Chapter Nine Flashcards
Inductive/Deductive
I: Begins with data collection results in theories, hypotheses, and concepts.
D: Begins with theories, hypotheses, and concepts and results in data collection
Constructionist
An ontological position (the antithesis of objectivism) according to which social phenomena and their meanings are continually being created by social actors; also known as constructivism.
Interpretivist
An epistemological position that requires the social scientist to grasp the subjective meanings that people attach to their actions and behaviours.
Naturalistic
A style of research designed to minimize disturbance to the natural or everyday social world.
Ethnography
Like participant observation, a research method in which the researcher is immersed in a social setting for an extended period of time, observing behaivour, asking questions, and analyzing what is said in conversations with both between subjects and with the fieldworker. As a term, “ethnography” is more inclusive than “participant observation,” which emphasizes the observational component. Written accounts of ethnographic research are often referred to as ethnographies.
Participant Observation
Research in which fieldworkers are immersed in a social setting for an extended period of time, observing behaviour, asking questions, and analyzing what is said in conversations both between the people under study and with the researcher. It usually includes interviewing key informants and studying documents. In this book, “participant observation” refers to the observational aspect of ethnography.
Unstructured Interviewing
An interview in which the interviewer is free to explore any topic, although an interview guide is often used. The questioning is usually informal and the content, phrasing and sequencing of questions may vary from one interview to the next.
Focus Groups
A form of group interview in which there are several participants (in addition to the oderator/facilitator); there is an emphasis in the quesioning on a particular topic or related topics; and interaction within the group and the joint construction of meaning is observed.
Discourse Analysis
An approach to the analysis of talk and other forms of communication that emphasizes the way language can create versions of reality.
Conversation Analysis
The fine-grained analysis of talk (recorded in naturally occuring situations and then transcribed) to uncover the underlying structures in interaction that make social order possible. Conversation analysis is grounded in ethnomethodology.
Critical Discourse Analysis
A type of content analysis that brings issues such as power hierarchies, structural inequalities, and historical political struggles to bear on the analyses of texts.
Texts
A written document or, in more recent years, anything (from paintings to buildings to theme parks) that may be “read” and analyzed for its symbolic value.
Participatory Action Research
Research in which local people affected by a particular social problem collaborate as equals with professional researchers and government officials to generate knowledge pertinent to the problem and to take action to ameliorate it.
Grounded Theory
An approach to the analysis of qualitative data in which the goal is to use the data to generate theory; the data collection and analysis proceed in an iterative (recursive) fashion.
“Sensitizing” Concepts
A concept that is not fixed in advance (as with an operational definition) but rather is treated as a guide that suggests what may be relevant or important in an investigation
