Interpretivism And Qualitative Research Methods

Question 0

Advantages of focus groups are;

Answer 0

• Allows researchers to understand why people hold certain opinion
• studies group views and interactions
• dynamic, with people probing each other’s views and defending their own views

Question 1

Focus groups are..

Answer 1

Groups consisting of a relatively small number of people who are requested to discuss a specific topic

Question 2

Limitations of focus groups are;

Answer 2

• researchers have limited control over what happens. The group discussion can veer off into irrelevant areas
• generates huge amount of data which is not clearly structured. Difficult to analyse
• membership of focus groups needs to be carefully run to ensure real discussion, & ‘louder’ people who dominate discussion need to be controlled

Question 3

Covert observation

Answer 3

Where the researcher does not make it known to the group under observation that they are being observed

Question 4

Overt observation

Answer 4

Where the researcher is open about the research role

Question 5

Participant observation

Answer 5

Where the researcher joins a group of people and studies their behaviour

Question 6

Non-participant observation

Answer 6

Where the researcher simply observes the group but not not seek to join in their activities

Question 7

Triangulation (multi strategy research)

Answer 7

A term often used to describe the use of multiple methods (qualitative and quantitative) in research