Qualitative and Mixed Methods Research

Question 1

What is cultural identity?

Answer 1

Quantitatively: might measure cultural aspects through language proficiency, engagement with traditional practices, self-identification
Can provide valuable insight to overall trend and general patterns - might not capture the richness and uniqueness of personal experiences.

Qualitative research - indepth interviews / focus groups - would allow participants to share their personal stories - creating a more nuanced approach.

Question 2

Critiquing the scientific method:

Answer 2

Problems within psychology
- ecological validity
- replication crisis
- ethical issues
- language and understanding

Parker’s 3 Methodological Horrors

Question 3

What are Parker’s 3 Methodological Horrors

Answer 3

1. Indexicality: these explanations are tied to particular times and contexts - what someone does in one context may not translate to other situations.
2. Inconcludability: an account is always incomplete - it can always be supplemented (to think otherwise will stop us from evolving our theories)
3. Reflexivity: the way we characterise a phenomenon will change the way it operates for us, our perception of the phenomenon, which will change our characterisation (beliefs and biases as a researcher will effect and influence the project)

Question 4

How can qualitative researchers fight these 3 methodological horrors?

Answer 4

Indexicality: qualitative researchers admit their work is never perfectly replicable - we aim to describe a specific context (idiographic) rather than formulating general rules.

Inconcludability: aims to tell a plausible story, rather than a complete one (we welcome changes)

Reflexivity: regard subjectivity as a resource / opportunity rather than a problem - we must acknowledge this interaction and be self-aware

Question 5

Issues with theories in psychology

Answer 5

If we use purely the positivist scientific method, it means we have very little place for theories to grow.
- even when the research indicates we should be rejecting theories - we don’t, instead we critique the researcher / project
- meanwhile, qualitative methods (with no a priori hypotheses) seek to contribute novel theory development

Question 6

In terms of psychological research - what can only be examined through qualitative means?

Answer 6

• Exploring individuals’ perspectives / experiences and the meanings they attach to different phenomena.
• Examining how ideas, events and phenomena are represented in language and made sense of.

i.e. understanding people, rather than trying to predict their actions

Question 7

Research Methods (Maykut and Morehouse)- POEM method

Answer 7

Purpose, Ontology, Epistemology (how the researcher captures that knowledge - interview, etc), Method

Essential to match the purpose of your study with the correct research method.

If you want to gain detailed understanding of phenomenon - you need to do qualitative research with smaller sample sizes (trade generalizability for depth)

Question 8

What is qualitative research?

Answer 8

Research human experience within contexts rather than predicting behaviour.
We cannot accurately explain human behaviour without understanding the linguistic, historical and social contexts that define it.

Be aware of the gap between what is studied and the way we represent it (gap between the participants and you) - through qualitative research we close the gap a little more.

Question 9

What are some different approaches to qualitative research?

Answer 9

Participatory action research, case study, content analysis, document study, field study, grounded theory, etc

All processes have shared characteristics regarding:
- description
- context
- meaning
- interpretation
- truth
- process

Question 10

What are the shared characteristics of qualitative research?

Answer 10

• thick descriptions locating study within contexts
• immersion required (all theory and research occurs within a context of power relations)
• contexts shape subjects of investgation and standpoints of investigators
• psychosocial phenomena are ‘context dependent’ - meaning they are unavoidably affected by the meanings ascribed to them
• ‘truth’ is always questioned

Question 11

What is the role of the researcher in qualitative research?

Answer 11

• must reflect via a reflexivity statement: their standpoint (personal epistemology) and how they maintained truthfulness
• research is cyclical and non-linear - you are constantly modifying what you think you know
• no pre-ordinate assumptions - theories emerge as the project progresses

Question 12

4 pillars of research: POEM

Answer 12

P: why research is conducted
O(ntology): what is the nature of reality and what can be known about it.
E(pistemology): what is the relationship between the knower (researcher) and what can be known
M(ethodology): hwo reserach can be practically carried out and the epistemology / ontology investigated.

Question 13

What is a reserach paradigm

Answer 13

• your background knowledge which tells others what you think exists, how you understand it, how you believe it should be studied
• all encompassing systems that define the nature of the researcher’s enquiry

POEM = paradigm

Question 14

What is a positivist paradigm

Answer 14

Purpose: measure variables, determine differences between groups, establish relationships
Ontology (nature of reality): stable, external reality
Epistemology: objective, detached observer
Methodology: quantitative design

Question 15

What is an interpretative paradigm?

Answer 15

P: explore lived experience, meanings, stories
O: internal reality of subjective experience
E: empathetic, observer intersubjectivity
M: thematic analysis, grounded theory, IPA, narrative analysis

Question 16

What is a constructionist paradigm?

Answer 16

P: examining the construction of meaning
O: socially constructed reality, discourse
E: suspicious, political, observer constructing versions
M: discourse analysis, foucauldian

Question 17

Proliferation of anti-positivist paradigms

Answer 17

Anti-positivist paradigms maintains common ideas:
- too much info is lost during quantification
- all observation is influenced by background knowledge and opinion
- different theories can explain the same data equally well
- research is inevitably affected by the researcher’s values and purpose

Question 18

How to collect qualitative data/

Answer 18

• interviews
• focus groups
• yarning circles
• narrative / memory work
• case studies
• observational research
• archival methods
• ethnography / autoethnography
• open ended questionnaire / survey

Question 19

Outline research interviews

Answer 19

• most common
• generates verbatim transcribed data
• open ended questions, prompts (subquestions) and probes (sub-questions to explore responses further)
• can be group, can be online, can be face to face

Question 20

What are some types of interview schedules?

Answer 20

• Structured: same set of standardised questions in same order used for each participant (used in larger samples)
• Semi-structured: can be flexible in questions and respond in natural ways in the interaction and show commitment to understanding what is important to interviewee rather than a predetermined path
• Unstructured; no set format, part of exploration when there is little known about the phenomenon

Question 21

What are the modes of analysis? Grounded theory, interpreative phenomenological analysis, narrative analysis

Answer 21

Grounded theory: development of theory grounded in data looking at how X make meaning from their experiences of Y in Z.

Interpretative phenomenological analysis: experience understanding -> what is the lived experience of X among Y in Z.

Narrative analysis –> experience of self (self-construction) - What stories about X are told by Y in Z.

Question 22

Modes of analysis: discourse analysis, Foucauldian

Answer 22

Discourse analysis: Use of language in order to achieve interpersonal objectives –> How is language used by X to talke about their experiences of Y?

Foucauldian Discourse Analysis: description and critique of the discursive worlds people inhabit - explore the implications of these worlds for subjectivities and experience –> How is language used by X to talk about their experiences of Y? How are subjectvitiies and power thus construe?

Question 23

Types of anlaysis in general

Answer 23

Systematic categorisation of data as words are coded through:
- open coding = selecting and naming categories from the analysis of data
- axial coding = identifying themes (patterns) within the data by group or clustering constructs together and showing linkages between constructs (i.e. everytime they mention work, what else do they mention)

Note: constructs, not variables

Question 24

Link between qualitative and quantitative studies;

Answer 24

Exploratory qualitative studies: explore themes, understand problems and identify associations with and between contributing factors

Then do a quantitative study to create an operational definition of variables and measure the problem and test hypotheses about contributing factors

Question 25

What are the different approaches to mixed methods?

Answer 25

Complementarity: develop deeper understanding of a research problem
Development: results from one study help develop / inform the other method
Initiation: clarifying contradictions in findings
Expansions: extend the breadth and range of a study
Triangulation: use more than one method to study the same research question to increase reliability

Question 26

qual-Quant approach

Answer 26

Qualitative study first but secondary to the study’s primary goals:
- exploratory qualitative study findings are used as a basis for a major quantitative study (i.e. developing a model)

Question 27

quant-QUAL

Answer 27

quantitative study first but secondary to the study’s primary goal:
- e.g. quantitative screen study used to identify targeted participants for large scale qualitative study

Question 28

QUANT-qual

Answer 28

primary quantitative study first with a secondary follow up quailtative
- develop a model and test it quantitatively and then carry out the qualitative phase to add meaning and richness

Question 29

QUAL-Quant

Answer 29

Primary qualitative study first with secondary follow up quantitative study
- testing whether qualitative findings transfer to other populations / groups

Question 30

Outline of qualitative research:

Answer 30

• non numerical data
• types and categories
• content and thematic analyses
• theory development
• useful when limited cases, new research area, understanding subjective experience.

Question 31

How to formulate research question and method for answering the question?

Answer 31

e.g. What types of strategies do social workers use to cope with the challenges of dealing with child abuse cases?
Method:
- non-numerical data collection: open ended questions, interviews, focus groups, etc

Question 32

What are the 6 steps for qualitative research?

Answer 32

1. Record data (interviews/focus groups): crucial that this is done accurately and comprehensively to preserve the richness of info.
2. Transcription: if your source is vocal, you may need to transcribe it (needs to be readable and analysable)
3. Familiarisation: get to know your data
4. Code and analyse: systematically categorise your data into meaningful segments / themes, which will form the foundation of your analyses. Note patterns, trends and insights.
5. Theory development: contribute to theory –> example is Grounded Theory, where the theories emerge from the data as opposed to a preconceived idea that you put onto the data
6. Testing and validation: ‘member check’ –> get the original people you got your data from to see if your insights align with what they said in the first place (this can also be done by colleagues)

Question 33

What are three types of analyses/

Answer 33

Conceptual analysis: investigating meaning of terms and concepts (scrutinising the precise meaning of terms; examining how people understand terms) e.g. how does the meaning of happiness vary between participants

Content analysis: systematic examination of concepts (the content) within communication (media analysis of climate change - identify patterns in how climate change has been communicated)

Thematic analysis: examination of themes and patterns within communication (involved in producing grounded theories) –> examine interview transcripts to identify recurring themes - and find links between them to give insight into the psychological processes and coping mechanisms of your participants

Question 34

How does qualitative coding occur?

Answer 34

Codes: labels used to describe meaningful segments / relations

Question 35

What is open coding:

Answer 35

selecting and naming categories from the analysis of the data

note: you do not have preconceived notions about what labels you will use

e.g. ‘affect’ as a category, anxiety and depression as sub-categories

Question 36

What is axial coding?

Answer 36

Identifying relationships between sub-categories and categories
- are multiple concepts you are identifying related in any of the following ways:
–> different ends of the same spectrum
–> sub-varieties of a larger umbrella phenomenon
–> mutually exclusive elements of a common complex

Examples of categories: behaviours, cognitive processes, social relations / interactions