Introduction to Critical Praxeological Analysis (online)

Critical Praxeological Analysis (CPA) is a new approach which provides a way of conducting critical qualitative research.

Critical Praxeological Analysis (CPA) synthesises ideas from three key areas: Wittgensteinian philosophy, particularly the method of grammatical investigation; ethnomethodology and conversation analysis, with a focus on praxeological gestalts; and critical research, especially critical phenomenology. This synthesis provides a robust method for critical qualitative research. 

In this online introductory course, the authors of the approach, Khadijah Diskin and Phil Hutchinson, will provide newcomers with a foundation in CPA, by laying out the philosophical background, outlining the stages of project development and analysis, and then ending the day by facilitating a CPA data session on some recent data that might serve as a topic for CPA studies.

This course will assume no prior knowledge of either CPA, Critical Phenomenology or Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis and so works as perfect introduction for those who are looking for a method of critical qualitative research.

Course Description

The course will cover the following:

CPA – Respecifying Critical Research. 

We explain how the purpose of CPA is to provide a procedure for conducting critical qualitative research. Where much critical research is based in theoretical or formal analyses, CPA provides a process for conducting qualitative praxeological analyses which are designed to recover the experiences of members of society.

CPA – The philosophical resources of CPA. 

We introduce the resources that feed into CPA. These are the grammatical investigations of Wittgensteinian philosophy, the praxeological Gestalts of ethnomethodology and CPA’s concept of discordant Gestalts and the extending of the unique adequacy requirement. Each of these will be explained in easy-to-grasp ways with the use of examples.

CPA – Selecting a topic and designing a project. 

We take you through a step-by-step process of selecting a topic, designing, and executing a CPA project.

CPA – Data Session

We end the course by conducting a group data session on some recently acquired data. This will help participants become familiar with how a CPA researcher handles data and what it is to be attuned to aspects of the material as a CPA researcher. The data will be audio or video data gathered in the ‘wild’ and will be from recent events (i.e. 2024).

Learning Outcomes:

• Participants will have a good understanding of the purpose of conducting a CPA, understand the philosophical building blocks of CPA, and have a working understanding of what it is to be a CPA researcher.
• Participants will learn and understand the stages of CPA project design.
• Participants will have hands-on experience of handling and analysing data as a CPA researcher.

Schedule:

12th February: 9am - 4:30pm

13th February: 9am - 2pm