HaDSoc 2.2- social science research methods.

Question 1

Why do we need social science research?

Answer 1

To understand better about patients social lives.

Question 2

Why do doctors specifically need to know about social science research methods?

Answer 2

Many policies are based on the research, so you need to be able to access, appraise and use the research.

Question 3

What are the 2 main groups of social science research?

Answer 3

• quantitative

- qualitative

Question 4

Broadly, what is quantitative research?

Answer 4

Using numerical data to research a hypothesis and draw conclusions.

Question 5

What are some designs/ways of doing quantitative research?

Answer 5

• RCT
• Cohort
• case control study
• census
• national surverys (eg by charities)
• local and regional surverys (eg via NHS organisations)

Question 6

What is the main form of gathering quantitative data for research?

Answer 6

Questionaires

Question 7

What 2 things must questionaires be?

Answer 7

VALID

RELIABLE

Question 8

What does Valid mean, in terms of questionaires?

Answer 8

Does the questionaire measure what it’s supposed to?

Question 9

What does reliable mean, in terms of questionaires?

Answer 9

does it measure things consistently?
Any differences in response should be due to differences between participants, not due to differences in interpretation of the question.

Question 10

What’s the difference between a published and an unpublished questionnaire?

Answer 10

published questionaires have been tested for validity and reliability, so you can be more confident using them.

Unpublished have not been tested for validity or reliability so you have to use them with more caution.

Question 11

How can questionnaires be completed? What are any issues surrounding this?

Answer 11

self completed- eg on paper
administered- eg over the phone, internet or interview (this runs the risk of different administers asking questions differently, and so there can be inconsistency)

Question 12

What types of questions are found in questionnaires?

Answer 12

mainly closed

Some have open questions, eg blank boxes, further comments.

Question 13

What’s the problem with open ended questions in a questionnaire?

Answer 13

thay take longer to complete so are less likely to be filled in.
They are harder to analyse.

Question 14

What are the positives of quantitative research?

Answer 14

• good at measuring
• good at describing
• good for comparisons and finding relationships
• easier to analyse

Question 15

What are some negatives of quantitative research?

Answer 15

• it can force some people into inappropriate boxes
• It doesn’t give people the chance to express themselves how they’d want to
• You may not get all the important information you need (by not asking the right questions)
• may not be good at establishing causality.

Question 16

Broadly, what is qualitative research?

Answer 16

looking more at patients experiences and persepective on situaitions. Better at providing insight into patients behavior.

Question 17

What are the 4 main categories of qualitative research?

Answer 17

observation
interviews
focus groups
documents

Question 18

What is ethnography?

Answer 18

study peoples behavior in it’s natural context

Question 19

What are the 2 forms of ethnography?

Answer 19

Participant observation- the observer in actively participating in a role, eg being a clinician on a ward

Non participation observation- observer acts as a fly on the wall, only job is to observe.

Question 20

What are some positives of ethnography?

Answer 20

It allows you to see first hand people’s behaviors.
You may find things that pateints wouldn’t have disclosed becuase they wouldnt have seen it to be relevant.
It removes pateints bias about their own accounts.

Question 21

What is one major downside of observation?

Answer 21

It’s very labour intensive.

Question 22

How are interviews conducted?

Answer 22

They’re semi-structured and patient lead,
More conversational in style
They allow patients to fully express themselves, with no leading questions by the interviewer

Question 23

What are some issues surrounding interviews?

Answer 23

Patients chose what they tell you, can give biased accounts.
Interviewers may ask questions slightly differently, so responses may be different.

Question 24

What are focus groups?

Answer 24

small group of people all sharing views together.

Question 25

What are some issues surrounding patient groups?

Answer 25

• deviant views may not be expressed
• not so good for individual experiences
• difficult to organise
• may get one or 2 people overshadowing everybody else
• if doctors and nurses etc there, may be a power hierarchy
• a good facilitator is required to get everyone involved equally.

Question 26

What is documentary analysis?

Answer 26

Looking at medical records and pateint diaries.

Somewhere between observing and interviewing.

Question 27

What are teh advantages of documentary analysis?

Answer 27

• gives the inside story
• can provide histroical context
• Can be used to analyse media stories

Question 28

What are some disadvantages of documentary analysis?

Answer 28

• Labour intensive

- Requires a lot of analysis to try and establish common themes- need coding of the date (inductive approach)

Question 29

Overall, what are the advantages of qualitative research?

Answer 29

• provides insight into personal perspectives,
• can access infromation not fund by quantitative research.
• good for explaining relationships between variables (why certain things happen)

Question 30

Overall, what are some disadvantages of qualitative research?

Answer 30

• Difficult to find consistent relationships
• Can’t generalise the information, each account is individual and you can’t assume it’s representative of larger samples

Question 31

What’s needs to happen when appraising qualitative research?

Answer 31

• needs to be shown to be transparent
• There should be an audit trail
• some tools (such as the CASP tool) can be used to look at the rigour, crdibility and relevance of the research)