Qualitative / Ethnographic Methods

This track educates students on qualitative approaches and methods to conduct critical and analytical research through close examination on qualitative data. Students will learn the theoretical underpinnings and practical applications of qualitative approaches, understanding their perspectival value in dissecting complex issues related to arts and culture in local and global contexts.

The track covers key methods such as interviews, focus groups, ethnography, and document analysis equipping students with the skills to collect, analyze, and interpret non-numerical data. Students will learn the ethics of conducting qualitative research, how to maintain integrity and confidentiality of its respondents and scrutinise the quality, credibility and potential bias-ness of qualitative data. Students embarking on this track will be interested to examine complex social relationships, overlapping issues with politics, cultural tensions and inherent dichotomies within the cultural field. The types of qualitative research range from programme/organisational/city/country case studies, ethnographic research within heritage, traditions and artistic fields, perspectival studies on audiences, visitors, creative individuals or cultural leaders, to documentary research on archival sources and text documents.

This track emphasizes critical thinking and reflexivity, enabling students to produce rigorous and insightful research that contributes to both academic knowledge and professional practice within the arts sector. Students will be equipped with skills to examine and articulate cultural nuances, interconnections and complexities whereupon their qualitative data was gathered. By the end of this course, students will be proficient in using qualitative methods to answer research questions and develop a highly coherent and useful piece of dissertation to meet real-world challenges.

This track focuses on qualitative and ethnography research in arts and cultural management domains. Students will achieve the following goals and learning objectives:

• To understand the research paradigm and philosophical underpinnings of why qualitative research is critical in today’s arts management environments
• To identify and apply qualitative research methodologies, qualitative data collection methods and qualitative analytical methods
• To demonstrate understanding of issues, limitations and areas of discussions on the retrieval, storage as well as usage of qualitative data
• To critically evaluate the role of the researcher in qualitative and ethnographic studies
• To design and conduct an independent qualitative research project that culminates into an academic dissertation

Students will develop one research aim or thesis statement, supported by a set of highly relevant research questions that breaks down the aim into achievable targets. The research will culminate in an academic dissertation that uses qualitative methods to critically investigate a research topic, focusing on areas that require rich data to unpack complexities and interrelationships beyond numeric findings. The dissertation will be based on a solid conceptual framework, sound understanding of current literature and gaps in order to discuss, explore, explain or investigate the research questions. You will report on the qualitative methodology, research methods, analytical methods and position how these are successfully employed to gather and interpret your data. Finally, the dissertation should illustrate and analyse the most relevant and significant findings critical to answering your research questions and deepening the scope of research in your chosen field. The entire dissertation would be the output of successful research.

Possible topics may be one or an intersection of all the modules and concepts taught in BA (Hons) Arts Management modules from Year 1 to Year 3.

Proposal/Dissertation: 

• Content 30 %
• Structure & Coherence 10%
• Methodology 20%
• Academic writing 20%
• Integrity 20% (AI, Referencing, meaningful citations)