School of Social & Political Sciences

IQMR – Is it for me?

Introduction

Hello again everyone - for those of you who don’t know me my name is Lewis Forsyth and I was fortunate enough last year to be selected for the Institute for Qualitative and Mixed Method Research in Syracuse in the summer. I hope to explain a little bit more about IQMR in this short blog, why you should consider applying, and what you can get out of it.

To give you a sense of my own fit for the Institute, I am in my 4^th (and final – eek!) year of my PhD in Urban Studies, where I’ve been employing traditional elite interviews and deep archival research to explore local government finance in Scotland. My slightly unusual path to research meant that I had not completed any fieldwork at all until my first day of primary research for the PhD, and my experience on paper was terrible as well – I had only completed 1 introductory semester of qualitative research methods in my undergraduate degree. The upshot of this was that I have always felt lacking in research methods training, and that I was somehow behind everyone else. So, when the opportunity came up for IQMR, I threw myself at it.

What is IQMR?

‘Lewis’, I hear you say, ‘that’s all well and good, but what actually is IQMR?’

The Institute for Qualitative and Mixed Method Research is a 2 week ‘institute’ that lies somewhere between a summer school and a conference with the aim of facilitating learning and critique of the most cutting edge - you guessed it - qualitative and mixed methods research techniques. IQMR has been running for nearly 2 decades out of the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs in Syracuse University, New York and over 30 staff each year develop unique courses that showcase the most Avant-guard research methods in the field.

Attendees choose from a range of full (and multi-) day workshops on cutting-edge approaches led by top-of-their-field academics and participate in lectures, seminars and group activities designed to help both explore and critique (I know this sounds like a lot of promotional jargon, but the teaching really is very much ahead of the curve). Some workshop examples from previous years include:

• Comparative Historical Analysis
• Computer Assisted Text Analysis
• Ethnographic methods
• Logic of Qualitative Methods
• Interpretivism and Discourse Analysis
• Causal Inference from Causal Models
• Process Tracing
• Qualitative comparative analysis (QCA)
• Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
• Natural Experiments
• Spatial and Network Analysis

The institute also allocates time for all attendees to present a paper on their own research, with a specific focus on their research design and methods. This 45-minute in-depth session is chaired by 2 of the senior faculty and allows for constructive feedback in a friendly environment. Because attendance is compulsory for these sessions, your own paper gets plenty of feedback and at the same time you get the chance to hear about lots of interesting research from the other attendees.

Outside of the classes, there are also lots of structured and unstructured networking and social sessions where you get to meet both staff and students. You also have two free afternoons, and the weekend is yours to spend as you like.

The University of Glasgow fully funds both travel and accommodation, and also offers a stipend to help with costs whilst you’re there. This means that the entire institute is funded (although you might want to bring some extra cash along - New York, Niagara Falls, and the Finger Lakes are all within a manageable distance!).

 

A normal day at IQMR

Sounds like a lot, doesn’t it? In many ways it is - but I enjoyed every minute of it.

Whilst no day at IQMR was ever the same, I’ve tried to give you an idea below of how this all fits into 24 hours:

8:00 – 9:30	Wake up, get ready and head down to breakfast (delicious – the Americans know what they’re doing). Catch up with friends or drop into an informal breakfast office hour.
9:30 – 10:45	Process Tracing & Bayesian Reasoning I Morning sessions were usually more introductory, laying the groundwork for the discussion to come. Each session usually required about 2-3 readings in preparation to avoid wasting time on the basic stuff.
10:45 – 11:15	Break Snacks, socialising, fresh air. More coffee.
11:15 – 12:30	Research Design Session 2x 45 min presentation and discussion session based on the papers you’ve chosen to attend and read the night before. Take in the campus, get food in town, hit the gym, or lie on the grass (with SPF 50 on for me of course).
12:30 - 13:30	Lunch
13:30 – 14:45	Process Tracing and Bayesian Reasoning II More advanced. Often a bit more practical with an exercise or discussion.
14:45 – 15:15	Break More cakes, fruit, treats and drinks. Definitely more coffee, you’re usually getting fairly spent by now.
15:15 – 16:30	Process Tracing and Bayesian Reasoning III The final pieces and bringing everything together. Looking at limitations. Unstructured debate/Q+A.
16:30 – 17:30	Back to the hotel or somewhere local to do the course evaluations, read up on tomorrows research design paper, or pop into office hours
17:30-20:00	Refresh and get dinner. Switch off from work (harder than it sounds). Wind down.
20:00-22:00	Hit the bar or hang out
22:00	Exhausted and ready to set a world record for an early bedtime

Is it worth it?

Absolutely. The entire IQMR experience was one of the most memorable and valuable experiences in my entire PhD and, at risk of sounding tragic, it was genuinely fun. I would fully recommend anyone to apply regardless of the stage of your PhD or your familiarity with research methods. There are 3 main benefits that jump out at me:

1. Reducing it to its core mission – advanced training in research methods – it succeeds and then some. The training I received at IQMR was way more advanced than anything I had received in a university setting previously and, despite the short courses, went into much greater depth. This is partly because of the excellent teaching staff and supportive discussion, but there is also something to be said about the tight focus on the subject matter that allows for a deeper exploration and critique. Rather than the scatter-gun approach of a university methods course, the idea here is to focus in on the cutting edge of one specific method. Discussion would sometimes extend into the evening for the more challenging topics (if you chose to). This advanced training has been essential in my own research and teaching, even at this late stage of my work.
   
   
2. Although incredibly useful, IQMR’s real value lies beyond the training itself; the true value for me was in the people I met. I will be the first to roll my eyes at the notion of ‘networking’ as a structured event, but what I think sets IQMR apart is how organic and authentic it was rather than forced and contrived. This was a great environment for meeting like-minded researchers with similar passions, projects, and methods as your own, particularly beyond your usual circles (IQMR participants come from all over the world). I am still in touch with a dozen or so people I met, some as friends that I spent the downtime with and others as future colleagues with ideas for collaboration.
   
   
3. Last but by no means least, the research design sessions (including the ones I wasn’t presenting at) were really very useful. I don’t think it’s a controversial statement to say that research designs, and how we talk about them, can be one of the biggest challenges in the PhD. Choosing, explaining, and justifying your approach is what gives your research that all important validity, but it’s quite often either overlooked or forgotten about after your first year. Focussing in on my own design, and being exposed to a range of others, really helped me shore up the weaker elements of my work and plant the seeds for future ideas.

What now?

All of this is to say that IQMR was, without a shadow of a doubt, worth it. It’s hard to condense the whole experience into a blog, so if you have any questions please do get in touch and I’d be happy to sit down with you. There’s plenty I didn’t get into here, including the application, expectations, workload… not to mention the whole American experience itself (including what to do when you’re out there!).

Best of luck,

Lewis

For more info about IQMR:

https://www.maxwell.syr.edu/research/center-for-qualitative-and-multi-method-inquiry/institute-for-qualitative-multi-method-research