Learn how to design, conduct and analyse interviews and focus groups with this practical introduction to scholarly qualitative research for policymaking.
Why does doing qualitative research matter? Who should be included and how do we access them? How do we ask good questions? How can we best analyse qualitative data? Learn from our experts on how to design, conduct and analyse interviews and focus groups with this practical introduction to scholarly qualitative research for policymaking.
This short course is a practical introduction to scholarly qualitative research for policymaking, with a focus on designing, conducting and analysing interviews and focus groups. It asks and answers four core questions:
- Why does doing qualitative research matter?
- Who should be included in qualitative research and how do we access them?
- How do we ask good questions?
- How can we best analyse qualitative data?
At a glance
Format: Online
Duration: 4 weeks (excluding orientation)
Commitment: 3 hours per week
Cost: $1,495 (or $1,195 for early bird registrations by 28 July)
Start/end date: 28 August - 18 September 2025 with a course orientation / meet and greet on 21 August
Group discounts available.
Course curriculum
- Module 1 Why does qualitative research matter?
- Module 2 Who to include and how to access them
- Module 3 How to ask questions
- Module 4 How to analyse qualitative data
Session schedule
This course will run as an online and distance program in 2025. It is scheduled to run across four weeks, 28 August - 18 September 2025 with a course orientation / meet and greet on 21 August. Specific dates and times to note in your diary are as follows:
- 1:00pm-2:00pm Thursday 21 August 2025 – Meet and greet / Course introduction
- 1:00pm-2:30pm Thursday 28 August 2025 – Live session 1
- 1:00pm-2:30pm Thursday 4 September 2025 – Live session 2
- 1:00pm-2:30pm Thursday 11 September 2025 – Live session 3
- 1:00pm-2:30pm Thursday 18 September 2025 – Live session 4
Note: Dates and times are in Canberra time (AEST). The calendar invite for each session should automatically adjust to your timezone when you add it to your calendar. You can check at a site like this to be sure.
Learning outcomes
- Understand the distinct role for qualitative methods of data collection and analysis for policymaking
- Evaluate different ways of undertaking qualitative data collection
- Match research questions with methods
- Understand ethical decision-making in research design choices
- Justify population and sample selection choices
- Capacity to make informed choices about in-person and online data collection methods
- Understand how to design researchable questions for projects
- Understand how to choose and apply a range of qualitative methods
- Understand how to design theme-based open-ended questions for interviews and focus groups
- Capacity to thematically code and synthesis large datasets of qualitative data
- Understand the usefulness of qualitative analysis software
- Capacity to design a report using qualitative data analysis
Who is this course for?
This course is designed for individuals at any level of their career who are interested in gaining a deeper understanding of qualitative methods of data collection and its usefulness and application to policy issues. The course is designed for those with no prior background.
