Module 9, Qualitative Research Flashcards
Qualitative Data can be generated through
- interviews
- observations
- diaries and documents
- images, drawings, photos
- open ended questionnaires/surveys**
Qualitative Research Designs (7)
- case study
- grounded theory
- phenomenology
- ethnography
- narrative and life stories
- community based research
- content and thematic analyses (not traditional but a common way)
Case Study
- commonly used to gain an in-depth understanding of a particular case (looking for very interesting, unique cases)
◦ a successful program; an interesting team - must define why! (for example, a whole faculty or an individual like simone biles) - use interviews and sometimes observations
- identify a ‘bounded case’ to define your sample/parameters - find what the actual case is
Grounded Theory
- to develop a theory about a process
- explain a phenomenon and create a theory around it
- ultimate goal is to explain how something occurs with a theoretical model (build new theoretical model) - inductive approach - state with data and build theory - test the theory next by doing quantitative theory
(grounded theory has more participants than other qualitative study - purpose of method is to build out theory and thus more people)
Phenomenology
- to develop a deep understanding of an experience
- interested in investigating a experience
◦ ex. “adversity” or “loss of
identity”
phenomenology think experiences, ground theory think building a theory
Ethnography
purpose is for the researcher to immerse themselves within a community or culture (will be impacting community and culture if you are immersing yourself) - the degree to which they immerse themselves on a continuum
- involves direct and sustained contact with human beings in the context of their daily lives over a prolonged period of time (important to be over a long period of time seeing as you need to build trust and act more naturally, so you can observe more things as they become more comfortable)
- the researcher seeks to understand the culture from the perspective of the cultures’ group members
ethnography is about transparency and who the researchers are in that process (this influences the participants)
Ethnography (3 methods of data collection)
Field Work: participant (observing what people are doing, how they are acting amongst themselves and others), observation informal (“how are you doing” not structured interviews - flattening power dynamics and thus researcher can give more of themselves as can the community), conversations field notes
Life Stories and Narratives
- used (often) interchangeably with “story” → this is contested (we use stories to make sense of the world)
- narrative and stories are used interchangeably
story → tales people tell
narrative → dimensions/properties of stories (getting into structure of stories)
e.g., sequence, structure, thematic content, consequences, tellability, temporality
*people tell stories; researchers analyze the properties of these stories
Life Stories and Narratives
focus of analysis (3)
- analyzing stories
- analyzing storytelling (how are they telling the stories and the structure of what they are saying)
- analyzing stories found in society (could be going through social media and seeing what stories are going around)
Community Based Research (what are the three components)
- to produce knowledge directly useful to a group of people
3 components:
1. commitment to liberationist movements (social change for those who are oppressed)
2. commitment to honouring the lived experience and knowledge of the people involved (usually from oppressed groups)
3. commitment to genuine collaboration - not just surface level, instead working together on the research
often times is in line with transformative worldview - working alongside participants not on them and research is a form of advocacy (actually creating change by doing research not as a outcome)
Dr. Moss Norman ( identify the four ‘r’s that are important to community based research with Indigenous communities)
- respecting the cultural integrity of the Indigenous partners you are working with, creating research projects that are relevant to the community, fostering reciprocal relationships where there is mutual benefit and taking responsibility to account for and acknowledge the limits of ones own worldview
◦ 4 r’s: respect, relevance, reciprocity and responsibility
◦ responsibility for one’s own worldview is very important when working with Indigenous communities (privileging one worldview over the other can have negative consequences)
Content or Thematic Analysis
- used to a explore a concept, experience, or phenomenon among a group of participants
1) identify participants (inclusion criteria)
2) collect data (e.g., interviews, newspaper articles etc.)
3) analyze data
-content analysis - thematic analysis
- we are looking for themes
- the difference between the two is the level of interpretation the researcher makes - the degree to which the researcher is interpreting the data (content - taking what the participants are saying very literally - if there is no interpretation things can be taken out of context) (thematic - goes beyond what the participant is saying and gets into interpretation (tone of voice, body language, uncover the actual meaning of the words) seen as helpful and higher level of qualitative work) thematic lines up with more constructivism and content lines up with post-positivism
