Teaching advanced qualitative analytic skills through song lyrics

Abstract

ABSTRACT Pop culture sources are effective tools in teaching content to Master of Social Work (MSW) students because they allow students to demonstrate sophisticated understanding of complex social issues and make the class assignments more enjoyable. Recently, first-year MSW students’ knowledge and motivation to engage in research were enhanced from a learning activity that used song lyrics to teach beginning qualitative analytic methods. As a result of the learning that transpired (n = 8), advanced or concentration-year MSW students collaborated with an educator to disseminate a tool that can be useful in a research course to engage students in higher-level qualitative analytic skills. In this learning activity, students learned about the process of identifying extant themes from the literature, developed a codebook and engaged in the process of reflexivity. Among other reflections from student participants, students remarked how this song lyrics activity gave them a stronger grasp of qualitative analytic skills. Future research should assess the impact of this learning tool among a larger group of MSW students utilizing a more formal data collection approach.