ESR614 Interpretive/Critical Research I

This course introduces conceptual and practical assumptions, contributions, limitations, and controversies of interpretive and critical research. Viewed as paradigms, interpretive and critical research engages ontological and epistemological positioning. Drawing from various traditions and processes, students will become aware of the complexities of research contexts and relationships and how they are embedded in community, culture, language, history and power structures. Through field research and theoretical dialogue, students will begin to understand and grapple with inherent tensions in the interplay among purpose, methodology and ethics, while cultivating a personal understanding of their relationship to the research, contexts, and participants. Prerequisite(s): Doctoral standing; ESR610 or consent of instructors 3 semester hours