Chapter 12 - "Classical Qualitative Methods" Flashcards
hermeneutic approach
An approach to research that focuses on the particular meaning that specific actions have for those who engage in them.
participant involvement
Research practice that acknowledges the role that participants play in research and that seeks to involve them in as much of the research process as possible.
user involvement
Research practice that acknowledges the need to do research that is of benefit to particular communities and that seeks to involve potential users in as much of the research process as possible.
contigent repertoire
A way of accounting for specific endeavour and progress that draws attention to the role played by subjective, human factors beyond the realm of empirical phenomena under investigation.
delphi group method
A method for collecting qualitative and quantitative data in which members of a group respond individually to questionnaires on a given topic, their responses are collated and discussed by the group as a whole, and members then complete a second questionnaire. The method is often used to generate and evaluate ideas in organizational and clinical settings.
empiricist repertoire
A way of accounting for scientific endeavour and progress that focuses on the empirical phenomena under investigation and suggests that scientific activity serves as a neutral medium through which these are understood (i.e., the data ‘speak for themselves’).
focus groups
Methods for collecting qualitative data in which groups of participants discuss a series of questions pertaining to a particular topic. In this way, data emerge from the interaction of the participants rather than simple question-and-answer sequences. The technique is often used to see how people resolve differences and disagreement and how consensus about a particular issue emerges.
Q-sort
A qualitative research tool in which participants sort cards containing statements into piles associated with different points on a response dimension.
In its original form participants placed 100 cards with statements about personal characteristics into piles ranging from ‘not characteristic of me’ to ‘very characteristic of me’, and did so using a forced sort so that the number of cards in the piles corresponded to a normal distribution (i.e., so that 2 cards were placed in pile 0, 4, in pile 1, 6 in pile 2, 12 in pile 3, and so on).
reactive focus
Those aspects of a situation to which a research participant is sensitive when engaging in a particular behaviour (e.g., responding to a question). Accordingly, these aspects constitute the basis for any concerns about reactivity that a researcher might have.
repertory grid
A qualitative research tool used to gain access to participants’ personal constructs. Participants are first asked to identify similarities and differences between elements that are relevant to an aspect of their life. Regularities in the content of these similarities and differences are then used to gain an understanding of the way in which the participants subjectively organize their world.
verbal protocol
A qualitative research tool in which participants introspectively comment on a particular topic and their responses are coded using preestablished guidelines. The most common of these is the ‘thinking-aloud protocol’ used to gain insight into participants’ cognitive processes while performing particular tasks (e.g., playing chess or map reading).
classical qualitative methods
Approaches to qualitative psychological research that (a) accept the utility of the scientific method and (b) endorse — at least in part — the philosophy of realism, which suggests that it is possible to detect and characterize accurately features of psychological reality.
contextual qualitative methods
Approaches to qualitative psychological research that are sensitive to the perspective and experience of participants and researchers as well to the context in which research takes place.
sampling domain
The sources from which qualitative data are collected upon which analysis is performed.
analytic themes
Within thematic analysis, the core patterns that a researcher abstracts from a given set in order to capture the essence of that data set as it relates to the particular research project.
