qualitative Flashcards
what is qualitative research?
an inquiry process of
understanding based on distinct methodological
traditions that explore a social or
human problem.
The researcher builds a
complex, holistic picture, analyzes words, reports
detailed views of informants, and conducts the
study in a natural setting”
what is the generic definition of qualitative research?
is a situated activity that locates the observer in the world
what are the different epistemologies that are taken in qualitative research? (6)
- positivism
- post positivism
- constructivism
- phenomenology
- critical theories, feminism, marxism
- post modern
what is the purpose of qualitative research?
to find out about what people think and how they feel –the subjective information that can hardly be analyzed by numbers
in terms of dichotomy of determinism and indeterminism, which one does qualitative fall under?
qualitative studies are more deterministic
how are qualitative studies done?
studying people and their thoughts in a natural setting, and interpreting the social phenomena in terms of the meanings people bring to them
what are the commonly used qualitative methods? (5)
- biographical study
- qualitative case study
- phenomenology
- grounded theory
- ethnography
what are non probability sampling methods used in qualitative studies? (6)
- purposive sampling
- snowball sampling
- quota sampling
- theoretical sampling (used in grounded theory)
- deviant case sampling
- best practice sampling
what are good qualities of a qualitative researchers ? (6)
- patience to listen
- flexibility to different ideas and situations
- ability to think deeply
- good attitudes, interest, respect, and empathy
- ability to establish good relations with participants
- ability to be prepared and thorough
what are the tools of data collection in qualitative research? (7)
- interviews
- summaries
- participation
- self memos
- researcher’s diary
- observations
- documents and artifacts
what are the challenges of data analysis in qualitative research?
- making sense of massive amounts of data
- reducing volume of raw information, sifting trivia from significance, identifying significant patterns, and constructing a framework for communicating the essence of what the data reveals
- there is no formulas for determining significance
- no way to replicate the researcher’s thought processes
- no straightforward tests for reliability and validity
what are the contemporary positivist standards for evaluating qualitative studies?
- prolonged engagement
- triangulation
- member checking
All these are based on the criteria of falsification.
The above measures are based on assumption that if there is a truth and different people can have the same observation if they are in the same conditions for observations
what are the social constructivist standards for evaluating qualitative studies?
- minimizing bias is less important than multiple subjective realities revealed
- less concerned with objectivity and accuracy of the researcher
- rich, thick description
what are the challenges of doing qualitative research?
- quality of researcher is incredibly important for research design (including the philosophical, interview/data collection, and report writing)
- in some cases, in order to ensure quality of the research, the researcher has to do everything
- long and energy taking process
what are the limitations of qualitative research?
- the human factor
2. less generalizable as it focuses on individuals rather than populations
what is a biographical study?
biographical researchers study the experiences of individuals in which individuals describe their life in great detail. an individual can reflect cultural themes of society and the social context:
- the social space
- the social structure
- the social situation
- the social relations
how is biographical information collected?
through conversations, from documents and archival materials, or published/unpublished documents
what information does the researcher collect in biographical studies?
- the researcher collects the individuals’ personal recollections of events together with the causes, and the effects of these events from one or several individuals
- the researcher needs to collect broad information about the subject of the biography
how does the researcher conduct biographical research?
- by asking open ended questions to capture how the person understands their own past. exact accuracy is less critical than the story itself
- researchers recognize that the person may reconstruct or add present interpretations of the past, not just some kind of subjective truth
what is phenomenology ?
a philosophy or method of inquiry based on the idea that reality consists of objects and events perceived or understood in human consciousness, and not of anything independent of human consciousness
What was Edmund Husserl’s intention?
to make possible descriptive accounts of the essential structures of the directly given
what does phenomenology do? (3)
- investigates the ‘phenomena,’ e.i. things are apprehended by consciousness, rather than on the existence of anything outside of human consciousness
- it restricts itself to the ‘pure data’ of consciousness, which is uncontaminated by metaphysical theories or scientific assumptions of the researcher
- it studies the consciousness as experienced from the subjective or first person point of view
what was necessary in phenomenology according to Husserl?
to eliminate all presuppositions and prejudices, whether philosophical, scientific, or naive concerning the world and our knowledge of it
what kind of questions are raised in phenomenology?
questions are raised to how people think, believe, and choose, and why people engage in certain activities
what are the most common methods used in phenomenology?
-interview, participant observation, and documentary analysis
what are the three distinguishable methods used in the analysis of classic phenomenology?
1) describe a type of experience just as we find it in our own past experience
2) interpret a type of experience by relating it to relevant social and linguistic context, hermeneutics
3) analyze the form of a type of experience , factoring out notable features for further elaboration
what is grounded theory?
grounded theory derives interpretations inductively from raw data with continual comparison and interplay between data and emerging interpretations
who was grounded theory developed by?
Glasser and Strauss, in their research on dying hospital patients in a book, “Awareness of Dying”
describe Glaser’s grounded theory
- Glaser’s grounded theory is not limited to the realm of qualitative research method.
- It claims the dictum ‘all is data.’
- Surveys and statistical analyses can be used in the comparative process as well as literature data from science, media, and even fiction according to Glaser