The Institute for Qualitative and Multi-Method Research (IQMR)

Since its founding fourteen years ago, the Institute for Qualitative and Multi-Method Research has welcomed approximately two thousand graduate students and junior faculty. 

The institute seeks to enable participants to create and critique methodologically sophisticated qualitative research designs, including case studies, tests of necessity or sufficiency, and narrative or interpretive work. It explores the techniques, uses, strengths, and limitations of these methods, while emphasizing their relationships with alternative approaches. Topics include research design, concept formation, methods of structured and focused comparisons of cases, typological theory, case selection, process tracing, comparative historical analysis, congruence testing, path dependency, interpretivism, counterfactual analysis, interview and field research (including archival) techniques, necessary and sufficient conditions, fuzzy set methods, and philosophy of science issues relevant to qualitative research.

IQMR attendees receive constructive feedback on their own qualitative research designs, and the course also includes discussions led by the authors of well known works which employ qualitative methods. Illustrations are drawn from exemplary research in international relations, comparative politics, and American politics. The schedule and reading list from the fourteenth annual institute, available through the link on the left, indicates the range of the issues that are covered. Please note, however, that this syllabus will be revised for the fifteenth institute, and should be viewed with this in mind.

CQRM member institutions will use their own meritocratic criteria to select participants to attend the 2017 institute, and must notify CQRM of their choices by February 25th, 2017. 

Students, fellows and junior faculty who are not sure if they will be selected, or who attend non-member organizations, should apply directly to CQRM through the open pool. Click here for the application form. The deadline for applications is November 21th, 2016. Applicants will be notified of the outcome in December. CQRM will cover the costs of participation, lodging, and meals for successful applicants. Attendees will be responsible for their own transportation costs to and from Syracuse University.

Participants at the 2017 institute will arrive on Sunday June 18th, and depart on Friday June 30th, or Saturday July 1st. Sessions will commence on Monday June 19th. The institute will run until the afternoon of Friday June 30th, with a two day break on June 24th and 25th.