Learning and Teaching Qualitative Research Methods in Social Science. Provisional Reflections

Abstract

This article aims to resume and give structure to the debate about "teaching and learning qualitative methods in social sciences" (http://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/about/editorialPolicies#deb), which is currently taking place in the trilingual journal Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research. The core of the debate is composed, at the moment, by nine texts with different characteristics, with authors in different academic positions and with very diverse approaches. The aim of this presentation is to open the debate to Ibero-America and to invite Hispanic students, teachers, researchers and professionals to participate and to enrich the discussion with their experiences and reflections. The text starts by explaining the rise of the debate during one particular conference in Germany (http://www.berliner-methodentreffen.de/) and by pointing out different links with other questions related to qualitative research. Short reviews of the contributions are presented in three sections: background, theoretical contributions, and experiences. Finally, four main topics are identified to occur in the actual discussion: the social context of teaching and learning, epistemological models and their implication for the teaching process, specific didactic models and experiences for qualitative research and, finally, the role of the researcher as teacher and student and his/her personal "compatibility" with qualitative methods. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0803220