Introduction to Qualitative research

Question 1

what is qualitative research?

Answer 1

a collection of methods and techniques used in the study of social phenomena or action

Question 2

what does qualitative research aim to do?

Answer 2

an in depth approach to understanding social action, focuses on the ‘insider perspective’, studies phenomena in its natural setting, seeks to describe and understand human behavior

Question 3

what does qualitative research focus on?

Answer 3

the ‘insider perspective’

Question 4

how/where does qualitative research study phenomena?

Answer 4

studies phenomena in its natural setting

Question 5

what does qualitative research seek to do?

Answer 5

seeks to describe and understand human behavior

Question 6

why is qualitative research important?

Answer 6

important in studying new areas that have not yet been explored - areas where variables are unknown or where little is known/understood about a phenomenon

Question 7

what informs the choice of qualitative research method used?

Answer 7

informed by the paradigm or perspective from which the research is approached

Question 8

what are research paradigms?

Answer 8

all-encompassing systems of interrelated practice and thinking that define for researchers the nature of their enquiry along three dimensions: ontology, epistemology and methodology

Question 9

what are the dimensions of research paradigms?

Answer 9

ontology, epistemology and methodology

Question 10

what does ontology refer to?

Answer 10

specifies the nature of reality that is to be studied and what can be known about it

Question 11

what does epistemology refer to?

Answer 11

specifies the nature of the relationship between the researcher and what can be known

Question 12

what does methodology refer to?

Answer 12

specifies how researchers may go about practically studying whatever they believe can be known

Question 13

what are examples of research paradigms?

Answer 13

interpretive, social constructivist

Question 14

what is the interpretive paradigm?

Answer 14

the researcher believes what is to be studied consists of people’s subjective experiences of the external world

Question 15

what is the social-constructivist paradigm?

Answer 15

researcher believes that reality consists of fluid and variable sets of social constructs

Question 16

what is the ontology for the interpretive paradigm?

Answer 16

internal reality of subjective experience

Question 17

what is the epistemology of the internal paradigm?

Answer 17

empathetic, observer subjectivity

Question 18

what is the methodology of the internal paradigm?

Answer 18

interactional, interpretation, qualitative

Question 19

what is the ontology for the social-constructivist paradigm?

Answer 19

socially constructed reality, discourse, power

Question 20

what is the epistemology for the social-constructivist paradigm?

Answer 20

suspicious, political, observer constructing versions

Question 21

what is the methodology for the social-constructivist paradigm?

Answer 21

deconstruction, textual analysis, discourse analysis

Question 22

when is the interpretive paradigm used?

Answer 22

when the researcher believes that what is to be studied consists of people’s subjective experiences of the external world

Question 23

when is the constructionist paradigm used?

Answer 23

when the researcher believes that reality consists or a fluid and variable set of social constructions

Question 24

what does the interpretive paradigm/perspective involve regarding ontology?

Answer 24

taking people’s subjective experiences seriously as the essence of what is real to them

Question 25

what does the interpretive paradigm/perspective involve regarding epistemology?

Answer 25

making sense of people’s experiences by interacting with them and listening to their stories

Question 26

what does the interpretive paradigm/perspective involve regarding methodology?

Answer 26

making use of qualitative research techniques to collect and analyze information

Question 27

what does interpretive research rely on?

Answer 27

first-hand accounts, describes what it sees in detail, and presents findings in engaging language

Question 28

what are the key principles for interpretive research?

Answer 28

understanding in context, positions the researcher as the primary instrument through which information is collected and analysed

Question 29

what does ‘understanding in context’ in interpretive research refer to?

Answer 29

understanding what the author meant, and understanding the context of the information written

Question 30

what does ‘understanding in context’ involve?

Answer 30

recontextualization - placing the text back into its context (understanding phenomena from the perspective of the subject)

Question 31

what does ‘the self as an instrument’ refer to in the interpretive research paradigm?

Answer 31

interacting with people in an empathetic manner in everyday naturalistic settings

Question 32

what skills does the interpretive research paradigm require?

Answer 32

listening, the ability for researchers to describe and interpret their own presence appropriately in a research project

Question 33

what does the constructionist paradigm seek to do?

Answer 33

analyze how signs and images have powers to create particular representations of people and objects

Question 34

what are/what goes into constructionist methods?

Answer 34

qualitative, interpretative and concerned with meaning

Question 35

what does the constructionist research paradigm focus on?

Answer 35

show how interpretive understandings and experiences are derived from larger discourses

Question 36

what is the difference between constructionist paradigm and interpretive paradigm?

Answer 36

social constructivist approaches treat people as though their thoughts, feelings and experiences were the products of systems of meaning that exist at a social rather than individual level

Question 37

what do interpretive and constructionist research paradigms have in common?

Answer 37

both constructionist and interpretive approaches draw on qualitative research methods

Question 38

how does the social-constructionist approach use language?

Answer 38

takes language seriously, considers the human life-world as constituted through language and language itself as the object of study - language is seen as constructing reality

Question 39

what is constructionism concerned with?

Answer 39

broader patterns of social meaning encoded in language

Question 40

what do social-constructivist researchers focus on?

Answer 40

language - the language used to tell stories, the actual stories that are told, the discursive strategies that are used to communicate certain messages

Question 41

what does social-constructionism aim for?

Answer 41

interpreting the social world as a kind of language, our actions are structured by the way in which the world is constructed

Question 42

what is social-constructionism?

Answer 42

an attempt to introduce an explicitly critical element to social science research

Question 42

what is idealism relating to constructionism?

Answer 42

the tendency for constructionist work to reduce everything language and therefore the world of ideas

Question 43

what is relativism relating to constructionism?

Answer 43

the idea that there are many truths, prompted by the social-constructionist assertion that all descriptions of reality are merely accounts and constructions