Interdisciplinary Qualitative Studies Conference

The Interdisciplinary Qualitative Studies (IQS) Conference has been held annually in January at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education on the campus of the University of Georgia since 1988 and is one of a handful of such conferences held around the globe. Its purpose is to provide a venue for presentation of scholarship on qualitative research methods, design, epistemology, and related theoretical concerns as well as examples of innovative qualitative work across the human and professional sciences. Although [Page 447]annual themes and keynote speakers reflect ongoing issues and concerns in the practice and study of qualitative research, presentations represent the range of qualitative study.

The conference typically runs for 21/2 days in early January. On days immediately preceding and following the conference, workshops on various skills and topics are offered. In addition to three or four invited keynote speeches or presentations, the conference program is organized around individual papers, papers grouped into symposia, panel discussions, poster sessions, additional workshops, roundtable discussions, and alternative formats proposed by presenters. These presentations are organized in the program by their substantive or methodological subject. All sessions except invited ones are refereed given that the program is intended to support innovation and to provide a safe environment for experimentation and transformative endeavors. Individual research consultations are offered to attendees by senior methodologists throughout the conference.

The IQS Conference originated as an outreach effort of the Qualitative Interest Group (QUIG) at the University of Georgia. QUIG is an association of faculty and staff members from across the university who were brought together in 1985 through a development grant provided by the College of Education. The IQS Conference itself remains a project supported principally by the College of Education but also aided by departments and units around the university that contribute to its interdisciplinary orientation. Still known locally as the QUIG conference, it is coordinated by a rotation of QUIG members, and the yearly theme and keynote speakers are selected by that year's coordinator. Conference themes have emphasized the range of qualitative methods and practices as well as topics such as ethics, fostering diversity and social justice through qualitative research, alternative representation, teaching qualitative traditions, integrating the arts with research, and a variety of epistemological issues.