Workshop on the advantages of qualitative and interdisciplinary methods
How do interdisciplinary methods help during qualitative research? This is the premise that started the workshop on the advantages of qualitative and interdisciplinary methods in research for social justice.
The workshop brought together teachers from the University of Azuay, in a presentation by the Faculty of Legal Sciences, which had the special intervention of the British professor and researcher Kate Bedford, who together with the teacher Silvana Tapia, offered an approach to the subject and they shared their lines of research, finally arriving at a forum with the teachers present.
Kate Bedford -specialist in socio-legal research, development and gender studies- began her speech by commenting on some of her projects such as “Bingo regulations in England” or “Experiences of people affected by the World Bank”.
The researcher explained how the interdisciplinary method gives us different perspectives on qualitative research, since associating different areas of study from Anthropology, Sociology, Communication, Engineering and Biology “allows us to pluralize our perspectives, and it is more likely that we have results that solve our research objective "
Next, Silvana Tapia commented on her most recent research, focused on answering if the current movements of women in Ecuador only make punitive demands or if they also promote economic and social agendas.
The professor added that interdisciplinary methods guided her research, which after four years could be finalized thanks to the advantages of this methodology. Among the disadvantages, he mentioned that we must understand that there are limitations and that no interdisciplinary or qualitative method applied in a certain region can be extrapolated in other situations.
For Silvana Tapia, conducting interviews, thorough review of literature, focus groups, in others; It means that the researcher must be present with the human group he investigates, try to understand him and leave his comfort zone to broaden his critical gaze.
Finally, both exhibitors generated a conversation with the attendees, commenting on the challenges of qualitative research and interdisciplinary methods.
The Faculty of Legal Sciences plans to hold another workshop on the same topic, aimed at undergraduate students at the University of Azuay.
