Admission requirements
Mandatory course for students enrolled in the bachelor’s programme Security Studies. Only students of the Bachelor Security Studies can take this course.
Description
In this course we move from learning the basic concepts in social science research, as students have learned in Introduction to Research Methods, to gaining in-depth insights into qualitative methods of data collection and data analysis (e.g. thematic analysis, discourse analysis) that are commonly used in the field of Security Studies.
This course is divided up into lectures and course labs. The lectures will provide the theoretical knowledge on qualitative methods. The course labs will focus more on gaining practical skills, such as on how to analyse data using qualitative data analysis software (e.g. ATLAS.ti).
Course Objectives
At the end of this course you will be able to:
Justify methodological choices for qualitative research;
Collect appropriate data for qualitative research;
Use qualitative data analysis software to help analyse data;
Analyse and interpret the results from the collected data;
Reflect on research design choices, identify their limitations, and critique their execution;
Report findings with clarity and precision;
Work in a team on a research project.
Timetable
On the right side of the programme front page you will find links to the website and timetables, uSis and Brightspace.
Mode of Instruction
6 lectures
5 course labs
Attendance of the course labs is mandatory.
If you miss more than 1 course lab you fail the course and won’t obtain a final grade.
Total study load is 140 hours:
Contact hours (lectures and course labs): 33 hours
Self-study hours (including working on the assignments): 107 hours
Assessment method
The final grade for this course is based on two types of assessment:
Group assignment
25% of the final grade
Grade must be compensated
Resit not possible
Individual paper
75% of the final grade
Grade must be 5.50 or higher
Resit of a fail is possible
Resit will take the same form
Students will be permitted to resit the individual paper (75%) if they have a calculated overall course grade lower than 5.50
No feedback is provided for the individual paper after the deadline for the first take
Additional formative (non-graded) assignments are an obligatory part of the course.
In the case of written assessment methods, the examiner can always initiate a follow-up conversation with the student to establish whether the learning objectives have been met.
Transitional arrangements
Passed partial grades obtained in year 2023-2024 remain valid during year 2024-2025. Students who did not meet the course lab attendance requirements in 2023-2024 are required to attend the course labs in 2024-2025.
Reading list
Compulsory literature for this course is:
Stevens, P. A. J. (Ed.). (2023). Qualitative Data Analysis: Key Approaches. Sage.
Grønmo, S. (2019/2023). Social research methods: Qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods approaches (First/Second ed.). SAGE. (Used in Introduction to Research Methods).
Other (suggested) literature will be listed on Brightspace in due course.
Registration
Register yourself via MyStudymap for each course, workgroup and exam (not all courses have workgroups and/or exams).
Do so on time, before the start of the course; some courses and workgroups have limited spaces. You can view your personal schedule in MyTimetable after logging in.
Registration for this course is possible from TBA
Leiden University uses Brightspace as its online learning management system. After enrolment for the course in MyStudymap you will be automatically enrolled in the Brightspace environment of this course. Furthermore, announcements and modifications will be communicated via Brightspace. Students have the responsibility to stay informed and are thus advised to regularly check Brightspace for updates.
More information on registration via MyStudymap can be found on this page.
Please note: guest-/contract-/exchange students do not register via MyStudymap but via uSis.
Contact
Dr R. Ganohariti Dr T. van Dooremalen
Remarks
For exceptions, please contact the Board of Examiners.
In 2025/2026 this course is scheduled to be delivered in Block 2.
A pass is required for this course in order to be admitted to the Thesis course in Year 3 (2025/2026 onwards).