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Developing your Research Design with Qualitative Research Methods
Provider: Faculty of Science

Activity no.: 5432-26-00-00There are 24 available seats 
Enrollment deadline: 15/12/2025
PlaceDepartment of Geoscience and Natural Resource Management
Date and time20.01.2026, at: 09:00 - 30.01.2026, at: 16:00
Regular seats30
Activity Prices:
  - 1 Participant fee (all participants in add. to course fee)0.00 kr.
  - 2 Course fee PhD student enrolled at UCPH SCIENCE0.00 kr.
  - 3 Course fee PhD student at Danish Universities (except CBS)0.00 kr.
  - 4 Course fee PhD student at Copenhagen Business School4,800.00 kr.
  - 5 Course fee PhD student at foreign university4,800.00 kr.
  - 6 Course fee Master's student at Danish university0.00 kr.
  - 7 Course fee Master's student at foreign university4,800.00 kr.
  - 8 Course fee Employee at university (e.g., postdocs)4,800.00 kr.
  - 9 Course fee Others (e.g., from a private company)13,440.00 kr.
LecturersPatience Mguni
Jytte Agergaard
ECTS credits4.00
Contact personNasibe Baysal    E-mail address: nasb@ign.ku.dk
Enrolment Handling/Course OrganiserPhD administration SUND    E-mail address: phdkursus@sund.ku.dk
Enrolment guidelines
This is a toolbox course where 80% of the seats are reserved to PhD students enrolled at the Faculty of SCIENCE at UCPH and 20% og the seats are reserved to PhD students from other Danish Universities/faculties (except CBS).

Anyone can apply for the course, but if you are not a PhD student at a Danish university (except CBS), you will be placed on the waiting list until enrollment deadline. After the enrollment deadline, available seats will be allocated to applicants on the waiting list.

The course is free of charge for PhD students at Danish universities (except CBS).

All other participants must pay the course fee (except if you are a master’s student from a Danish University).


Aim and Content
This toolbox course is designed for PhD students who want to work with qualitative research methods. Many PhD students at the Faculty of SCIENCE work with qualitative research methods or have an interest in integrating qualitative research methods into their PhD project. We welcome PhD students from a range of disciplines and research interests.

During this course you will be introduced to qualitative research methods – e.g. interview techniques, visual, spatial and mixed-methods – and get the opportunity to develop and refine the research design of your PhD thesis and work on your methodology chapter in dialogue with the course conveners and course participants through writing and workshop presentations.
Pursuing complex and interconnected research questions to push knowledge in your research field and create research of value to society demands a high degree of methodological rigor and reflection.
For the individual PhD-student working with qualitative research methods, choosing the most appropriate research design for their PhD-thesis is a key step in this process. For this purpose, students are faced with the question: which methods are the most appropriate? What value would for instance interviews, case-based analysis, fieldwork, (auto)ethnographical work, mapping techniques, visual work, design research, textual analysis or archival work bring to their project? Thus, which qualitative techniques do you need in your “methodological toolbox” and how to write about them? This course creates a space of reflection for PhD-students to become acquainted with particular qualitative research methods, think critically about their choice of methods and work on their methodology chapter for the PhD-thesis.

In the PhD course we also address the methodological challenges of working in an interdisciplinary research context and how to mix research methods, including considerations about which social, ethical, and impact-related issues particular methodological choices imply.
The course will take place at Copenhagen University’s Frederiksberg Campus. Seven workshop days will run over two consecutive weeks, with reading material handed out before the course and a written assignment to be handed in after the course has finished.


Learning outcomes
Intended learning outcome for the students who complete the course:

Knowledge
• The main ingredients in developing a solid research design for the student’s PhD-thesis.
• Knowledge of different qualitative methods e.g. case study methods, film as a research tool, interview techniques and mixed-methods forms of working.

Skills
• Writing about, visualizing, presenting, discussing, and reflecting on one’s own research design.
• Practical skills in using different qualitative research methods e.g. case study methods, film as a research tool, interview techniques and mixed-methods forms of working.
• Ability to provide thoughtful and useful feedback on the research design of peer students.

Competences
• An expanded toolbox of different qualitative research methods e.g. case study methods, film as a research tool, interview techniques and mixed-methods forms of working.
• Written and oral competences in building and communicating the students’ individual research design.
• Moving between individual and collective work forms and contributing to building an inclusive and generous environment for sharing research ideas and processes.


Target Group
PhD students working with qualitative research methods and research design.


Recommended Academic Qualifications
The course is designed for students who work with qualitative research methods either within a single or multi-disciplinary research field. Students will gain hands-on experience with different qualitative research methods – e.g. interview techniques, visual, spatial and mixed-methods – and work on the research design and methodology chapter(s) of their individual PhD thesis.


Research Area
Qualitative research methods


Teaching and Learning Methods
Lectures, workshops, exercises, dialogues, student presentations, feedback and discussions – concluded with an individual report (during the month after the course days) for final assessment (pass or failed / + written feedback to students).
The course will be structured as a largely power-point free zone around a core module exploring questions of how to make a workable research design and choosing the appropriate methodological tools.
By developing a space of collaborative work, discussion, reflection and imagination around particular methodological choices, the course will enable PhD students to make active choices about their own research design and how to give and receive constructive commentaries from peers and senior academics.


Type of Assessment
Written assignment must be complete and approved by the course conveners.


Course coordinator
Jytte Agergaard, Professor
Patience Mguni, Assistant Professor, pamg@ign.ku.dk


Guest Lecturers
The course is co-taught by course coordinator and Assistant Professor Patience Mguni, Professor Jytte Agergaard, Associate Professor Manja Hoppe Andreasen, Associate Professor Trine Agervig Carstensen, Assiatant Professor Nikolaos Kapitsinis, Associate Professor Rikke Munck Petersen and Professor Henriette Steiner all from the Department of Geosciences and Resource Management.


Dates
20+21+22+27+28+29+30 January 2026


Expected frequency
Biannually


Course location
IGN, Frederiksberg Campus – if possible, PhD teaching room on Thorvaldsensvej


Seats to PhD students from other Danish universities will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis and according to the applicable rules.
Applications from other participants will be considered after the deadline for registration.




Cancellation policy
• Cancellations made up to two weeks before the course starts are free of charge.
• Cancellations made less than two weeks before the course starts will be charged a fee of DKK 3.000
• Participants with less than 80% attendance cannot pass the course and will be charged a fee of DKK 5.000
• No-show will result in a fee of DKK 5.000
• Participants who fail to hand in any mandatory exams or assignments cannot pass the course and will be charged a fee of DKK 5.000

Course fee and participant fee
PhD courses offered at the Faculty of SCIENCE have course fees corresponding to different participant types.
In addition to the course fee, there might also be a participant fee.
If the course has a participant fee, this will apply to all participants regardless of participant
type - and in addition to the course fee.

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