Lecture 12 - Collecting Qualitative data (Obersvation/Documents)

Question 1

Explain the difference between direct and indirect observations (Slides)

Answer 1

The observer studies first hand the day-to-day experience and behavior of subjects in particular situations (direct observations)

The researcher relies on observations of others (indirect observations) e.g. make others do observation

Question 2

What can you observe? (Slides)

Answer 2

It depends on your RQ and access to data:

• Systematic events: team meetings, work tasks, projects
• Individual participants e.g. management
• Interactions – conversations between people
• Practises
• Material context, physical objects
• Sequency over time – e.g. project over time
• Online activities – e.g. brand communitites

Question 3

What are the advantages of observations? (Slides)

Answer 3

• Flexible approach
• Responsive to unexpected findings - a step-by-step sampling strategy
• In situations where and when an event or activity occurs - no recall bias
• Actual not reported behavior
• Triangulation of data source (verbal statements with actual practices)
• Detailed data on longitudinal processes

Question 4

What are the challenges of observations?

Answer 4

• Gaining access
• Attention and being openly observed may affect the ways we act (Hawthorne effect)
• It takes time
• Difficult to control and standardize
• Establish focus and imposing order on the massive amount of data
• Demanding in terms of involvement
• Risk of misinterpretations
• Going native
• Ethical concerns

Question 5

What are participants observations? (Waddington)

Answer 5

It involves social interaction between the researcher and the informants in the milieu of the latter.

The idea is to allow the observer to study first-hand the day-to-day experience and behavior of subjects in particular situations, and, if necessary, to talk to them about their feelings and interpretations.

Question 6

Explain the four possible reserach identities within participants’ observation (Waddington)

Answer 6

1. The complete participant, full membership role, concealing any intention to observe the setting
2. The participant-as-observer, who forms relationships and participates in activities but make no secret of an intention to observe events
3. The observer-as-participants, who maintains only superficial contracts with the people being studied (for example, by asking them occasional questions).
4. The complete observer, who merely stands back and are neutral due to none membership role. Uses eyes and ears.

Question 7

Can you explain something from the process of participants observation? (Waddington)

Answer 7

• Entering the field
  convince gatekeepers that you are a non-threatening person who will not harm their organization in any way.
• Conduct the field
  Once the researcher has gained access, he or she must concentrate on maintaining positive and non-threatening self-image.
• Recording data
  Experienced fieldworkers often recommend an initial period of acclimatization during which note-taking is suspended
• Analyzing data
  Most practitioners of the method adhere to the principle of ‘triangulation’ - the use of more than one source or method of data collection.
• Leaving the field
  Conducting fieldwork may well prove an extremely absorbing and time-consuming activity, making it difficult for the researcher to determine when to break off from further study.

Question 8

Can you mention the different types of writing field notes? (Slides)

Answer 8

Head notes: Mental notes to be remembered

Jottings: Quick notes

Developed fieldnotes: worked through notes

Memos: reflexive notes (beginng analysis etc)

Diary: Researcher’s emotions

Question 9

Mention the two different strategies for writing field notes (Wolfinger)

Answer 9

Strategy 1: The salience hierarchy
- In sitting down to record notes, ethnographers can start by describing whatever observations struck them as the most noteworthy, the most interesting, or the most telling

Strategy 2: Comprehensive note taking
- An alternate strategy for recording notes is to systematically and comprehensively describe everything that happened during a particular period of time, such as a single trip to the field.

Question 10

Can you define document analysis? (Bown, 2009)

Answer 10

• Document analysis is a systematic procedure for reviewing or evaluating documents—both printed and electronic (computer-based and Internet-transmitted) material.
• Like other analytical methods in qualitative research, document analysis requires that data be examined and interpreted in order to elicit meaning, gain understanding, and develop empirical knowledge.
• As a research method, document analysis is particularly applicable to qualitative case studies - intensive studies producing rich descriptions of a single phenomenon, event, organization, or program.

Question 11

Explain the analytical procedure of documents

Answer 11

The analytic procedure entails:

1. finding
2. selecting
3. appraising (make sense of)
4. synthesising data contained in documents

Question 12

What are the advantages of document analysis?

Answer 12

Efficient method

Availability

Cost-effectiveness

Stability