Qualitative Methods Courses in Ontario Universities: Pathways for Graduate Students

M. Gagnon & M. Facey

This section of the e-book is intended as a resource for Ontario graduate students wishing to take qualitative methods courses as visiting students at another university. To develop the list of courses below, we searched for qualitative methods courses in the health sciences offered at Ontario universities, and invited instructors to share their course information with us. The courses included here are only those for which we received confirmation that the course was being taught at the time of writing. This section includes the names of the courses and contact information for the instructors. Click on the course code for a description of the course content.

Each university included here is a member of the Ontario Visiting Graduate Student (OVGS) Program through the Council of Ontario Universities. This program allows graduate students enrolled at a university in Ontario (called the “Home University”) to take courses at another Ontario university (called the “Host University”) without applying for admission to the Host University. The student remains registered at the Home University and pays fees only to the Home University.

To enrol in any of the below courses, students first need to contact the instructor to confirm that there is space available in the course. In order for the instructor to determine whether there is a good fit between students’ interests and experience and the course content, we recommend that students include answers to the questions below in emails to instructors.

Introduction

• Where (school, department/graduate program) are you currently enrolled?
• Why do you wish to study qualitative methods?

Previous training

• What is your experience with qualitative research? Your familiarity with social theory?
• Have you taken any previous qualitative theory or methodology courses? If so, please specify.

Planned research

• What is your thesis/dissertation about? Who is your supervisor? (If you are a master’s student in a professional program with no required thesis, please inform the instructor.)
• What methodology will you use/are you using in your research?
• What is the current status of your research? (For instance: proposal, data gathering, data analysis, writing up.)

Both the instructor and the host department must approve the student’s enrolment in the course. Once approval is received, the student must complete the Home University’s Visiting Graduate Student Application Form and obtain the required signatures from both universities.

Detailed information about the registration process can be found at the OVGS program website: http://cou.on.ca/key-issues/education/graduate-education/ontario-visiting-grad-students/