“Qualitative research is a democratic project. Therefore, who is better than political scientists to possess and promote it?”

The "Comparative Politics of Eurasia" programme emphasizes the methodological preparation of the students. We believe that knowledge, comprehension of different methodological research, and mastering various methodological instruments are essential for our graduates, even if they do not intend to work based on their background. We have connected with the general methodology and scientific research seminar (NIS) to accomplish this task. We asked Dr.  Yana Krupets, Associate Professor of the Department of Sociology and Deputy Director of the Center for Youth Research, to tell us about the specifics of the Research Seminar "Qualitative methods in political research."

What is the main task of research seminar in qualitative methodology? And what do the students learn in that seminar?

Due to the development of a multitude of technologies today, the debate about qualitative and quantitative methods that used to take place is heating up again. But now they are taking place in the context of the new turn associated with Big Data. There are two preferences: One is that of Big Data development. This is a fast development regarding taking data from the internet, then processing that data and analyzing it like sociologists, political scientists, and historians do.

Simultaneously, there is also a renaissance of qualitative methods, including those provoked by technology development. The attitude to the person as a consumer, a citizen, and a participant in social relations, is changing.

We live in a time when people show what they are doing, and it is supported by Web 2.0. In that situation, I assume that we need to understand it well. We have learned some general tendency and regularity at the macro level beforehand. However, when we are now talking about its practice, then various similar research about the consumer emphasizes the consumer experience individually, showing their perception about what is happening,  and how they value and give their opinions.

Qualitative methodology is a methodology about how we live in a modern world that does not only work digitally, but we also try to see people and their stories. Nowadays, storytelling is getting more popular as a genre and a framework where we can make notes like a biography. We listen to people's stories while our job is to understand them and tell others about them. This is the first point, and I think qualitative methods are becoming more critical because researchers are beginning to pay more attention to individual stories.

Our seminar aims to understand why and what qualitative methodology exists and why that methodology is useful for us. Usually, we start by analyzing basic things like interviews, observations, and text analysis. These are the three huge subjects we work with. Considering that the structure and content of methodology are now changed, they are already known widely. Thus, we can give more attention to specific things. However, our task in this seminar is not just talking about those things, but also about using and trying all of them practically.

And my job is to "push" students out to people. That is, of course, a difficult thing to do. It does not depend on the research area and specialization  of the students. It is because a beginner researcher is often afraid of new and unknown people. However, our task is to observe, interview (at first with each other between beginner researchers), and see which one is  a success or fail. After that, they will do it with new people that they do not know. Trying to do a project from the beginning until the end, of course, it is a small project done by a group of students.

We start to think about the design of our research, then we collect the data and analyze it. In qualitative research, scientists spend more time collecting data by doing an interview or observing things. The time to analyze it is not too long. In a scientific research seminar, I strive to make it again with more attention to analysis.

We study how to analyze materials that are not structured and letter-form material. We are trying to process various people's experiences, diary books, and some texts. For instance, as a political scientist, I think that it is very important to master discourse analysis and spend more time to see what discourse exists and who produces it. I have a task that can be used maximally. The aim is to make the students learn to do those things and write their master’s thesis later on. They also have the ability to process various texts that can be useful in the future.

 

How do we make qualitative methods attractive when we see such massive popularity of everything related to Big Data?

It is a good question and difficult to answer. For me, an indicator of this attractiveness is that in the world (and this can be seen, in particular, in online programmes) along with the growth of courses related to Big Data, there is also an increase in demand for courses on ethnography, primarily on the part of marketers.

It is something that is related to User Experience Design (UX Design). We assume that we are trying to understand the user and consumer who sit behind the scene and buy something from us. Therefore, we strive to add and complete our goods, products, and services on users' screens and their perception.

To accomplish that task, there is nothing better than qualitative methodology to use. It is important for political scientist to understand the public's opinion. What can qualitative methodology give to us? It gives us a chance to approach people and their life. We go deep into their life so that we understand their life well. People often say that it is better to see once than hear hundreds of times. Qualitative methodology makes it possible for us to see it. If we are talking about a qualitative survey, the result that we get is still a bunch of ideas and opinions. Someone can say one thing, but you could go to his home and realize that he lives different than how he told you.

Even if we just do an interview, then it would be a long in-depth interview where the respondent has a chance to show their deep understanding about something and explain more examples about society. There is still one step i,e. observation. When we go to the respondent's home, yard, or workplace, and observe how things happen.

And then we talk to the respondent, try to understand why it is all like that and why not another way, or we can also analyze texts. By analyzing texts, we can know how that text or discourse is structured linguistically, what the emphasis is, and why that text is important for us. To me, qualitative methodology is a strong methodology, especially when we want to approach something, and of course that methodology makes us understand about things that Big Data tells us.

Yes, there are now some enticements that Big Data has that I am also interested in it, because we know that we always see the datas continuously that are shown to us digitally. However, at the same time, there are many attentions to how we take all of the data's technically and what we can do with those data. For the time being, there is a second phase when we have to analyze and interpret, so that we can understand what the data has said to us. To do that, we need a skill that is appropriate to move big data to micro data. Scientists and analysts who will be needed in the future, must have skills to use different methodologies to move and interpret everything in different scale.

What approaches do you consider as qualitative methodologies? Have you heard from the students that qualitative methodology is far from science?

Generally, there are various qualitative researches. In my class, I try to show the varieties. I have done it in our first class when we learned about various types of qualitative research. I also explain that we can value quality, goals, and instruments that are used in qualitative research in a different way. After that, I explain to the students that we basically learn purposive interpretation in qualitative research  in this scientific seminar because I am a supporter of this methodology.

To be honest, I think that positivism qualitative research is not a right thing. Therefore, we agree a rule that the students will practice their purposive interpretation in the scientific research seminar. We do not strive to construct qualitative approach or positivism qualitative approach, but we strive to develop it into social reality.

We understand that everything is constructed, including our interpretations. However, we exactly work there. We do not enter radical interpretation, but we are confident enough in our qualitative research, like in a full-fledged scientific project, and that thing is perhaps something that I like in this scientific research seminar. We are striving to see the pattern of a different science.

We just need to redefine the science criteria. Because of those criteria, for some people, qualitative research is considered as an unscientific thing. Based on other criteria, qualitative research is a part of science. Moreover, it is a general science, because we understand that there are various language styles and spoken languages about science. We watch some films and try to understand some alternative forms of different academic writing, because it is important to prove that there is not just paper works in SCOPUS journals.

We can definitely study classic academic writing based on the result of our qualitative research, but we can speak in a different way. Qualified researchers can be an interpreter for their research in order to explain their research with understandable language to many audiences. That skill should be learned and that is the power of this approach

Perhaps, there is someone who is interested in this question, why do political scientists need qualitative method?

This question comes up continuously. I would say that is a challenge which we have to deal with. This academic year it didn’t happen very often. But previous academic year it was quite obvious, when there was a completely different view that dominated something that we learned. For example, when I explained about the case study, the students saw other cases that were quite different from what I explained before.

And we discuss it. First, I try to give as much examples as I could closed to political scientist. Those cases that we try to understand and articles that we read are somehow related to each other. For example, issues of citizenship, political participation, and identity such as national, ethnic identity are related to each other. Those problems are an important part of political science which political scientists have to know and should be able to analyze. In other words, I do not give my students abstract cases and I do not always give entirely sociological cases.

Second, the students could choose themselves studies that they are interested in. For example, we have a project that is related to student's activism this year, and last year there was a theme about Russian representation in Turkish mass media. In that way, political science students could find the application of qualitative methods.

Third, qualitative method is good to clear experts mind who succesfully finishes their MA studies in political science. The students should not study gender studies, but at the same time they have to understand them in order to show their cultural competency. Something that we learn by means of the qualitative method, including something which is originated from feminist studies, are general knowledge that is expected from graduates in social studies.

We have to understand those debates in order to know what interpretative approach is, even if we will never use that in future. As an academic scientist, we have to know what colonialism and post colonialism are and fight with it. But the qualitative method from its perspective methodology brings up those problems. Qualitative method is not just used in sociology, but it is an interdisciplinary study that is also used to know about a scientists’ role, place, and knowledge. Qualitative method is also a democratic project in science. Therefore, who is better than political scientists to possess and promote it? I believe that qualitative method is precisely for political scientists and I am really interested in teaching to them.

They are some students in your class that have different educational background and some of them often have professional experience. How are you find teaching to those students?

There are many journalists, specialists in  International Relations and from other majors are coming to my class, and I think that is very interesting. Russian students often show their hesitation about qualitative methods in contrast to international students because everything is already clear for them, thanks to their educational background. We always start our seminar with questions about what they are doing, where they come from, and what kind of subjects they are interested in.

There are many international students who have different interests that are very different for the  qualitative method, but their interests are still related to problems about identity and woman’s position in society. On the other hand, discipline is a very important thing for our Russian students. In my opinion, our students’ perspectives are too classical and their political knowledge is still too mainstream. Therefore, I am very confused because their progress is too far from my expectation. I think that the role of HSE as an institution is to show that there are various methodologies in science, and we should know about that.

This interview is prepared by Daniel Gushchin, a student of MA programme "Comparative Politics of Eurasia”