WCQR2026 | Training Day
As part of the online program, WCQR2026 will include a dedicated Training Day on 2 February 2026 (Central European Time, UTC+01:00).
Aimed at providing participants with practical, hands-on learning experiences, this day will feature short courses focused on qualitative research methods.
Led by a panel of experienced facilitators, this event offers an excellent opportunity to deepen methodological skills, explore innovative approaches, and engage in interactive sessions designed to enhance participants’ research practices.
Please note:
Attendance at the Training Day is not included in the WCQR2026 conference registration and requires separate enrollment. The registration fee includes participation in one short course in the morning session and one short course in the afternoon session. Participants will select their preferred short courses during registration, subject to availability.
As places are limited, early registration is strongly recommended. See the program below and follow the link at the bottom of the page to register.
Short Courses
Anna Kimberley
Haaga-Helia UAS (FI); TU Dublin (IE)
Schedule:
9:00 am to 12:00 pm
2:00 pm to 5:00 pm
See the full program
It’s All About Me: Autoethnography
Overall, a short course on autoethnography aims to empower researchers to articulate their lived experiences while drawing critical connections to broader societal issues, enhancing both personal understanding and academic scholarship.
- Interactive lecture: Introduction to Autoethnography.
- Philosophical underpinnings, primary scholars and literature.
- Activity: Autoethnography as a reflexive practice in qualitative research or a method on its own, writing a personal narrative.
Participants will gain knowledge of the main concepts of Autoethnography and will have an opportunity to apply the knowledge in a practical, hands-on exercise.
- Introduction to Autoethnography: The course will begin with an overview of autoethnography, including its definition, key principles, and its place within qualitative research. Participants will learn how it interweaves personal stories with broader cultural contexts.
- Philosophical foundations: Participants will explore the theoretical underpinnings of autoethnography, including its connections to ethnography, narrative inquiry, and postmodernism. Discussions will include the importance of subjectivity and reflexivity in research.
- Writing personal narratives and data collection: A key focus will be on the craft of writing personal narratives. Participants will be guided on how to articulate their experiences in a way that is both engaging and informative, emphasizing the need to connect personal stories to larger cultural issues. The course will cover various methods for collecting data, such as journals, reflective writing, and interviews, helping participants gather rich and meaningful material for their narratives.
- Analysis and Interpretation: Participants will learn techniques for analyzing their narratives, identifying themes, and situating their experiences within wider cultural and social contexts, as well as existing literature.
- Feedback and Peer Review: Finally, opportunities for sharing work and receiving feedback from peers will be a part of the short course, fostering a collaborative environment for growth and improvement in autoethnographic practice.
Upon successful completion of the course, participants:
- will gain familiarity and understanding of the selected interpretative methodological approaches.
- will gain knowledge of primary research literature within contexts related to a selected methodological approach.
- will apply the knowledge in own research.
- will apply and further develop ideas and concepts within own specific research context.
- will develop their academic writing skills.
Elaine Keane
University of Galway (IE)
Schedule:
9:00 am to 12:00 pm
See the full program
An Introduction to Constructivist Grounded Theory
This short course introduces Kathy Charmaz’s constructivist grounded theory (CGT), with a particular focus on social justice-oriented research. Grounded theory (GT) methods consist of flexible guidelines to fit particular research problems, not to apply mechanically. With these guidelines, you expedite and systematize data collection and analysis. CGT and social justice issues serve mutually complementary purposes. GT methods can assist social justice researchers in making their work more analytic, precise, and compelling. A social justice focus can help grounded theorists to move their methods into macro analyses.
In this short course, following an exploration of the history and development of GT, we examine GT basic guidelines and major strategies, including initial line-by-line and focused coding, the use of gerunds, memoing, diagramming, theoretical sampling, and categorising. Throughout the session, there is an emphasis on CGT’s epistemological foundation and resultant adaptations to the research process, including regarding the literature review, researcher positionality/ies, and participant involvement.
The short course will include a number of hands-on exercises to exemplify, and give participants an opportunity to practice, the strategies being discussed. For the coding exercise, you may bring and use some of your own qualitative data, or if you do not have data yet, some will be supplied. Clear guidelines and support are provided to participants with regard to all aspects of CGT.
The session will utilise CGT readings and resources from Kathy Charmaz, Robert Thornberg, Adele Clarke, and myself, and will draw on the scholarship of Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss.
This short course will be of interest to those doing full CGT studies but also to those who may be interested in learning about and potentially using some of the powerful GT strategies (such as coding) in studies with a different overall methodological approach.
Judita Kasperiuniene
Vytautas Magnus University (LT)
António Pedro Costa
University of Aveiro (PT)
Schedule:
9:00 am to 12:00 pm
See the full program
MIXAI: Integrating Mixed-Methods and Generative AI in Methodological Literature Reviews
This short course introduces the MIXAI model, a human-AI collaborative approach that integrates mixed-methods techniques with GenAI to enhance methodological literature reviews. In the current research landscape, the ability to combine bibliometric analysis with AI-supported qualitative analysis is increasingly essential for producing rigorous and comprehensive reviews. The MIXAI model will be explored specifically in the context of scoping reviews, integrative reviews, and qualitative systematic reviews.
Participants will engage with the full MIXAI process, starting with bibliometric analysis using R Bibliometrix and VOSviewer tools to identify trends, networks, and key themes in the literature. The qualitative dimension will be addressed through framework analysis supported by GenAI tools like ChatGPT and Gemini, using Chain-of-Thought prompting strategies. The indexing and coding process will be carried out with webQDA, allowing participants to build and refine analytical frameworks collaboratively. Throughout the short course, attention will be given to the ethical, methodological, and technical implications of using AI in social research.
The short course is divided into five modules:
- Introduction to MIXAI and GenAI in qualitative research
- Bibliometric analysis and science mapping with R Bibliometrix and VOSviewer
- Chain-of-Thought prompting with LLMs (ChatGPT and Gemini)
- Framework analysis and qualitative indexing with webQDA
- Mapping competencies and synthesizing results for review types
The course will include live demonstrations, collaborative exercises, and application to real datasets.
By the end of the short course, participants will be able to:
- Understand and apply the MIXAI model in literature reviews.
- Combine bibliometric and qualitative analysis for Scoping, Integrative, and Qualitative Systematic Reviews.
- Use GenAI tools critically and ethically in research workflows.
- Identify and reflect on key researcher competencies for human-AI collaboration in qualitative research.
Grzegorz Bryda
Jagiellonian University (PL)
Schedule:
9:00 am to 12:00 pm
2:00 pm to 5:00 pm
See the full program
AI as a Co-Researcher in Qualitative Data Analysis
This short course offers an original methodology for qualitative data analysis that incorporates natural language processing (NLP) and artificial intelligence (AI). The methodology, developed by the researcher, combines traditional sociological approaches with advanced digital tools, creating new opportunities for social research, particularly in the context of narrative analysis and thematic analysis.
This short course provides insight into the researcher’s program, advancing the paradigm of digital qualitative sociology and offering a new approach to the relationship between the researcher, data, and analytical tools in qualitative research in the digital age.
The short course introduces techniques for leveraging GenAI to support algorithmic data extraction methods, enhancing the researcher’s ability to identify theoretically rich segments of empirical material. A key aspect of this process is the iterative relationship between the researcher’s emergent conceptualization and the algorithmic identification of patterns in the data.
It also covers AI-assisted coding methods, especially lexical-semantic and generative coding, as well as the process of identifying descriptive and interpretative codes in thematic analysis.
Participants will learn how to design digital research prompts that incorporate inductive, deductive, and abductive logic within the research process.
Moreover, the short course presents methods for algorithmic support in transitioning from codes to conceptual categories and from codes to themes in thematic analysis. The digital qualitative sociology approach treats GenAI systems as tools that assist in abductive reasoning, where algorithmic pattern identification inspires the researcher to formulate theoretical explanations.
Cheryl N. Poth
University of Alberta (CA)
Schedule:
2:00 pm to 5:00 pm
See the full program
Designing Qualitatively-Oriented Mixed Methods Research
How can mixed methods designs be leveraged to prioritize qualitative perspectives in their integration with quantitative research approaches? This short course sheds light on the nine key integration decisions researchers make in qualitatively-oriented mixed methods designs and how to incorporate evidence of qualitatively prioritized integration in your work.
The short course will include a number of examples to illustrate content and strategies discussed, hands-on exercises to give participants an opportunity to apply their understandings to their own ideas, and to benefit from others’ sharing and asking questions.
The session will utilise QOMMR readings and resources from Sharlene Hesse-Biber, Peggy Shannon-Baker, others as well as myself
This short course will be of interest to those already doing or planning to design qualitatively-oriented mixed methods research. It can also be taken by curious qualitative researcher to explore the potential of mixed methods while retaining many aspects of their qualitatively-oriented research practice.
- Introduction to Qualitatively-oriented Mixed Methods Research: The course will begin with an overview and orientation to integration as a key feature of mixed methods research and the unique niche of qualitatively-oriented mixed methods research (QOMMR). Participants will learn about the key defining characteristics of QOMMR.
- Key Design Decisions in Qualitatively-oriented Mixed Methods Research: Participants will explore the key design decisions that contribute to a cohesive QOMMR design, including role of theory, sampling strategies, and data procedures. Discussions will include a focus on prioritizing qualitative integration.
- Navigating Design Procedures in Qualitatively-oriented Mixed Methods Research: A key focus will be on how researchers and their research settings influence how QOMMR designs unfold. Participants will engage in creating design diagrams to help them think through their ideas. To extent possible, we will embed opportunities for sharing work and receiving feedback from peers will be a part of the short course.
- Integrations and Representations of Study Outcomes: Participants will explore some data and analytic options for QOMMR integration and how joint displays can support the generation and representation of study outcomes.
- Quality and Reporting: Finally, opportunities for discussions of what guides good reporting of QOMMR will complement discussions of quality criteria of mixed methods research.
Qualitatively-orientated mixed methods research requires specialized integration skills to realize the prioritized integration of qualitative and quantitative research. This course will engage participants in discussions of perceived (and real) integration challenges when designing, conducting, and reporting QOMMR.
Tricia Kress
Molloy University (US)
Eric Karahalis
Farmingdale State College (US)
Kelly Bare
University of San Francisco (US)
Schedule:
2:00 pm to 5:00 pm
See the full program
Bending Space-Time with Personal Ways of Knowing: A Playful Introduction to the Liberatory Potential of Postformal Theory and Methodology
This short course introduces postformal theory and methodology as a counterbalance to the linearity, reductionism, and rigidity of neopositivist social science research. Postformal thinking seeks out complexity and difference, giving rise to further questions about humanity and the social world to home in on and make sense of entangled issues that may reproduce social inequality. Grounded in critical, postmodern and feminist theories and in conversation with Indigenous knowledges, postformal research traces the workings of power by examining people and phenomena across different space-times, challenging researchers to think in more complex ways to better understand humanity and the many threads that bind people together through systems of power. As a methodology, postformalism encourages researchers to take a multi-dimensional, transdisciplinary approach to theory and method because tracing connections across diverse human experiences requires traversing boundaries of disciplines, institutions, cultures, geographies, natural and man-made environments, and time periods. Participants in this session will be introduced to the origins and current understandings of postformal thinking and methodology. They will then be provided with examples of postformal research projects that illuminate how personal ways of knowing and traversing different space-times can yield novel insights into well-trodden research pathways. Finally, participants will engage in hands-on activities to explore the postformal potential of their own research and generate personal ways of knowing by crafting unique metaphorical frameworks to organize complex, multi-disciplinary, and analytical ideas.
This short course will introduce the philosophical and theoretical grounding of postformal research. Participants will learn about postformalism’s origins in relation to cognitive psychology and positivist epistemology and be provided with parallel and alternative ways of thinking about research methods in social science research. The facilitators will introduce the five constructs of postformalism: etymology, context, pattern, process and humility and demonstrate how these constructs inform and reframe aspects of qualitative research including, questions, purpose, data collection, analysis and ethics. Facilitators will share examples of postformal research projects to demonstrate how researchers’ and participants’ personal ways of knowing conjoin to inform research approaches that have the ability to bend space-time and can emerge authentically in relation to the lives of the researcher and participants.
This short course will be appealing to researchers who are interested in incorporating novel combinations of innovative qualitative methods (e.g., arts based, visual, participatory, experiential) and analytical frameworks (theoretical, artistic, literary, popular culture, metaphorical) into their research toolkits. Participants will be provided with supplemental readings and resources and hands-on engagement with postformal thinking and applications through creative activities. Whether participants choose to immerse in postformalism as an overarching methodology for their research or they wish to just wade at the edges and explore postformalism as a way to better understand their own researcher epistemology, this session will be a place where participants can challenge their thinking, have fun playing with new ideas, and expand the boundaries of what they believe is possible and knowable through social science research.
- Opening Activity: Expanding Ways of Knowing Across Space-Time
The short course begins with a playful activity designed to foster expansive thinking about the self, other, and world. Participants will engage in reflective exercises that push beyond traditional research paradigms by considering how personal, historical, social, and cultural contexts inform their understanding across different space-times. This activity introduces the concept of “bending space-time” in research and sets the stage for exploring how personal ways of knowing can yield novel insights pushing beyond well-trodden research pathways.
- Conceptual Framing: The Evolution and Foundations of Postformal Thinking
Facilitators will present the philosophical and theoretical grounding of postformal research, tracing its origins from Jan Sinnott’s cognitive psychology through the transformative work of Joe Kincheloe and Shirley Steinberg, to contemporary methodological developments by Tricia Kress and Robert Lake.
- Activity Revisited: Personal Ways of Knowing as Research Assets
Returning to the opening activity with the added conceptual understanding, attendees will critically examine their own particularity and positionality within the web of human experience through the lens of postformal constructs of context, pattern, process, etymology and humility. This reflective process helps attendees recognize how their perspectives, experiences, and social locations (and that of their research participants) can serve as valuable research assets that enable them to traverse different space-times and uncover connections across diverse human experiences.
- Methodological Exemplars: Postformal Research Projects in Action
Facilitators will present diverse examples of postformal research studies that demonstrate how researchers’ and participants’ personal ways of knowing conjoin to inform research approaches that have the ability to expand research horizons and bend space-time. These exemplars will showcase the rich variety of approaches available within postformal research, including:
- Arts-based methodologies
- Experiential frameworks
- Co-creative approaches
- Participatory methods
- Multi-dimensional analytical frameworks
- Creative Application: Crafting Metaphorical Frameworks and Exploring Postformal Potential
The workshop culminates in hands-on activities where participants explore the postformal potential of their own research and generate personal ways of knowing by crafting unique metaphorical frameworks to organize complex, multi-disciplinary, and analytical ideas. Attendees will be encouraged to:
- Creatively reimagine their current or proposed research topics through postformal lenses
- Experiment with transdisciplinary methodological approaches that traverse boundaries
- Push the boundaries of traditional research methods to trace power connections
- Explore how postformal frameworks might reveal entangled issues and social inequalities
- Develop metaphorical frameworks that capture the complexity of their research interests
- Consider how their research might “bend space-time” to uncover novel insights
This collaborative segment emphasizes playful exploration and creative engagement with postformal concepts while maintaining connection to participants’ scholarly work.
- Peer Review and Sharing: Innovative Discoveries and Collective Insights
The session culminates with an opportunity for attendees to share their innovative discoveries from the creative application activities. This collaborative segment will include:
- Sharing Innovative Discoveries
- Collective Questioning
- Personal Insights and Breakthroughs
- Peer Feedback
- Resource Sharing
This final segment fosters a supportive community of practice and highlights the importance of supportive, collaborative, co-creative research design.
Postformal thinking asks researchers to step out of their research training and try out thought experiments that may take them into unfamiliar and sometimes uncomfortable conceptual and methodological territory. The goal of this workshop is to introduce postformal thinking and methods and provide a space for participants to experiment with new ideas, and be creative with their research selves in the company of postformal practitioners in a supportive group.