Module 7: Observational and Qualitative Methods

Question 1

Naturalistic observation/field observation with 4 subgroups

Answer 1

Involves watching people or animals in their natural habitat. Can be divided into 4 groups:

1. Undisguised observation
2. Nonparticipant observation
3. Participant observation
4. Disguised observation

Question 2

Ecological validity

Answer 2

Refers to the extent to which research can be generalized to real-life situations.

Question 3

Expectancy effects

Answer 3

The influence of the researcher’s expectations on the outcome of the study.

Question 4

Undisguised observation

Answer 4

Studies in which the participants are aware that the researcher is observing their behavior.

Question 5

Nonparticipant observation

Answer 5

a study in which the researcher does not take part (participate) in the situation in which the research participants are involved.

Con: possibility of reactivity, participants reacting in an unnatural way to someone obviously watching them.

Question 6

Participant observation

Answer 6

the researcher actively participates in the situation in which the research participants are involved.

Question 7

Disguised observation

Answer 7

Studies in which the participants are unaware that the researcher is observing their behavior

Question 8

Laboratory observation/systematic observation

Answer 8

Involves observing behavior in a more contrived setting, usually a laboratory, and involves focusing on a small number of carefully defined behaviors

Pro: less costly and less time-consuming and affords more control

Question 9

2 types of data collection

Answer 9

• Narrative records
• Checklists
  
  • Static item
  • Action item

Question 10

Narrative records

Answer 10

Full narrative descriptions of a participant’s behavior. The purpose of narrative records is to capture completely everything the participant said or did during a specified period.
• Pro: Complete account of what took place
• Con: Very subjective, cannot be analyzed quantitatively or should be able to be coded, at least by more than one person to establish interrater reliability.

Question 11

Checklists

Answer 11

A tally sheet on which the researcher records attributes of the participants and whether particular behaviors were observed.

Question 12

Qualitative research (methods)

Answer 12

focuses on phenomena that occur in natural settings, and the data are analyzed without the use of statistics.

Con: The data are collected spontaneous and open-ended, which causes them to be less structured and controlled than quantitative methods and might be seen as a thread to the reliability and validity

Question 13

Triangulation/multi-method-approach

Answer 13

Preference for different kinds of data or data sources and multiple observational techniques.

Question 14

6 methods in qualitative research

Answer 14

1. Case Study Method
2. Archival Method
3. Interview
4. Focus Group Interview
5. Field Studies
6. Action Research

Question 15

Case study method

Answer 15

In-depth study of one or more individuals, groups, social settings, or events in the hope of revealing things that are true of all of us.
• Pro: provides a method to study rare phenomena (such as split-brain patients), and a tentative support for a psychological theory.
• Con: The individual, group, setting, or event being observed may be atypical, and consequently, any generalizations made to the general population would be erroneous. And risk of expectancy effects and reflexivity.

Question 16

Reflexivity

Answer 16

Your own characteristics can have an effect on what you see and how you interpret it.

Question 17

Archival method

Answer 17

Descriptive research method that involves describing data that existed before the time of the study. It gives researchers a lot of flexibility in terms of what is studied, but not who was studied or how they were studied.
• Pro: reactivity is somewhat minimized, because the data have already been collected. Less time-consuming.
• Con: Selection bias, and second-hand collection means that the researchers can never be sure whether the data are reliable or valid.

Question 18

Selection bias

Answer 18

you might only choose the data that supports your hypothesis

Question 19

Interview with 3 subgroups

Answer 19

Typically involves asking questions in a face-to-face manner, and it may be conducted anywhere. 3 types of interviews:
• Standardized interview: formal in structure, and the questions are typically asked in a specific order. Questions are asked the way they were written. No additional questions are asked in the spur of the moment.
• Semistandardized interview: wording is flexible, and the interviewer may answer questions or provide further explanation if requested. Interviewer can add or delete questions.
• Unstandardized interview: completely unstructured, no set order to the questions or any specific words. More spontaneous questions and free flowing.

Question 20

Focus group interview

Answer 20

A method that involves interviewing 6 to 10 individuals at the same time (a variation on interviewing individuals). Open ended questions that are addressed to the whole group. This procedure allows participants to answer in any way they choose and to respond to each other.
• Con: one or two of the participants may dominate the conversation.

Question 21

Field studies

Answer 21

A method that involves observing everyday activities as they happen in a natural setting. Similar to naturalistic observation. The main difference is that when field studies are used, data are always collected in a narrative form and left in that form because the research is qualitative.

Con: reactivity

Question 22

Action research

Answer 22

A method in which research is conducted by a group of people to identify a problem, attempt to resolve it, and then assess how successful their efforts were.

Question 23

Paradigm

Answer 23

A paradigm is a set of assumptions and perceptual orientations shared by members of a research community.
Examples of paradigms:
- Ethnography
- Ethnomethodology
- Grounded theory
- Participatory Action Research (PAR)

Question 24

Ethnography

Answer 24

a study that focuses on detailed and accurate description of specific groups rather than explanation.
• Emic perspective: taking point of view from those being studied.
• Etic perspective: maintaining distance from the native point of view in the interest of achieving more objectivity.

Question 25

Ethnomethodology

Answer 25

an approach to the study of social life that focuses on the discovery of implicit, usually unspoken assumptions and agreements. E.g. study conversations and other interactions and how these are ordered.

Question 26

Grounded theory

Answer 26

Inductive approach that attempts to generate theory from the constant comparing of unfolding observations. Discovering patterns, themes and common categories observed in observational data. Gather data from diverging perspectives (several participants, different observational techniques (triangulation))

Question 27

Participatory Action Research (PAR)

Answer 27

People being studied are given control over the purpose and procedures of the research. Belief that research functions not only as a means of knowledge production, but also as a tool for the education and development of consciousness as well as mobilization for action.
• Intended as a counter to the implicit view that researchers are superior to those they study.

Question 28

Differences between quantitative and qualitative methods

Answer 28

• Qualitative analyses don’t use statistics and mathematical formulas
• Qualitative analyses are verbal in nature rather than numerical and consist of very detailed notes on what was observed via the particular methodology used
• Qualitative analyses are on a nominal scale and collected via intensive note taking
• Qualitative analyses look at the results of the data and this might guide what data are collected later in the study

Question 29

Similarities between quantitative and qualitative methods

Answer 29

• The researcher makes some type of inference based on the data
• The researcher carefully examines the data that has been collected in order to reach a conclusion
• Researchers make their findings public so that they can be scrutinized and reviewed by others

Question 30

Static item

Answer 30

Type of item used on a checklist on which attributes that do not change are recorded, such as gender, race, and age of the participant.

Question 31

Action item

Answer 31

Type of item used on a checklist to note the presence or absence of behaviors, such as type of stop made at a stop sign (complete, rolling, or none) or the type of play behavior observed in children (solitary, cooperative, or parallel).
o Con: an interesting behavior that would have been included in a narrative record may be missed or not recorded because it is not part of the checklist.

Question 32

Pro/con naturalistic/field observations

Answer 32

Pro: observing natural or true behavior, which heightens ecological validity.
Con: Possibility of expectancy effects

Question 33

What are the 3 phases of action research?

Answer 33

• Looking, identifying problem and the stakeholders (i.e. participants);
• Thinking, gathering information, analyzing and interpreting data, success and deficiencies;
• Action, taking action and sharing results with stakeholders and the larger community.

o Pro: wide range of application, language and content of action research is easier to understand