EMW: Call for Proposals

The call for proposals for the 2026 EMW is now closed. Watch this space for the 2027 call.

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Background and Motivation

While the community of scholars who engage in qualitative and multi-method explanatory research is large, the group of scholars who develop, write on, and teach these research methods — i.e., who guide the endeavors of researchers who carry out such work — is far smaller. One cause of this disparity is that junior scholars are not encouraged and actively mentored to become qualitative methodologists. The Emerging Methodologists Workshop for Qualitative and Multi-Method Explanatory Research (EMW) seeks to address this gap by encouraging advanced graduate students, post-docs, and junior faculty who are based at U.S. institutions to develop, publish on, and teach qualitative and multi-method research.

The EMW occurs each June at Syracuse University, in tandem with the Institute for Qualitative and Multi-Method Research (IQMR). At each EMW, scholars present and receive feedback on a paper they wrote and circulated in advance. Presenters receive intensive support: senior faculty mentors attend the EMW and work with presenters before and afterwards, helping them to develop and move their work toward peer-reviewed publication. We both introduce presenters into existing networks and foster new networks, encouraging connections within, and the continued growth of, the community.

Eligibility and Paper Requirements

Eligibility: Advanced doctoral students in political science, and recent PhDs (no more than seven years before the workshop) in political science serving as postdocs, junior faculty, or in other positions in academia whose home institution is in the U.S. are welcome to submit proposals.

Paper requirements:

• Mainly or completely empirical work that employs qualitative methods or is multi-method in nature is not eligible.

• Papers must fully focus on developing, critiquing, challenging, or enhancing a method for collecting, generating, or analyzing qualitative data, or a technique for multi-method research that is grounded in broadly positivist epistemological commitments. Work discussing the use of methods in a particular research setting that does not describe a methodological innovation or enhancement will not be considered. Work that focuses on methodological development that includes brief empirical examples is encouraged.

Selection and Support

A small faculty committee reviews all eligible proposals and selects for presentation at the EMW a small set of papers that contribute to the development of qualitative and multi-method research methodology. Selection focuses on the intellectual and methodological promise of proposals, and the contributions that applicants and their proposed work make to the QMMR community.

The workshop covers round-trip airfare, two nights hotel stay (arranged by the EMW), and meals and refreshments during the workshop day.

Each workshop presenter is paired with a “methods mentor” — a senior scholar in the QMMR community with expertise in the area of their proposed paper — to support them as they develop their paper. Presenters are required to circulate a well-developed version of their paper to workshop participants by a deadline set in advance. Presenters revise their papers after the workshop with the continued support of their mentors and the broader EMW community before submitting to a peer-reviewed journal. Work presented at the EMW is featured in a symposium in a subsequent issue of Qualitative and Multi-Method Research. EMW presenters are also invited to present an early version of their paper at the annual Virtual EMW (EMW-V) in early spring, and to attend EMW-related events at APSA conferences and future EMWs, as well as to join future EMW-Vs.

Workshop Guidelines

The EMW is a closed event; only paper presenters, their mentors, and workshop organizers participate.

Authors must submit complete, polished drafts at least one week before the workshop. Papers not meeting quality standards will not be presented. All submitted papers are shared among workshop participants but kept confidential.

Each paper receives approximately one hour of dedicated discussion time, with one designated discussant plus commentary from a workshop organizer. Presenters should limit their opening remarks to 2–3 minutes. PowerPoint presentations are optional. The majority of the hour focuses on group discussion and feedback.

Authors are encouraged to revise their work after receiving feedback and to consult workshop participants about publication venues.

Contact: emw.qmer@gmail.com