Category Archives: Expert Talks 2020

A warm welcome from the organisers of the Intensive Week Methods Training for Postgraduate Students.

In this short intensive session we will provide the highlights of the “Effective Questionnaire Design” session that is normally run for the Graduate School. How to design a questionnaire, what are the dos and don’ts, and how to make sure that you can publish from your results. For a basic introduction of how questionnaires mightContinue reading “BART RIENTIES – QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN FOR BEGINNERS”

Research in general and discourse studies in particular often claim to be “critical”. In this presentation we will ask what exactly critique means for discourse analysis. How can we justify the norms we use in order to criticise something? Or is it even possible to be critical without having an own normative stance? We willContinue reading “BENNO HERZOG – DISCOURSE AND CRITIQUE”

This session focusses on theoretical and practical aspects of using interviews for collecting data within a qualitative or mixed-methods research design. We will refer to different types of interview, and consider the advantages, drawbacks and relevant critiques of this popular research instrument. Participants are encouraged to talk about their own intentions and experiences and shareContinue reading “CHRISTINE PLEINES – USING INTERVIEWS AS A RESEARCH INSTRUMENT”

In this session I will outline some of the different opportunities and methods for gathering primary research data online. The session will cover a range of approaches, including web-based surveys, the use of social media services, and ‘big data’ approaches. Both the practicalities and ethics of internet research methods will be considered. Practical issues includeContinue reading “CLAIRE HEWSON – GATHERING RESEARCH DATA ONLINE: PRACTICAL AND ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS”

This presentations focuses on CDA as a method of social enquiry that foregrounds language and communication as paramount in the construction, maintenance and challenging of social dynamics and social realities. The presentation will discuss the key ontologies and methodologies associated with CDA as well as providing specific examples of their applications to the analysis ofContinue reading “FRANCO ZAPPETTINI – CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS: CONCEPTS, METHODS, APPLICATIONS”

There are many methodologies for qualitative studies, and it is often difficult to decide which approach to adopt. Grounded theory is one of the most complex and yet most rewarding methods. This presentation will summarise the three main approaches to grounded theory, give an overview of its advantages and pitfalls and, finally provide an exampleContinue reading “HELENE PULKER – GROUNDED THEORY IN PRACTICE”

This session will explore the use of ethnographic approaches to research. We’ll consider what may (and may not be) core to an ethnographic perspective, some of its theoretical underpinnings, and look at the affordances and possible drawbacks of conducting an ethnographic study. Jackie will illustrate using examples, particularly from her own field of literacies research,Continue reading “JACKIE TUCK – ETHNOGRAPHIC APPROACHES”

In this session, we will discuss the meaning making processes in the digital environment. The multimodal approach deals with the role of different sensory semiotic elements, i.e. with (the affordances of) the displayed relation of the visual, linguistic, auditory channels and their combination in the design of the respective composition. The apparatus or dispositif theoryContinue reading “JAN KRASNI – MEANING MAKING IN DIGITAL ENVIRONMENT (APPARATUS THEORY AND MULTIMODAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS ONLINE)”

In this lecture, I will provide a historical sketch of the foundations of ethnographic discourse studies. Students will learn how, over the course of the last century, the ethnographic study of discourse has developed a rigorous understanding of the importance of context and contextualisation. Contexts make discursive fragments socially meaningful and context is therefore alsoContinue reading “JASPAL NAVEEL SINGH – ETHNOGRAPHIC DISCOURSE STUDIES: HISTORICAL FOUNDATIONS”