Sharing Qualitative Methods and Examples of their Application
Authors: Sarah MacQuarrie, Hannah Wilkinson, Lily Verity, Alisha O'Neill (Manchester Institute of Education)
About the project
A team of established qualitative researchers investigated the intersection of open research and qualitative social science.
While the application of open research principles to quantitative methodologies is well established, this is less the case with qualitative researchers. This project aimed to showcase innovative qualitative research at the Manchester Institute of Education over the last five years, focusing on open and transparent practice. It also investigated the future needs of qualitative researchers through a survey. This provides important insight about how the Office for Open Research can support engagement with the open research from across the University.
The project outputs are openly available through the University’s data repository, Figshare.
What the Accelerator Fund provided
The Accelerator Fund provided financial support for two strands of project activities:
- Activity One: Preparation of an open collection of materials based on a seminar series. The collection showcases qualitative research at the Manchester Institute of Education, focusing on open and transparent practices (Sharing qualitative methods and examples of their application).
- Activity Two: Survey and consultation of researchers to examine current expertise in qualitative research, identify training needs across qualitative and open research practices and accumulating excellent examples of qualitative practice (Sharing qualitative methods and examples of their application - report download).
Impact on research culture
The development of Open Research skills and training at the University of Manchester is core to the Office for Open Research’s activity over the coming years. The results of the survey will feed directly into the Office’s planning in this area. Qualitative researchers are often underrepresented in discussions around open research, and the results of this project will help us engage this part of the research community.
The use of Figshare, as a sustainable platform, will allow the discussions at the Institute of Education around innovative and open methodologies to be preserved. We hope these resources will be re-used, and that they will encourage further exploration of the applications of open research principles to Qualitative methodologies.
Related links
Seminar videos
Access the videos collated by the project, showcasing innovation in research methodologies.
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Project report
Read the report summarising the results and outputs from the project.
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