Exam 1

Question 1

Positivism

Answer 1

A positivist orientation assumes that reality exists “out there”
and that it is observable, stable, and measurable. Knowledge gained
through the study of this reality has been labeled “scientific,” and it
included the establishment of “laws.” Experimental research
assumed a positivist stance.

Question 2

focus on meaning and understanding

Answer 2

FOCUS ON MEANING AND UNDERSTANDING
The overall purposes of qualitative research are to
achieve an understanding of how people make sense out of their
lives, delineate the process (rather than the outcome or product)
of meaning-making, and describe how people interpret what they
experience.

Question 3

qualitative research

Answer 3

[Qualitative research] is an effort to understand situations in
their uniqueness as part of a particular context and the interactions there. This understanding is an end in itself, so that it is
not attempting to predict what may happen in the future necessarily, but to understand the nature of that setting—what it
means for participants to be in that setting, what their lives are
like, what’s going on for them, what their meanings are, what the
world looks like in that particular setting—and in the analysis to
be able to communicate that faithfully to others who are interested in that setting. . . . The analysis strives for depth of
understanding. (p. 1)

Question 4

researcher as a primary instrument

Answer 4

A second characteristic of all forms of qualitative research is that the
researcher is the primary instrument for data collection and analysis. Since
understanding is the goal of this research, the human instrument,
which is able to be immediately responsive and adaptive, would
seem to be the ideal means of collecting and analyzing data.

However, the human instrument has shortcomings and biases
that can have an impact on the study.

Question 5

AN INDUCTIVE PROCESS

Answer 5

Often qualitative researchers undertake a qualitative study because
there is a lack of theory or an existing theory fails to adequately
explain a phenomenon. Therefore, another important characteristic of qualitative research is that the process is inductive; that is,
researchers gather data to build concepts, hypotheses, or theories
rather than deductively testing hypotheses as in positivist research.
Qualitative researchers build toward theory from observations and
intuitive understandings gleaned from being in the field. Bits and
pieces of information from interviews, observations, or documents
are combined and ordered into larger themes as the researcher
works from the particular to the general. Typically, findings inductively derived from the data in a qualitative study are in the form of
themes, categories, typologies, concepts, tentative hypotheses, and
even theory about a particular aspect of practice

Question 6

rich description

Answer 6

Finally, the product of a qualitative inquiry is richly descriptive. Words
and pictures rather than numbers are used to convey what the
researcher has learned about a phenomenon. There are likely to
be descriptions of the context, the participants involved, and the
WHAT IS QUALITATIVE RESEARCH? 17
Merriam, S. B., & Tisdell, E. J. (2015). Qualitative research : A guide to design and implementation. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated.
Created from byu on 2023-10-23 20:00:13. Copyright © 2015. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. All rights reserved.
activities of interest. In addition, data in the form of quotes from
documents, field notes, and participant interviews, excerpts from
videotapes, electronic communication, or a combination of these
are always included in support of the findings of the study. These
quotes and excerpts contribute to the descriptive nature of qualitative research.

Question 7

Other characteristics of qualitative research

Answer 7

A questioning stance with regard to your work and life context. Qualitative research is a means of answering questions, so you must
first look with a questioning eye to what is happening in your
life. Why are things the way they are?
High tolerance for ambiguity. The design of a qualitative study is
flexible, relevant variables are not known ahead of time, findings are inductively derived in the data analysis process, and so
on. Thus one has to be comfortable with the ebb and flow of a
qualitative investigation and trust in the process.
Being a careful observer. Conducting observations is a systematic
process, not a casual occurrence; you can increase your skill in
observing through practice.
Asking good questions. Interviewing is often the primary data collection strategy in qualitative studies. Getting good data in an
18 QUALITATIVE RESEARCH:AGUIDE TO DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION
Merriam, S. B., & Tisdell, E. J. (2015). Qualitative research : A guide to design and implementation. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated.
Created from byu on 2023-10-23 20:00:13. Copyright © 2015. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. All rights reserved.
interview is dependent on your asking well-chosen open-ended
questions that can be followed up with probes and requests for
more detail.
Thinking inductively. Data analysis requires the ability to think
inductively, moving from specific raw data to abstract categories
and concepts.
Comfort with writing. Since findings are presented in words
(sometimes also making use of images), not numbers as in
quantitative research, a report of a qualitative study requires
more writing. The final product is typically longer than a quantitative write-up

Question 8

An essential part of qualitative inquiry is understanding experience

Answer 8

Qualitative researchers are interested in understanding how people interpret their experiences,
how they construct their worlds, and what meaning they attribute
to their experiences. For example, rather than studying retired
adults to find out the percentage and characteristics of those who
take on part-time jobs after retirement, which could be done
through a survey, we might be more interested in how people
adjust to retirement, how they think about this phase of their lives,
the process they engaged in when moving from full-time work to
retirement, and so on. These questions are about understanding
their experiences and would call for a qualitative design. W

Question 9

basic research

Answer 9

Research is typically
divided into the categories of basic and applied. Basic research is
motivated by intellectual interest in a phenomenon and has as its
goal the extension of knowledge. Although basic research may
eventually inform practice, its primary purpose is to know more
about a phenomenon.

Question 10

applied research

Answer 10

Applied research is undertaken to improve the quality of practice of a particular discipline. Applied social science researchers
Merriam, S. B., & Tisdell, E. J. (2015). Qualitative research : A guide to design and implementation. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. 3
Created from byu on 2023-10-23 20:00:13. Copyright © 2015. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. All rights reserved.
generally are interested in speaking to an audience different from
that of basic researchers. They hope their work will be used by
administrators and policymakers to improve the way things are
done.

Question 11

data

Question 12

basic studies

Answer 12

In summary, all qualitative research is interested in how meaning is constructed, how people make sense of their lives and their
worlds. The primary goal of a basic qualitative study is to uncover
and interpret these meanings

Question 13

ehtnography

Answer 13

The factor that unites all forms of ethnography is its focus on
human society and culture. Although culture has been variously
defined, it essentially refers to the beliefs, values, and attitudes that
structure the behavior patterns of a specific group of people.
D’Andrade (1992) outlines the criteria used to determine what
is called cultural

Question 14

phenomonology

Answer 14

Phenomenologists are not interested in modern science’s efforts to
categorize, simplify, and reduce phenomena to abstract laws.
Rather, phenomenologists are interested in our “lived experience”
(Van Manen, 2014, p. 26); such a focus requires us to go directly
“‘to the things themselves’ . . . to turn toward phenomena which
had been blocked from sight by the theoretical patterns in front of
them” (Spiegelberg, 1965, p. 658). Phenomenology is a study of
people’s conscious experience of their life-world; that is, their
“everyday life and social action” (Schram, 2003, p. 71). Van Manen
(2014) explains it this way: “Phenomenology is the way of access to
the world as we experience it prereflectively. Prereflective experience is the ordinary experience that we live in and that we live
through for most, if not all, of our day-to-day existence”

Question 15

mixed methods

Answer 15

One approach to developing a study about community development in your neighborhood — in which you would gather information and, ideally, facilitate community involvement — is to conduct a mixed methods research study.

Question 16

exploratory mixed methods research

Answer 16

In the exploratory mixed methods research design (Creswell, 2015), the qualitative data are collected fi rst, and then a survey is created based on an analysis of the qualitative data. One generally employs this method of research when little is known about a particular population or subject, and the qualitative data are used to explore and de fi ne the topic in order to create a survey instrument to gather data from a larger sample.

Question 17

purposeful sampling

Answer 17

Purposeful sampling is based on the
assumption that the investigator wants to discover, understand,
and gain insight and therefore must select a sample from which
the most can be learned.

The criteria you establish for purposeful sampling
directly reflect the purpose of the study and guide in the identification of information-rich cases.

Question 18

Types of purposeful sampling: typical

Answer 18

A typical sample would be one that is selected because it reflects
the average person, situation, or instance of the phenomenon of
interest. When using a typical purposeful sampling strategy, you
want to “highlight what is typical, normal, and average”

Question 19

types of purposeful sampling: atypical/unique

Answer 19

A unique sample is based on unique, atypical, perhaps rare
attributes or occurrences of the phenomenon of interest. You
would be interested in them because they are unique or atypical

Question 20

types of purposeful sampling: maximum variation

Answer 20

ces of the phenomenon (Miles, Huberman, &
Saldaña, 2014, p. 36). Maximum variation sampling of high school
graduates would involve identifying and seeking out those who
represent the widest possible range of the characteristics of interest
for the study.

Question 21

types of purposeful sampling: convenience

Answer 21

you select a sample based on time, money, location, availability of sites
or respondents, and so on. Although some dimension of convenience almost always figures into sample selection, selection made
on this basis alone is not very credible and is likely to produce
“information-poor” rather than information-rich cases

Question 22

types of purposeful sampling: snowball

Answer 22

This strategy involves
locating a few key participants who easily meet the criteria you
have established for participation in the study. As you interview
these early key participants, you ask each one to refer you to other
participants. “By asking a number of people who else to talk with,
the snowball gets bigger and bigger as you accumulate new information-rich cases”

Question 23

saturation: what is the right sample size

Answer 23

recommend sampling until a point of saturation or redundancy is
reached. “In purposeful sampling the size of the sample is determined by informational considerations. If the purpose is to maximize information, the sampling is terminated when no new
information is forthcoming from new sampled units; thusredundancy
is the primary criterion” (p. 202, emphasis in original).
Reaching a point of saturation or redundancy means that you
begin hearing the same responses to your interview questions or
seeing the same behaviors in observations; no new insights are
forthcoming. It is impossible to know ahead of time when saturation might occur. In order to recognize that your data is saturated,
you must engage in analysis along with data collection

Question 24

mixed methods: convergent

Answer 24

both the qualitative and quantitative data are collected more or less simultaneously; both data sets are analyzed and the results are compared.

Question 25

mixed methods: explanatory

Answer 25

the quantitative data are collected fi rst; the collection of the qualitative data follows, generally with the purpose of explaining the results or a particular part of the fi ndings in more depth.

Question 26

mixed methods: exploratory

Answer 26

the qualitative data are collected fi rst, and then a survey is created based on an analysis of the qualitative data. One generally employs this method of research when little is known about a particular population or subject, and the qualitative data are used to explore and de fi ne the topic in order to create a survey instrument to gather data from a larger sample.

Question 27

interview structure continuum

Answer 27

see screen shot

Question 28

basics of good questions

Answer 28

The way in which questions are worded is a crucial consideration in extracting the type of information desired. An obvious place to begin is by making certain that what is being asked is clear to the person being interviewed. Questions need to be couched in familiar language.
experience/behavior
opinion/values
feelings
knowldege
sensory
demographic/background

Question 29

questions to avoid

Answer 29

: multiple, leading, yes/no]
asking why?
1. Hypothetical questions — Ask what the respondent might do, or what it might be like in a particular situation; these usually begin with “ what if ” or “ suppose. ”
2. Devil ’ s advocate questions — The respondent is challenged to consider an opposing view or explanation to a situation.
3. Ideal position questions — Ask the respondent to describe an ideal situation.
4. Interpretive questions — The researcher advances tentative explanations or interpretations of what the respondent has been saying and asks for a reaction.

Question 30

how to record interviews

Answer 30

How to record: digital, notes, record later

Question 31

the interview guide

Answer 31

The interview guide, or schedule as it is sometimes called, is nothing more than a list of questions you intend to ask in an interview.

Question 32

focus group interviews

Answer 32

data collection occurs in and is facilitated by, a group setting ”

As a method of collecting data in qualitative research, a focus group is an interview on a topic with a group of people who have knowledge of the topic. Since the data obtained from a focus group is socially constructed within the interaction of the group, a constructivist perspective underlies this data collection procedure. Hennink (2014) explains: “ Perhaps the most unique characteristic of focus group research is the interactive discussion through which data are generated, which leads to a different type of data not accessible through individual interviews. During the group discussion participants share their views, hear the views of others, and perhaps re fi ne their own views in light of what they have heard

ideal size =5-8 people

Question 33

non research in mind created content usable?

Answer 33

You need to know that documents, including photos and maps, produced for
purposes that are non-research related can be used in our inquiries

Question 34

observations vs interviews

Answer 34

Observations can be distinguished from interviews in two ways. First, observations take place in the setting where the phenomenon of interest naturally occurs rather than a location designated for the purpose of interviewing; second, observational data represent a fi rsthand encounter with the phenomenon of interest rather than a secondhand account of the world obtained in an interview.

Question 35

why use observations

Answer 35

Natural setting & no recall required

Question 36

how to observe see screenshot

Answer 36

see screenshot

Question 37

how to record observations

Answer 37

What is written down or mechanically recorded from a period of observation becomes the raw data from which a study ’ s fi ndings eventually emerge. This written account of the observation constitutes fi eld notes, which are analogous to the interview transcript. In both forms of data collection, the more complete the recording, the easier it is to analyze the data. How much can be captured during an observation? The answer depends on the researcher ’ s role and the extent to which he or she is a participant in the activity. On-site recording can thus range from continuous (especially for a total observer) to taking sketchy notes to not recording anything at all during an observation.

Question 38

photovoice data

Answer 38

This technique of photo elicitation where participants can be provided disposable cameras and asked to take pictures of the phenomenon of interest, is also sometimes called photovoice . Photovoice has been used in participatory action research and in promoting grassroots social action, especially in community development, public health, and education.

Question 39

data mining: document types

Answer 39

public records, personal documents, popular cultural docs, visual documents, artifacts

Question 40

terms: rigor, credibility, dependability, triangulation, member/peer checks

Answer 40

Rigor: process of making our experiment more trustworthy/of sufficient quality
Credibility: understandable, makes sense to the viewer
Transferability: how far can this be applied, is this only locally true: different in qualitative
Dependability: repeatability/consistency: if we did it over and over would we find the same thing: a little bit different in qualitative more general
Triangulation: Trying to get data and background on your project from more than one place.: we’re doing two now: primary data and background: normally you would have one more piece to make the triangle.: could be a place or a differing method of collecting data.
Member/peer checks: check in with people from whom you collected data, do they think it’s true or totally off, way of verifying your findings, same thing with people outside of the experiment who are your peers or who have a relevant perspective.
Clearly defined study identity: it’s a triangle: 1 theory (lens through which you are looking at your project may be influenced through background research or literature you’ve been reading, or formal: using a formal qualitative theory to frame your questions and experiment), 2 methods, 3 epistemology: ex: whoever is conducting the experiment changes the data, data collection or reviewing methods, or

Question 41

general process of qualitative data collection

Answer 41

Data Units: the data minus the fluff/wordiness in answers
Themes: not one single answer, a group of answers that relate, co connect, etc.

Open thematic coding: data analysis process
Organize and familiarize w/ data
Identify data units
Group units somehow and name=theme (up to you to define and then explain/describe)
Reconsider groupings (discover new relationships)
Reporting out (without diluting the story)
Look for things in the data that best help answer the question or the main question