Qualitative Research Resources: Training Opportunities: UNC & Beyond

Why is this information important?

• Quite a few departments and institutes on campus offer training in qualitative methods, but they may be difficult to identify due to discipline specific terminology.

On this page you will find the following helpful resources:

• Information about training resources at the Odum Institute
• Links to UNC certificates that involve qualitative studies
• Links to area workshops that feature qualitative methods or concerns.

UNC's Odum Institute (for advancing social science teaching and research) maintains a calendar of all training at the Institute, including including public, private, and credit courses and additional education opportunities.  Some courses require registration and may have associated fees. Examples of qualitative themed classes offered at the Odum Institute include:

• Executing Your Survey Research Project
• MAXQDA Hands-On Workshop
• NVivo Hands-On Workshop
• Visual Design: A Hands-On Approach

UNC offers many graduate certificates; here are some that are relevant to those interested in qualitative research. Even if you aren't interested in completing the coursework for a certificate, the curricula of these programs are good sources of information on qualitative-related courses taught at UNC. You can see a list of other certificate programs offered at UNC on the central Certificate Programs homepage.

Certificates Open to Graduate Students and Non-Degree-Seeking Students:

• Digital Humanities (Department of American Studies and Carolina Digital Humanities Initiative)
• Survey Methodology (Odum Institute for Research in the Social Sciences)

Certificates Open to Matriculating Graduate Students Only:

• Graduate Certificate in Qualitative Studies: The Graduate Certificate in Qualitative Studies is designed so that you can develop qualitative research skills through increasing levels of understanding, but also develop a specific approach in some detail. Courses are taught by faculty in the School of Education, School of Nursing, Department of Sociology, Department of Anthropology, and Department of American Studies (Folklore).

  A program advisor will work with you to determine how to best structure your certificate based on your research and career goals. A maximum of 4 credit hours may be drawn from required coursework in your graduate program.

• Graduate Certificate in Participatory Research: an interdisciplinary certificate program for graduate students at UNC-Chapel Hill seeking training in the theoretical bases, rationale, methodologies, challenges, and motivations for carrying out research in equitable partnership with communities, instead of on communities. The GCPR, as a community of faculty, students, and community partners, is committed to conducting our research and partnerships in the spirit of advancing equity. Community based participatory research is grounded in principles of service, partnership, and equal value of all epistemologies that support equity work. Fundamental to the program are community experts who, in addition to their achievements, possess local knowledge and lived experience of the communities in which they live..
  • Workshops related to participatory research
  • Events related to participatory research

These links will take you to schedules of qualitative workshops offered or co-sponsored by various departments on campus. You may be able to find more by visiting the UNC Events page.

• Workshops related to participatory research
• Events related to participatory research
• Workshops sponsored by ResearchTalk, Inc.NC
  • Examples of previous and upcoming events:
    • Qualitative Data Analysis Camp
    • Qualitative Writing Camp
    • Mixed Methods Research: Integrating Qualitative and Quantitative Methods
    • Sort and Sift, Think and Shift: Let the Data be Your Guide
• The annual Qualitative Research Summer Intensive (QRSI), co-sponsored by ResearchTalk and UNC's Odum Institute, takes place during the summer.  Participants come from all over the world and can register for as little as one day or as many as all 5 days. Check website for discounts. Some recent topics for the courses have included:
  • Fundamentals of Qualitative Research
  • Doing Qualitative Research Online
  • Crafting Phenomenological Research
  • Implementation Research: Using Qualitative Research Methods to Improve Policy and Practice
  • 8 Criteria for Creating Quality in Qualitative Research
  • Building a Codebook and Writing Memos
  • All upcoming courses
• NC TraCS (Translational & Clinical Sciences Institute) events calendar. (The NC Translational and Clinical Sciences Institute is UNC's local CTSA, or Clinical and Translational Science Awards, program).
  • NC TraCS Qualitative Research Services (including training)