Chapter 9 Flashcards
Main Steps in qualitative research?
- Establish a general research
- Select a relevant site and subject
- Collect data
- Interpret the data
- Conceptual and theoretical work
- Writing up and finding/conclusion
Define establish a general research?
What interesting social issue are you studying? (e.g., are heavy users
of social media more likely to spend beyond their means?
Define select a relevant site and subject
Where is the research being conducted and who are the research
subjects? (e.g., young adults attending university)
Define collect data?
Determine which methods to use
– As suggested earlier, it may be more appropriate to use more than
one method (e.g., ethnographic observations and interviews)
Define interpret the data?
Determine the meanings that the research participant assigned to
activities that occur in the social environment (e.g., young adults
don’t worry about over-spending because they have student loans
and will worry about that later)
Define conceptual and theoretical work?
Evaluate the data related to your research question (e.g. what
meaning do the participants assign to their time spent on social
media and how does it contribute to their overall experiences of
everyday life?)
Tighter specification of the research question
(b) Collection of further data
– Interpreting and theorizing process is intermixed with data
collection
– Iterative process
– Data may confirm or contradict interpretation, which may lead
again to more data collection (e.g., more interviews with
research participants, perhaps some new or some revisited)
Define writing up and findings/conclusions?
Researcher must demonstrate the credibility of the research and
why the research matters
Criteria for evaluating qualitative research?
- Credibility
- Transferability
- Dependability
- Confirmability
Authenticity: the degree to which the research is transformative and
emancipatory for the people studied and society at large.
Define credibility?
Do the people studied agree with the interpretation of their thoughts
and actions offered by the researcher?
Define transferability
Can the findings be applied to other contexts or people not studied?
– Thick description helps to determine whether transferability is
possible
* Provides enough information to conduct later comparison to findings from
other studies
Define Dependability
Were proper procedures followed?
– Can the study’s theoretical inferences can be justified?
Define Confirmability
Did the researcher act in good faith?
– Did the researcher avoid unduly swaying the results?
What is the goal of qualitative research?
Seeing through the eyes of the studied
Emphasis on process
Flexibility and limited structure
Ultimate goals
Define Seeing through the eyes of the studied
Empathy
– Probing “beneath the surface” of social behaviour
– Seeing through the eyes of the people studied
* In-depth description and emphasis on context
– Behaviour that may seem odd or irrational may become more
understandable if the context is described
– Naturalism is an approach that helps the researcher gain an
understanding of the social context
– Observing people in their own environment
Define Emphasis on process
Showing how events and patterns unfold over time
* Long time spent in the field allows the researcher to
understand individual and social change and its context
* Can also be done with semi-structured interviewing,
unstructured interviewing, and life history approach
