The ProQual Institute for Interpretive Research Methods

Start with the research problem. Develop a study design that fits.

ProQual is a structured 9-week online course that helps researchers move from an emerging research focus to a coherent, high-quality interpretive study.Participants learn a practical, design-based approach to making confident decisions about research focus, theory, methods, methodology, analysis, and quality.

Is ProQual for you?

ProQual supports researchers who are developing, refining, or supervising interpretive research and want a structured, practical approach to designing a study as an integrated whole.

You may find ProQual especially useful if you are:

  • working with an emerging research focus and trying to understand what kind of study it calls for

  • unsure how to choose among theories, methods, or methodologies

  • trying to connect research questions, data, analysis, and quality in a defensible way

  • moving into qualitative or interpretive research from a technical, disciplinary, or quantitative background

  • supporting students or colleagues as they develop interpretive studies

ProQual is well suited for:

  • STEM and discipline-based education researchers

  • graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and early-career scholars

  • faculty expanding their research into educational or social inquiry

  • faculty who supervise or teach qualitative/interpretive research

  • experienced qualitative researchers seeking a more integrated approach to research design and quality

What Makes ProQual Different?

ProQual offers more than training in qualitative methods. It provides a structured approach for developing interpretive studies that are coherent, purposeful, and responsive to the research problem.

Many qualitative methods courses begin with established methodologies or data-gathering techniques. ProQual begins with the concern that motivates the study: a problem, interest, hunch, observation, or desire for change that points toward something worth understanding. The course helps participants clarify that focus, then use it to make well-justified choices about theory, methods, methodology, analysis, and quality.

A study design that starts with the problem

ProQual begins with the research problem and the social reality under investigation: the people, practices, meanings, contexts, relationships, or systems you are trying to understand.

This helps you ask: What kind of study does this research problem call for?

Methods & methodologies as design choices

ProQual treats theories, methods, and methodologies as choices with particular affordances: what they help illuminate, what they make possible, and what they may leave out.

This helps you choose approaches that fit the study you want to conduct, rather than defaulting to familiar methods.

Quality built in from the beginning

ProQual brings research quality into the design process from the start, using a practical framework for thinking across data generation, analysis, interpretation, ethics, communication, and reporting.

This helps you plan for quality as part of the study’s design, not only as something to justify at the end.

A practical path through complexity

ProQual provides concepts, visual tools, guided activities, and collaborative discussion to help participants work through the connected choices involved in interpretive research.

This helps you move forward with greater clarity, confidence, and defensibility.

What You’ll Take Away

ProQual helps participants develop a theoretically grounded, practical model of interpretive research design, supported by tools and strategies they can apply to their own studies and continue using beyond the course.

  • A transferable approach to research design:
    Participants learn a structured way to design interpretive studies as integrated wholes, making purposeful choices about how research focus, theory, methods, methodology, analysis, and quality work together.

  • Confidence in explaining and defending interpretive studies:
    Participants leave with concepts, language, and confidence for articulating the logic of their studies to collaborators, supervisors, students, reviewers, funders, and readers.

  • A viable design for a real project that matters:
    Participants apply the ProQual approach to a project they bring to the course, turning a broad or emerging research focus into a well-scoped, viable, and coherent study design.

  • Tools for future research, teaching, and supervision:
    Participants gain visual models, guided activities, and practical design strategies they can carry into future studies, mentoring, teaching, collaboration, and supervision.

Course Details

ProQual is a 9-week online course in which live engagement and structured course materials work together to support conceptual learning, practical application, and project development.

Live Sessions

Guided active-learning sessions

Guided sessions introduce key concepts through short explanations, structured reflection, and applied group exercises.

Community hours

Open discussions provide space for questions about course content, project design, and the broader practice of interpretive research.

Course Materials

Readings

Book chapters provide the conceptual grounding for each part of the course, introducing the ideas, language, and frameworks participants use in live sessions and Project Development Guides.

Project Development Guides

Structured guides help participants apply course concepts to their own projects between sessions, progressively developing the focus, rationale, and design of their study.

At a glance:

Length: 9 weeks
Next cohort: September 8 – November 5, 2026
Meeting times: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 4:00–5:30pm US ET / 10:00–11:30pm CEST / Wednesdays and Fridays, 6:00–7:30am AEST
Cost: USD/EUR 3,500 per person (discounts available for participants from resource-constrained contexts)

Participant Reflections

Past participants describe ProQual as transformative, practical, conceptually grounded, and intellectually generous — a course that changes how they design, discuss, and carry out interpretive research.

“ProQual was, hands down, the finest professional development opportunity I’ve seen.”

Zachary del Rosario: Assistant Professor of Engineering, Olin College of Engineering

What participants value

  • Confidence from ideation to execution:
    “Since participating in ProQual, I have been able to plan and conduct all aspects of research, from ideation to execution, with much more confidence.” (Jerrod A. Henderson, University of Houston)

  • Tools that continue beyond the course
    “I continue to use the approaches I have learned with my own projects and in the way that I train my graduate students.” (Cheryl Bodnar, Rowan University)

  • A framework for choosing the right approach:
    “Their approach is unique in that they teach not just one methodology, but rather a meta-framework to help you select an approach that is appropriate for your specific problem.” (Zachary del Rosario, Olin College of Engineering)

  • Supportive mentorship and community
    “The course provided supportive mentorship from Nicki and Jo and the larger community to develop and launch a new research project.” (Karin Jensen, University of Michigan)

Meet the Facilitators

ProQual is facilitated by Drs. Nicola Sochacka and Joachim Walther, internationally recognized scholars in interpretive research design, research quality, and engineering education.

Originally trained in technical disciplines, Nicki and Jo understand the challenges of moving into qualitative and interpretive research from research cultures with different assumptions, standards, and forms of evidence. Their work focuses on making interpretive research design more accessible, coherent, and defensible for researchers working in complex educational and social settings.

At the University of Georgia, Nicki and Jo founded the Engineering Education Transformations Institute, where they supported faculty in integrating research and practice across STEM education. They now lead the ProQual Institute, building capacity and community for researchers who want to design high-quality interpretive studies.
Their scholarship has shaped international conversations about research quality, interpretive methodology, empathy, and the development of engineering education as an interdisciplinary field. Across publications, funded projects, workshops, and mentoring, they have worked with researchers from engineering, STEM education, social science, and higher education contexts.

Apply or Ask a Question

Interested in joining a future ProQual cohort?

We welcome inquiries from researchers around the world, at different career stages and levels of experience with interpretive research. Tell us a little about your background, your research interests, and what you are hoping to develop through ProQual.

Ready to apply?
Use the application form to tell us about your background, research interests, and what you hope to develop through ProQual.

Have a question first?
Contact Nicki Sochacka with a brief question before applying.

ProQual Institute for Interpretive Research Methods
Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia

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