Lecture 8 Flashcards
Street corner society and Living with the dying are examples of what kind of research?
Qualitative.
The traditional qualitative studies reflected what paradigm during what period?
Positivist scientist paradigm between 1900s and 1940s.
What is “Street Corner Society?”
A study that uses the traditional qualitative tradition - an ethnographic study (also a case study) on an American Italian neighbourhood in 1943.
- An important feature of Whyte’s study is that he reported the reality of the people of Cornerville
on their terms. The naturalist approach is based on telling “their” stories the way they “really are,” not the way the ethnographer understands them.
traditional qualitative studies are now referred to as what?
‘the chicago scool.”
The Chicago school is best known for its urban sociology and for the development of the symbolic interactionist approach, notably through the work of Herbert Blumer. It has focused on human behavior as shaped by social structures and physical environmental factors, rather than genetic and personal characteristics.
What year were battle lines drawn within the qualitative and quantitative camps?
By the 1960s
What did quantitative scholars do to qualitative research?
They degraded qualitative research to a subordinate status in scientific research
What were some of the movements that emerged concerning qualitative research?
Modernist (1950s - 1970s)
Blurred genres (1970s - 1986)
The postmodern (1990-)
The fractured future (2005-) (eg. The “hermeneutical mafia of 1970s “criticism of criticism of criticism)
What are some of new interpretive perspectives that were taken up after world war 2?
- Hermeneutics (the interpretation of written texts eg. The bible)
- Structuralism (a complex system of interrelated parts)
- Semiotics (study of signification of symbols in communication)
- Phenomenology (the structures of consciousness
- Feminism
What is the generic definition of qualitative research today?
“qualitative research is a situated activity that locates the observer in the world.”
True or false: qualitative research is multi-paradigmatic in nature?
TRUE
What is action (participatory) orientated studies?
Participatory Action Research is a qualitative research methodology that involves researchers and participants collaborating to understand social issues and take actions to bring about social change. It is an umbrella term for all research approaches that engage stakeholders in each step of the research process.
True or false: The search for generally accepted theories is being replaced by more local, small scale narratives fitted to specific issues in specific situations.
TRUE
What are some of the epistemologies used within qualitative research?
- Positivism
- Post-positivism
- Constructivism
- Phenomenology
- Critical theories, feminism, Marxism
Post modern
Why do we need qualitative research? (7)
- To find out what people think and how they feel
- Subjective info is hard to analyze using numbers
- People develop subjective meanings of their experience… these meanings are varied and multiple, leading the researcher to look for the complexity of views rather than narrowing meanings into a few categories or ideas
- No other method can be used for unique situations (phenomena in its natural setting) and situations with too many variables (complex phenomena and their interactions)
- Qualitative research provides details
- Digs out deeper meanings and reasons before reasons
Better for issues of subjectivity
Which is cheaper: qualitative or quantitative?
Qualitative due to is usually smaller sample size
When very little is known in a particular area, should qualitative or quantitative studies be used as a first step?
Qualitative. It will help the efficiency and effectiveness of the quantitative study
Pair each description to either qualitative or quantitative:
1. Objective of study: Understanding/generalization
2. Sample size: large /small
3. Type of study: exploratory / descriptive & explanative
Type of analysis: interpretative / statistics
Answers:
1. Objective of study: Understanding/generalization : qualitative/quantitative
2. Sample size: large /small: quantitative / qualitative
3. Type of study: exploratory / descriptive & explanative : qualitative/quantitative
Type of analysis: interpretative / statistics: qualitative/quantitative
True or false: quantitative studies treat the behaviours (either human or physical matters) as patterns in average terms, and if the patterns are unclear, the patters are considered as “random.”
True.
True or false: qualitative studies use the term “random” to describe behaviors
FALSE: each of the cases has its own cause, and is not considered “random” behaviours
Are qualitative approaches deterministic or indeterministic?
DETERMINISTIC. - finds a reason - no “randomness” or “unclearness”
What does qualitative research collect?
A variety of empirical materials, personal responses, introspective , life stories, interviews, observational, historical, interactional and visual texts that describe routine and problematic moments and meanings in individual’s lives.
What are the 5 commonly used qualitative methods (also called the “five traditions”)
- Biographical study
- Qualitative case study
- Phenomenology
- Grounded theory
Ethnography (including PAR)- Phenomenology (eg. exploring the lived experiences of women undergoing breast biopsy
- Grounded theory (Grounded theory is often used by the HR department. For instance, they might study why employees are frustrated by their work. Employees can explain what they feel is lacking. HR then gathers this data, examines the results to discover the root cause of their problems and presents solutions)
- Grounded theory is similar to social work: both try to understand the case in a wider environment, both have working hypothesis, both try to avoid imposing preconceived ideas or theories on cases, both rely heavily on open ended interviewing. Both attempt to keep a balance between being in tune with clients and maintain an analytic stance.
- Qualitative case study:
case studies are distinguished by their exclusive focus on a particular case (or several cases in a multiple case
study) and their use of a full variety of evidence
regarding that case, including, perhaps, evidence
gathered by quantitative research methods. Sources
of evidence might include existing documents, observations,
and interviews. Evidence might also be
sought by surveying people about the case
Examples of non-probability sampling methods?
- Purposive sampling (The participants are chosen based on the purpose of the sample)
- Snowball sampling
- Quota sampling ( assigns quotas to the population in order to ensure that when elements of the population are selected, the sample group is representative of the population’s characteristics.)
- Theoretical sampling (used in grounded theory) (as a means for sampling participants with a set of theoretical considerations in mind. )
- Deviant case sampling (Extreme or deviant case sampling means selecting cases that are unusual or special in some way, such as outstanding successes or notable failures.)
- Best practice sampling
- Ect.
True or false: researchers should recognize their own values and subjectivity / the subjectivity of methods/measurements
TRUE
What are some qualities of a qualitative researcher?
- Patience to listen
- Flexibility to different ideas and solutions
- Ability to think deeply
- Attitudes, interest, respect and empathy
- Ability to establish good relations with participants
Ability to be prepared and thorough
What are the tools of collecting data? (7)
- Interviews
- Summaries
- Participations
- Self memos
- Researcher’s diary
- Observations
Documents and artifacts
What does data analysis entail?
- Transcription from data to text
- Categorizing and coding
- Interpretation
- Creative synthesis
- Developing and testing hypothesis to reach conclusions
What are the challenges of data analysis?
- You have to make sense of massive amounts of data!
This involves reducing the volume of raw info, sifting trivia from significance, identifying patterns and constructing a framework for communicating essence f what the data reveals. - there are not and cannot be formulas for determining the significance. This means there is no way to perfectly replicate a researchers analytical thought process. No straightforward tests can be applied for RELIABILITY and VALIDITY.
No rules really exist….. Except maybe: “ do your very best with your full intellect to fairly represent the data and communicate what the data reveal given the purpose of the study.”
What are some of the contemporary positivist standards for evaluating the trustworthiness of qualitative studies?
- Prolonged engagement
- Triangulation
- Peer debriefing and support(textbook)
- Negative case analysis (textbook) (
for example, occurs when researchers
show they have searched thoroughly for disconfirming
evidence—looking for deviant cases that do not fit
the researcher’s interpretations.) - Member checking
- Auditing (textbook) (
occurs when the
researcher leaves a paper trail of field notes, transcripts
of interviews, journals, and memos documenting
decisions made along the way, and so on. This
enables an impartial and qualitatively adept investigator
who is not part of the study to scrutinize what
was done in order to determine if efforts to control for
biases and reactivity were thorough, if the procedures
used were justifiable, and if the interpretations ! t the
data that were collected.)- All of these are based on the criteria of “falsification”
The above measures are based on the assumption that there is a truth and different people can have the same observation if they are in the same condition for observations
- All of these are based on the criteria of “falsification”
What is triangulation?
Triangulation is a validity procedure where researchers base their categories and/or conclusions on different sources of information (see Denzin, 1978). The researcher might look, for example, whether conclusions derived from interviews are consistent with findings from document analysis and observations. The more the categories and conclusions are confirmed by different data sources, the more valid the results.
What is member checking?
Member checking involves systematic feedback obtained from informants or participants on the collected data, set categories, interpretations, and conclusions of the study. In member checking, the participants are given the opportunity to assess the credibility of the authors’ account
What is prolonged engagement?
Prolonged engagement implies that the investigator performs the study for a considerable period. That is to say, a period long enough to adequately represent the subject under investigation
What are some of the social constructivist standards for evaluating qualitative studies?
- Minimizing bias is less important than multiple subjective realities revealed
- Less concerned with the objectivity and accuracy of the researcher
- Rick/thick description
- Social construcivist is converned with ensuring their research provides enough details so that when readers are engaging with their piece, they can judge whether the finidings are likely to apply to their context/population.
Therefore, theyre not so concerned with external validity or generalizability criteria
- Social construcivist is converned with ensuring their research provides enough details so that when readers are engaging with their piece, they can judge whether the finidings are likely to apply to their context/population.
What are some of the challenges of doing qualitative research?
- The quality of the researcher is critically important for the qualitative research in research design (including the philosophical, interview/data collecting and report writing (the writing skills)
- In some cases, in order to ensure the quality of the research, the researcher has to do everything
It is a long and energy taking process
What are some of the limitations of qualitative research * on test*
- The human factor - subjective.
2. Less generalizable. Qualitative research focuses on individuals not the general population
Strengths of qualitative research?
- Depth of understanding
- Flexibility - u can modify ur research design at any time.
Cost - relatively inexpensive
- Flexibility - u can modify ur research design at any time.
The contemporary positivist paradigm emphasizes three key threats to the trustworthiness of qualitative research:
- Reactivity (occurs when the researcher’s presence in the field distorts the naturalism of the setting and consequently the things being observed there)
- Researcher biases
Respondent biases
- Researcher biases
