Chapter 9: Qualitative Methods Flashcards
Qualitative methods
Methods, such as participant obsevation, intensive interviewing, and focus groups, that are designed to capture social life as participants experience it, rather than in categories the researcher predetermines. These methods typically involve exploratory research questions, inductive reasoning, and orientation to social context, and a focus on human subjectivity and the meanings particpants attach to events and to their lives
Field research
Research in which natural social processes are studied as they happen and left relatively undisturbed
Ethnography
The study and systematic recording of human cultures
Netnography (cyberethnography and virtual ethongraphy)
The use of ethnographic methods to study online communities
Ethnomethodology
A qualitative research method focused on the way that participants in a social setting creeate and sustain a sense of reality
Participant observation
A qualitative method for gathering data that involves devloping a sustained relationship with people while they go about their normal activities
Complete observation
A role in participant observation in which the researcher does not participate in group activities and is publically defined as a researcher
Reactive effects
The changes in an individual or group behavior that result from being observed or otherwise studied
Complete (covert) participation
A role in field research in which the researcher does not reveal his or her identity as a researcher to those who are observed.
Gatekeeper
A person in a field setting who can grant researchers access to the setting
Key informant
An insider who is willing and able to provide a field researcher with superior access and information, including answers to questions that arise during the research
Theoretical sampling
A sampling method recommended for field researchers by Glaser and Strauss (1967). A theoretical sample is drawn in a sequential fashion, with settings or individuals selected for study as earlier observations or interviews indicate that these settings or individuals are influential
Field notes
Notest that describe what has been observed, heard, or otherwise experienced in a participant observation study. These notes usually are written after the observational session.
Jettings
Brief notes written in the field about highlights of an observation period
Intensive (depth) interviewing
A qualitative method that involves open-ended, relatively unstructured questioning in which the interviewer seeks in-depth information ont he interviewee’s feelings, experiences, and perceptions
