CERG, Qualitative Studies (online)

Degree Program Summary:

The University of Georgia Program in Qualitative Research provides an interdisciplinary perspective on qualitative research design and methods for the social, human, and professional sciences. Administratively a program in the Department of Lifelong Education, Administration, and Policy in the College of Education, the Qualitative Research Program, in developing its curriculum and programming, cooperates with departments of all schools and colleges of the University that study human behavior and experience. Since the 1970s, mainstream research has undergone a shift from a field dominated by measurement, deduction, and prediction to one that accommodates a perspective that emphasizes description, induction, and understanding from the perspective of those being studied–a qualitative approach. Sponsored by the College of Education, the School of Social Work, the College of Family and Consumer Sciences, and the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, the Interdisciplinary Qualitative Studies Graduate Certificate Program was approved in 2001 to provide a systematic, coordinated structure to institutionalize the study of qualitative research at the University of Georgia. The program is supported by a multidisciplinary faculty of scholars dedicated to improve professional practice and scholarship through active collaboration and critical self-reflection in the use of a broad range of qualitative methods. The community is guided by a set of values that honors diversity through the active inclusion of members who are broadly representative of the disciplines that comprise the modern university and the cultures to be found in today’s democratic society.

The Qualitative Research Program offers a 15-hour graduate certificate in Interdisciplinary Qualitative Studies. The certificate is available to students who are currently pursuing a graduate degree or who are enrolled in a graduate program at the University of Georgia. The purpose of the certificate is to advance interdisciplinary inquiry through the pluralistic use of multiple methods. Because of its interdisciplinary nature, the program allows students to tailor the focus of their certificate programs to individual interests. Interested graduate students should refer to the program webpage for additional information and program application.