Exam prep Flashcards
“Can you tell me about your experiences of going to
school during the 1970s?” is an example of a question
that is most likely to be asked in a/an:
Unstructured Interview
In _______ research, recording reflective notes about
what you are learning from your data during data
analysis is called_______.
Grounded Theory; Memoing
What is member-checking?
Member checking, also known as participant or respondent validation, is a technique for exploring the credibility of results. Data or results are returned to participants to check for accuracy and resonance with their experiences.
Name three different types of coding used in a Thematic Analysis. Describe how they differ
Descriptive
- Information about whole case (e.g. participant demographics)
Topic
- Systematic coding of text by topic (“hack work”)
Analytical
- Emerging themes
- Requires interpretation
There are four elements of research. Provide two examples and define them.
Epistemology is the theory of knowledge, especially with regard to its methods, validity, and scope, and the distinction between justified belief and opinion. Two examples of an epistemology is objectivism and constructivism.
The theoretical perspective is a set of assumptions about reality that inform the questions we ask and the kinds of answers we arrive at as a result. Two examples of theoretical perspectives we use in research are positivism and feminism.
A methodology is system of methods used in a particular area of study or activity. Two examples of methodology we use in reserch are surverys and grounded theory.
Method are the tools we use to aquire knowledge. Two examples of methods used in research are observations and interviews.
What is a suitable opening question for an interview guide?
What brought you to participate in this research today?
You are concerned that you own experiences may impact on the research. Name two activities that you could complete to minimise this.
Bracketing is a term in the philosophical movement of phenomenology describing the act of suspending judgment about the natural world to instead focus on analysis of experience. Need to set aside own assumptions so that you ‘hear’ the views of
your interviewees.
Bringing on more researchers
What are some of the common ethical issues in research?
a) Informed consent (Is it a fully capable adult, a parent giving consent for a child who doesnt want to, both a parent and child)
b) Beneficence- Do not harm (If by participating in research do they have any potential risks?)
c) Respect for anonymity and confidentiality (Will others find out they were apart of the research and see there results)
d) Respect for privacy
Name three qualities that characterise a case study design?
- Must be a bounded system/s (Concrete (individual, group, organisation or less-concrete (relationship, process, community)
- Must be bounded such that there are clear parameters (time period, particular setting)
- A unit of analysis in a case study may be a single case (within-site; e.g., single program) or multiple cases (multisite; e.g., several programs)
- rarely conducted in retrospect
- convey an in depth understanding, the end product is a rich, thick description of the phenomenon being studied
- Explore existing phenomenon
Name five sources of data that you could collect as a part of this research
Interviews, surveys, observation, narratives, reports, official douments, focus groups, data previously collects, feild notes, ect
What is qualitative research?
“Research which is based on rich textual rather than
numerical data”
Qualitative Research is primarily exploratory research. It is used to gain an understanding of underlying reasons, opinions, and motivations. It provides insights into the problem or helps to develop ideas or hypotheses for potential quantitative research
Describe and explain the Big Q and little q of qualitative research?
Q = “open-ended inductive research methodologies…concerned with theory generation and the exploration of meanings” q = “incorporation of non-numerical data collection techniques into hypothetico-deductive research designs” – e.g.: adding some open questions to a closed survey
q – doesn’t seek to understand how research participants construe meaning
have pre-defined hypothesis and categories
Q – reflexivity etc, don’t use variables, describe and explain NOT predict
What are procedural ethics?
Procedural ethics are Obtaining ethical clearance for your study, Consent forms and participant information sheets
What are Virtue Ethics /ethics in practice ?
How researchers address (unanticipated) ethical issues as they arise during the research process
Could be prompted by a ‘gut feeling’, your epistemology or emotional reaction
How do you deal with participants becoming distressed during research?
- Take a break, change topic
- Provide opportunity for participant to express his/her
reactions/concerns/thoughts - Phone the next day
- With sensitive topics, identify support mechanisms
- Important you also have opportunity to debrief
Differences between qualitative and quantitative research?
Quantitative:
- hypothetico-deductive approach
- linear process
- deduction (‘top down’)
- reducing to numbers from surveys, experiments, behavioural coding, etc.
- Realist
Qualitative:
- induction (‘bottom up’)
- iterative
- a ‘dance’
- text from field notes, interviews, conversations, photographs, videos, artefacts, archives, participant observation, text from media, books, focus group interactions, etc.
- Relativist
Provide an overview of the reserach process?
- Identify a philosophical foundation
- Frame a research problem
- Determine supporting knowledge
- Identify a theory base
- Propose research question(s)
- Select a design strategy (i.e., methodology)
- Set study boundaries
- Data collection and analysis and drawing of conclusions
- Use and disseminate findings
What makes for a good overarching research
question?
Avoids quantitative language (Compare, relate, infleunce, cause, effect)
Uses qualitative language (Explore, Understand, Deconstruct)
The first word allows for an open ended question to be asked (How, what)
An overarching qualitative research question cannot be answered with ‘yes’ or ‘no’
Basic template of an overeaching question?
What does (phenonmenon) mean to (participant group)
What is the sampling technique we use in qualitative research?
Theoretical sampling: Select people/sites who can best help us understand our phenomenon
What are some teoretical sampling techniques?
Convenience sampling: is a non-probability sampling technique where subjects are selected because of their convenient accessibility and proximity to the researcher.
snowball samplingis a nonprobability sampling technique where existing study subjects recruit future subjects from among their acquaintances.
typical case sampling: a typical result would be one that reflected the average result found in the whole population
A interview with prescribed questions in prescribed order, would be what kind of interview?
Structured interview
A interview with broad question with probes on known areas of inquiry, would be what kind of itnerview?
Semi-structured interview
A interview with the following question, would be what kind of interview?
“what is it like to experience……”
Unstructured interview
