PhD Courses in Denmark

Course description:

• Would you like to use a particular concept in your work but are unsure about how to measure it?

• Are you confronted with having to distinguish between two or more overlapping concepts?

• Are you interested in developing a new concept? Or refining an older concept?

• Are you interested in learning how to think logically about the meaning of words you are using in your research?

If the answer to any of these questions is yes, then concept analysis is for you.

For researchers at all levels, conceptual clarity is key. However, many concepts suffer from lack of clarity and are rendered ambiguous given that they are rarely standardized, undergo drift in meaning over time, and are modified as they are adapted across disciplines. Frustrated researchers often lament that “[concept X] lacks a clear definition” in their scholarly publications.

Concept analysis is the activity where concepts, their qualities, and relations to other concepts are clarified. Participants in this course will be introduced to concept analysis and gain hands-on experience with concept search, qualitative data structuring, and analytical techniques for clarifying concepts.

As part of the course, participants will use a concept that they would like clarified. By the end of the course, participants will have begun developing a new research article on this concept of concern and be equipped to introduce concept analysis to help students in their project work.

Learning objectives: Upon completion of the course, it is expected that participants will be able to:

• Perform a concept analysis

• Structure concept data

• Evaluate scholarly articulations of concepts

• Identify the attributes of a concept

• Define a concept

• Teach students how to conduct a concept analysis