Lecture 3: Qualitative Research Flashcards
What is exploratory research?
Research that is used to explore a topic and gain insight. Assists with -
- diagnosing the situation
- screening alternatives
- discovering new ideas
What are semi-structured written interviews?
Written document that enables the respondent to address a set of open-ended questions at their own pace (can be in the absence of interviewer)
Time and cost effective
What is a focus group?
A semi-structured or unstructured free-flowing interview with a small number (6-10) of people.
They should all have similar lifestyles, ages, experiences and communication skills.
Moderator seeks to limit a single person dominating, ensuring everyone participates.
What are the advantages of focus groups?
- It’s relatively fast, easy to execute, allows respondents to piggyback off each other’s ideas, provides multiple perspectives
- Flexibility to allow more detailed descriptions
- Multiple topics covered relatively quickly
What are Hess’s Ss of Group Interviewing? (8)
- Synergy (wider range of ideas generated)
- Snowballing (one idea can build into others)
- Serendipity (unexpected or surprise idea may appear)
- Stimulation (flow of ideas increases once warmed up)
- Security (willingness to share since similar to others)
- Structure (moderator can guide discussion)
- Speed (large quantity of data gather very quickly)
- Scrutiny (multiple people to confirm/discuss ideas)
What are the drawbacks of focus groups? (8)
- needs capable moderators
- lacks representativeness
- single person may dominate
- group mentality (band-wagon)
- can be expensive
- “professional respondent”
- artificial atmosphere
- reluctance to disclose info when aware of being monitored
A positive and negative about online focus groups
+ reduced cost
- loss of some of the group dynamic
What are projective techniques?
Indirect means of questioning that is intended to provide the researcher with sight into the respondents’ beliefs, feelings, etc.
- Typically via “projection” onto a 3rd party
- Target item is often ambiguous and respondent is asked to interpret, describe, explain
- Reduces discomfort respondent may feel by disclosing particular info
- Can be used to promote discussion
What is the third person technique?
May be used to provide insight into an individs perceptions in a way that is not threatening to self-image
Word association:
- suggested to be effective since fast response should prevent self-censorship and reveal cognitive linkage
- can be used to inform product development, brand name choice, promotional campaigns, etc
- researcher also examines non-verbal
Sentence completion is suggested to reveal…?
Values, perceptions, etc
What is the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)?
Respondent is presented with an ambiguous picture and asked to describe what is happening
Can be used to gain insight into immediate impressions, perceptions, biases, etc
Observational research can be useful for research on…?
- sensitive issues
- issues where people may lack insight
- where questioning directly may bias responses
What are 2 types of observational research?
- audits e.g. visiting consumers at home
* ethnographies e.g. where the researcher seeks to observe by becoming part of the group being observed
What should be the first port of call in terms of research?
Desk research - analysis of secondary research
What is a social text analysis?
- Analysis of texts for qualitative themes
* Songs, magazines, music and transcripts
What are some strengths of qualitative research? (6)
- suitable for natural settings
- can take perspective of the participant
- useful for studying complex phenomena
- insight via new ideas and interpretations
- suitable for idiographic situations and cases
- allows for description of:
- participant’s personal experience
- researcher’s experience
- rich detail
What are some weaknesses of qualitative research?
- subjectivity
- reliability
- generalisability
- can be time intensive
- difficult for making predictions
- researcher (mis)interpretations
- impact of researcher or participant and setting
What is the process for qualitative data? (6)
- Transcription and familiarisation
- Coding
- Hierarchical coding (and data display)
- Identify exemplars of each theme or category
- Interpret what all this means for the research questions
- Present interpretation in the form of a report, explaining research process and findings
- how did you arrive at your interpretation?
- what does it mean?
What is coding?
- identify separate “chunks” of info within transcripts and notes (keywords, examples, statement, sentences, phrases)
- code apparent themes or categories that appear across chunks (e.g. highlight in different colours, annotate, use index cards, software)
Are codes deductive or inductive?
Can be either:
Deductive - a priori: pre-determined themes (e.g. based on theory)
Inductive - developed as coding progesses
What is hierarchical coding (and data display)?
- organise coded themes into higher order structure e.g. tree-diagrams, mind maps to show relationships between themes
What are the 4 components of trustworthiness?
- Credibility - extent to which the researcher’s interpretations “ring true” with participants
- Dependability - extent to which an outside is able to arrive at the same interpretation as the research given the techniques and sources
- Confirmability - extent to which the researcher’s records support the claims they are making
- Transferability - extent to which descriptions are rich enough for other researchers to determine if applicable in other settings
