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Interdisciplinary Qualitative Studies (IQS) Graduate Certificate Program

Charter Sponsors:

College of Education
School of Social Work
College of Family and Consumer Sciences
College of Arts and Sciences

Program History

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. With many disciplines embracing this movement as a means to widen the conceptual lenses for their work, the enthusiasm for qualitative research has never been higher and the field of qualitative research has moved from a position of marginality to one of influence. Traditionally qualitative approaches were taught in the disciplines of anthropology and sociology. Since the 1980s, the disciplines of education, journalism, speech communications, child and family development, counseling, and social work began to embrace these more interpretivist approaches to research. Consequently courses were developed and are being taught in numerous departments across the University of Georgia.

The University of Georgia has established itself as an international leader in the field of qualitative research. From 1988 to 2007 the University hosted the Qualitative Interest Group (QUIG) Interdisciplinary Qualitative Studies Conference (formerly known as the QUIG Qualitative Research in Education Conference), a widely respected annual conference that attracted both established and emerging scholars from the U.S. and abroad. In 2001, the Interdisciplinary Qualitative Studies Graduate Certificate Program was developed 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. Because of its interdisciplinary nature, the program allows students to tailor the focus of their certificate programs to individual interests.

Program Objectives

The Interdisciplinary Qualitative Studies Graduate Certificate Program is an educational program to advance interdisciplinary inquiry through the pluralistic use of multiple methods. It seeks to generate knowledge for improving professional practice and advancing human understanding.

1. The program is intended to provide students with a thorough knowledge of a variety of approaches to qualitative research methods used across disciplines.
2. The certificate will provide students with an understanding of the philosophical frameworks that undergird qualitative research designs.
3.  The certificate will assist students in identifying qualitative research perspectives within their own as well as in other disciplines and in critiquing prevailing theories, methods, and substantive research for their quality and ethical standards.
4. Students will be encouraged to appreciate diversity across a variety of qualitative approaches to inquiry.
5. The certificate program will engage students in developing expertise in at least one approach to qualitative research design.
6. The certificate program will prepare students to understand ways qualitative research can be used with quantitative research for mixed method approaches to inquiry.
7. The certificate program will prepare students to engage in scholarship about the field of qualitative inquiry.
8. The certificate program will prepare students to teach introductory courses in qualitative research and courses in their qualitative approach(es) of expertise.

If you would like additional information, please contact Melissa Freeman, Program Chair, Qualitative Research Program, in the College of Education (freeman9@uga.edu).