Qualitative research methods in Health communication

In Miles and Huberman´s 1994 book Qualitative Data Analysis, quantitative researcher Fred Kerlinger was quoted as saying: "There´s no such thing as qualitative data. Everything is either 1 or 0". To the extreme opposite lied Donald Campbell´s argument that: "All research ultimately has a qualitative grounding".
Taking as a starting point the "inextricably intertwined" (rather than competing) nature of the two major approaches to research, this course will illustrate the ways that qualitative inquiry -especially when used in conjunction with quantitative inquiry in multi-methodological designscan contribute to the current challenges of health communication research.
Students will acquire the knowledge and skills needed for "thinking qualitatively", that is, focusing on naturally occurring, ordinary events in natural settings and attempting to interpret phenomena in terms of the meanings people bring to them. Most importantly, students will gain hands-on experience in various techniques of qualitative data collection and analysis, while designing and conducting their own qualitative research project related to a health communication topic of their preference.