Epistemology, research questions and interviews

Question 1

what is qualitative research?

Answer 1

an approach to data collection that explores the world of the ppt via their experiences, explores behaviour by asking people what they do and how they do it

Question 2

what 3 things does qualitative research aim NOT to be?

Answer 2

objective, representative, replicable

Question 3

what main thing does qualitative research aim too be?

Answer 3

systematic! (still scientific due to the way the data is analysed in a systematic way)

Question 4

what type of methods provide a subjective perspective and is collected in qualitative data?

Answer 4

transcripts of interviews/focus groups, diary entries

Question 5

asks the philosophical question about what is knowledge, belief and truth = ?

Answer 5

epistemology

Question 6

quantitative and qualitative research have different ________ ________ about what we believe is reality and how we can access this reality

Answer 6

epistemological assumptions

Question 7

does qualitative research take more or a relativist or positivist approach?

Answer 7

more relativist (not one reality but many, people’s subjective experiences of reality)

Question 8

is qualitative inductive or deductive in nature?

Answer 8

inductive

Question 9

how is qualitative research inductive?

Answer 9

starts with observations then a more general theory is formed, aims to find general themes/possible viewpoints, not the expectation that there is 1 best answer, focuses on words rather than numbers

Question 10

researcher reflects upon their own attitudes, values and experiences in the social and political context =

Answer 10

reflexivity

Question 11

what are the main ideas behind relativism and qualitative research?

Answer 11

doesn’t aim to be objective but subjective, different assumptions and methods needed to examine complex phenomena

Question 12

what is the relativist position?

Answer 12

truth is created and sustained through subjective social processes, look at how people make sense of the world through perspectives, beliefs and experiences

Question 13

why is the idea of one reality problematic to a relativist?

Answer 13

because everyone has different representations of the world > knowledge is subjective as we all experience it in different ways

Question 14

what are the 3 types of one to one interview?

Answer 14

structured, semi-structured, unstructured

Question 15

what are the different types of questions?

Answer 15

closed, open, leading, non-leading, probes

Question 16

main questions should be what 3 types pf questions?

Answer 16

open, non-leading and descriptive

Question 17

why is the role of the interviewer key in interviews?

Answer 17

influences the interview through reflexive practices, data is co-produced between interviewer and participant, depends what interviewer focuses on and asks

Question 18

what are Steiner Kvale’s 10 criteria of a good interviewer?

Answer 18

knowledgeable, clear, structured, gentle, sensitive, open, steering, critical, remembers, interprets (also balanced and ethically sensitive)