case studies, content analysis and correlation analysis Flashcards
what is a correlation
the term correlation refers to a mathematical technique which measures relationship/ association between variables
what are the relationship between the two co - variables plotted on
such relationships are plotted on a scattergraph where each axis represents one of the variables investigated
what are the correlations/ association analysed by
it is analysed by using statistical tests
what happens when a correlation is calculated
two statistical tests of correlation when calculated produces a numerical value somewhere between -1 and +1
The closer the coefficient is to +1 or -1, the stronger the relationship between the co - variables is, the closer the co - efficient is to 0 the weaker the relationship is
However, coefficient that appear to indicate weak correlations can still e statistically significant - depends on the size of the data set
what does it mean to study a case psychology
to study a “case” in psychology is to provide a detailed and in- depth analysis of an individual, group, institution or event
what does case studies often involve
it often involves analysis of unusual individuals/ events, such as a person with a rare disorder or the sequence of events that led to to 2011 London riots
It also may concentrate on more “typical” cases, such as an elderly person’s recollections of their childhood
what data does a case study produce
conducting a case study usually - though not exclusively involves the production of qualitative data
how long do case studies take place
tend to take place over a long period of time (longitudinal) and may involve gathering additional data from family an friends of the individual as well as the person themselves
what is content analysis
content analysis is a type of observational research in which people are studied indirectly via the communications they have produced
what are the different forms of communications
forms of communications that may be subject to content analysis are wide - ranging and may include spoken interaction (e.g. conversation or speech/ presentation),
written forms (e.g. text or emails) or broader examples (e.g. books, magazines, TV programmed or films)
what is coding the initial stage for
coding is the initial stage of content analysis
what is coding
some data sets to be analysed may be extremely large, (such as the transcripts of several dozen lengthy interviews) and so there is a need to categorise this info into meaningful units
This may involve simply counting up the number of times a particular word or phase in the text to produce a form of quantitative data
how does content analysis generate qualitative data
it uses thematic analysis which is the process of coding and the identification of themes may only emerge once data the been coded
what does a theme refer to in content analysis
a theme in content analysis refers to any idea, explicit or implicit, that is recurrent
- in other words, which keeps “cropping up” as the part of the communication being studied
These are more likely to be more descriptive than the coding units described previously
e.g. mentally ill may be represented in newspaper as a “threat to the well - being of our children” or as a “drain on the resources of the NHS”
These themes may then be developed into broader categoried, such as “control”, “stereotyping” or “treatment” of the mentally ill
what happens after the researcher is satisfied with the themes they developed
once researchers are satisfied with the themes they developed cover most aspects of the data they are analysing
they may collect a new set of data to test the validity of the themes and categories
Assuming the new data adequately validates the previous data, the researcher will write up the final report, typically using direct quotes from the data to illustrate each theme
