11. Doing qualitative research Flashcards
define paradigm
a parttern or model
what is the positivist paradigm of social research
to discover universal laws
to predict and control events
what is the constructionist paradigm of social research?
to understand social life and how people construct meanings
what is the paradigm or logic of quantitative research?
positivism
deductive approaches to theory
test theory
what is the paradigm or logic of qualitative research?
social constructionism
build knowledge inductively
generate theory
what are the design characteristics of quantitative research
fixed to control for extraneous variables
what are the design characteristics of qualitative research
flexible responds to context naturalistic enquiry
what are the methods of quantitative research?
experimental design
surveys
structured observations
what are the methods of qualitative research?
in-depth interviews (narratives and stories)
naturalistic observations
analysis of text/images/videos
what is the analysis for quantitative research?
use frequencies and statistics
what are the analysis methods for qualitative research?
non-numerical analysis of text focus on underlying meanings and patterns of reltionships
what is the sample seeking to generalise to in quantitative research?
generalise to population
what is the sample seeking to generalise in qualitative research?
generalisation to theory
what guides the research process
sensitising conceps
what does the research process aim to do?
aims ot understand local knowledge and practices
what is the starting point of sensitising concepts?
research question
what questions do qualitative approaches aim to answer?
why?
How?
what is the qualiatative approach used for?
answering why and how questions
one of few cases
subjective experience and meaning
theory building
what is the basic process of qualitative research?
theoretical framework –> research design and methodology –> research methods
what does one paradigm equal?
several theoretical frameworks
what is the interpretative approach
an approach that is interests in in depth investigation of subjective meanings and experiences
what are methods of the interpretative approach
phenomenoloy
narrative approaches
ethnomenthadology
what is the critical approach?
an approach that is interested in how social, cultural and historical discourses shape (and are shaped) by subjective meanings and experiences
what are the fundamental topics that the critical approaches aim to address?
feminism
psychosocial studies
psychoanalytic and Marxist analysis
what are research designs in qualitative research?
ethnography action research (and other participatory designs) (multiple-)case study research
what does ethnography focus on?
the discovery and description of the culture of a group of people
what is the root of ethnography?
social anthropology
what is ethnography a study of?
a detailed study of groups in their natural setting
what is the researcher in ethnographic studies?
a stranger to the situation being studied. he is immersed in the fields for extended periods of time