comparative case studies. This is followed by discussions of how processual theories can be developed and improved, focusing on how to capture the activities and their underlying causal linkages in order to understand how a process works and evidence it empirically. We also discuss how inferences can be made using within-case evidence, and the challenges relating to the evaluation of evidence. We also address questions of case selection, generalization and mixed/multi-methods in the final morning session.

Qualitative interviewing

Instructor: Lea Sgier, University of Geneva

This intensive workshop aims to provide participants with a solid basis in qualitative interview for social science research purposes. It is intended for two types of participants: those who are quite new to qualitative interviewing, but have concrete intentions to use interviews in the not-to-distant future; and those who already have some experience with qualitative interviewing and would like to deepen their practical skills as well as their theoretical understanding of interviewing as a research method. Through lectures, readings, discussions centred on the participants’ research and concerns and practical exercises, the participants should gradually develop both a wider and a deeper understanding of interviewing as a method, gaining not only practical skills, but also a better sense of how to adapt standard interviewing advice to their own research.

About the Fall Methods Workshops

Two week-long PhD level courses will be offered at this year’s Fall Methods Workshops. The courses combine discussions of cutting-edge developments within a particular method with detailed feedback and discussion of the methodological aspects of your own research project and those of other participants. Participation in a workshop will bring you to the next level in your understanding of how to use a method in practice in relation to your research question. The courses are aimed at PhD scholars and junior researchers (post-doc or above) whose research is at a more advanced stage. Class sizes are kept small in the workshops. Classes will be from 9.00 to 16.00 from Monday to Friday.

In addition to the workshops themselves, there will be several cross-cutting lunch sessions for all participants in which key methods and design issues are debated across different methodological approaches (variance-based, case-based and interpretive). The goal of the cross-cutting sessions are to enable participants to better understand research findings from different traditions, and to communicate findings to scholars working in other traditions. The topics include: foundational assumptions (ontological and epistemological) across different approaches, making inferences, and whether and how generalizations can be made.

Time & venue

Monday 16th October to Friday 20th October 2023.

Courses are held at the main campus of Aarhus University, in downtown Aarhus, Denmark.

Courses will take place in-person over five days, Monday to Friday, from 9.00 to 16.00 every day.

Registration deadline

1st October 2023

Language

All courses are taught in English.

Prerequisites

  • PhD student or junior faculty in the social sciences
  • A basic user-level familiarity with the method of the course
  • Your research project is at a more advanced stage. This means that you should have at least some empirical material and engaged in some form of analysis of this material.

Course fee

 €750 (including lunch, coffee and tea)

Credits

Participants receive 5 ECTS for a course. This includes preparations before the course (readings and pre-course exercises), active participation during the course week, and some form of post-course written exercise.

Accommodation

Participants are responsible for their own travel and accommodation. Aarhus can be reached by bus, train and airplane (nearest airports are Aarhus, Billund and Aalborg). There are many options for staying in Aarhus, including Airbnb and many hotels and hostels.


Organiser

The Fall Methods Workshops are organised by the Methods Excellence Network (MethodsNET) and hosted by the Department of Political Science, Aarhus University, Denmark.