lecture 1 Flashcards
what are some characteristics of quantitative research?
- theory testing
- positivism
- use of numbers
- point of view from researcher
- hard, reliable data
what are some characteristics of qualitative research?
- inductive approach
- constructivism
- use of words
- point of view from the participants
- rich, deep data
study of meaning:
quantitative
study of behavior:
qualitative
concepts =
building block of theory and represent the point around which social research is conducted. They may provide a certain aspect of the social world, or they may stand for things we want to explain
concepts need to be measured in quantitative research;
independend variable; explains certain aspects of the social world
dependent variable; represents things we want to explain
what are the 3 main reasons for measurment?
- it allows us to delineate dine differences between people in terms of the characteristics in question
- it gives us a consistent device or yardstick for makinf distinctions
- measurments provides the basis for more prcise estimates of the degree of the relationship between concepts
indicator =
a specific variable or measure that is used to represent or reflect a broader concept or phenomenon of intrest
multi-indicator measures =
main reason for their use is a recognition that there are potential problems with a reliance in just a single indicator
definitive concepts =
- indicators determine concept
- emphasis on normal aspects
- theory presupposed on reality
sensitizing concepts =
= general reference
- different interpretations
- from broad to small
reliability =
same result when repeating study
validity =
do you measure what you mean to measure?
stability:
the most obvious way of testing for the stability of a measure us the test-retest method
internal reliability=
whether the respondents score on any other indicator tend to be related to their score on the other indicator
inter-observer consistency =
when a great deal of subjective judgement is involved in such activities, as the recording of observations or the translation of data into categories and where more then one observer is involved, there is the possibility that there is a lack of consistency in their decision
external reliability =
by the degree to which a study can be replaced
internal validity =
whether there is a good match between researchers observations ant the theoretical ideas they develop
external validity =
the degree to which findings can be generalized across social settings
qualitative research should be judged/evaluated acoording to quite different criteria then quantitative research ;
trustworthiness and authenticity
trustworthiness;
- credibility - internal validity
- transferability - external validity
- dependability - reliability
- confirmability - objectivity
authenticity ;
- fairness
- ontological authenticity
- eductive authenticity
- catalytic authenticity
- tactical athenticity
face validity =
whether something looks like it measures what it claims to measure
construct validity =
extend to which test accurately measures what it is sippose to do
= convergent validity + discriminant validity
convergent validity =
it examens whether multiple method/tools used to measure the same thing produces similar results
discriminant validity =
extend to which a test is not related to another test that measures different constructs
criterium validity =
how accuretly test measures outcome it was designed to measure
= predicitve validity + concurrent validity
predictive validity =
ability of a pest or other measurment to predict future outcome
concurrent validity =
extent of argument between two measures or assessments taken on the same time
