Centre for Qualitative Research : Event Report
Centre for Qualitative Research - The Official Launch
Report by Professor Immy Holloway
The conference on 'Collaborative Conversations' hosted by HSC also included the launch of our new Centre for Qualitative Research. The Centre is the culmination of many years of work in the area of qualitative research, and its numerous aims encompass the promotion and dissemination of qualitative research as well as collaboration in this area with others in the national and international arena. The focus on participant experience complements other types of research in HSC.
We were pleased to welcome Professor Don Polkinghorne - a scholar and academic of repute - for his introductory presentation. The topic of his session was about the use of qualitative findings, and he criticised qualitative researchers for focusing often on methods rather than the contents of their research.
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Centre for Qualitative Research Official Launch Professor Kathleen Galvin, Pro-Vice Chancellor Paul Luker, Professor Don Polkinghorne and Immy Holloway pictured at the Centre for Qualitative Research Official Launch. |
He also stressed that human experience is a complex and never completed area of study. Qualitative research is 'a science designed to study the special characteristics of the experiential realm', and we need it. We were reminded that the understanding and awareness of client experience assists practitioners - and academics too - in making decisions and forming judgments about their choice of action. We hope that our Centre will help in achieving this understanding.
We were very pleased that colleagues from other schools and the Pro-Vice Chancellor attended our launch, and we thank them for supporting HSC - and qualitative research.
