Faculty Fellowship Opportunities

The Qualitative Research Network awarded two Summer 2007 Faculty Fellowships for course development in qualitative methods. Recipients are Cheryl Najarian, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, who will develop a course titled "Feminist Methodologies," and Alan Williams, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Music, for "Introduction to Ethnomusicology." 

Cheryl Najarian, PhD

Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology

"Feminist Methodologies"

Despite the recent growth of feminist methodologies, there is no one way of doing feminist methodologies. The growing body of literature in this area addresses the distinctive challenges and strengths of doing this research. We will explore feminist strategies for creating, implementing, and analyzing a project that is grounded in the everyday lives of people while situating them in a social, political, and economic context. Through this course, students will gain experience in a mixed methodological approach to a project while incorporating some of the tenets of feminist methodologies. Students may, depending on their projects, gain further skills in conducting focus groups, interviewing, participant observation, ethnography, conversation analysis, analysis of texts, institutional ethnography, and life history analysis.

Alan Williams, PhD

Assistant Professor, Department of Music

"Introduction to Ethnomusicology"

The discipline of ethnomusicology arose from two poles – cultural anthropology and comparative musicology. Ethnomusicologists seek understanding of both musical and cultural practice. A fundamental component of ethnomusicological practice is ethnography. The course will begin with the historical development of ethnomusicological thought and an introduction to ethnographic methods. Students will identify a musical culture in their community; conduct, transcribe, and analyze interviews with musicians in this culture; observe music as practiced within the culture, and finally identify an issue or question resulting from their fieldwork and seek to resolve their inquiry by articulating a logical thesis in written form. Students will be assigned a number of projects including ethnographic interviews, and notes from field observation, culminating in a final research thesis paper. Components of the course can be modified to fit the needs and backgrounds of each student.