PASTORAL CURIOSITY: GROUNDED THEORY RESEARCH SKILLS FOR MINISTRY (IDS-2600)
(01/31/2022-05/20/2022)
Course Memo
This three-credit, in-person course is designed for students preparing for ministry, MA, DMin, and PhD students preparing to use Grounded Theory methodology in their research, and community members who wish to sharpen their skills for assessment, research, and decision-making in faith communities. The course has five Saturday course sessions covering the basics of using the qualitative method Grounded Theory in a research study. Students will conduct a small research project in a faith community in which the student is either a participant or leader. It is designed to give an opportunity to produce original grounded theory research. Students will conduct interviews, explore written material, and/or conduct ethnographic participant observation, then present their findings in Session 5.
In class we will help each other analyze the data students collect by coding, memoing and conceptualizing each other's research materials. Students will get to know the basic characteristics of ethnography and grounded theory and their theoretical underpinnings, but everything in this course culminates in writing up and presenting a piece of grounded theory related to a faith community. Sessions take place on five Saturdays, meeting from 9am-1pm and 2pm-6pm: February 5, February 19, March 26, April 9, and May 7. Course is taught by PhD student Kelly Colwell with a Newhall Award, under the supervision of Jim Lawrence.