Qualitative Lecture 1

Question 1

What are the Four basic principals of Research Design?

Answer 1

1: Ontology: Assumptions you make about the nature of the world and of reality
2: Epistemology: assumptions you make about the best way for investigating the world
3: Methodology: The way that you group together your research techniques to make a coherent picture.
4: Techniques: What you actually do in order to collect your data and carry out your investigations

Question 2

What are the four Main Schools of Ontology and their assumptions about Reality?

Answer 2

1: Realism: The world is real and science proceeds by examining and observing it. There is a Single Truth. Facts exists and can be revealed through experiments.
2: Internal Realism: The World is real but almost impossible to examine it directly. Truth exists but it is obscure. Facts are concrete but cannot always be revealed.
3: Relativism: Scientific Laws are basically created by people to fit their view of reality. There are many “truths”. Facts depend on the viewpoint of the observer.
4: Nominalism: Reality is entirely created by people and there is no external truth. Facts are all human creations.

Question 3

What are the two schools of Epistemology?

Answer 3

Positivism and Social constructionism.

Question 4

What is Positivism?

Answer 4

Investigate the world is through objective methods, such as observations – fits within a realist ontology.

Tends to be more focused on numbers. Quantative.

Positivism, the basis of the so-called ‘hard’ sciences = a method of epistemology – the importance of observable facts

Question 5

What is Social Constructionism?

Answer 5

reality does not exist by itself.

– Reality is constructed and given meaning by people

– Focus is therefore on feelings, beliefs and thoughts, and how people communicate these

– Social constructionism fits better with a relativist ontology.

Fits more with a Relativist Approach. Collects Qualitative source of Data. More focused on language and words.

Question 6

What are Quantitative Considerations?

Answer 6

Is my sample size big enough?
• Have I used the correct statistical test?

• Likelihood of making Type I/II errors?
• Are my results generalisable?
• Are my results & methods reproducible?
• Am I measuring things the right way?

Question 7

What are the Limitations to Quantative Research?

Answer 7

Some things can’t be measured

• Doesn’t tell you why
• Can be impersonal –no engagement with human behaviours or individuals
• Data can be static –snapshots of a point in time
• Can tell a version of the truth –“Lies, damned lies and statistics”

Question 8

What are the Features of Qualitative Research?

Answer 8

Language as the raw material. Emphasizes description and understanding. Qualia.

–Sources of data: interviews, conversations, field notes, policy statements, newspaper articles

• Focus on thoughts, feelings, or use of language in depth and detail
• Emphasise –description and understanding rather than explanation and prediction –meaning of experience/behaviour in context
• Inductive rather than deductive

Challenges the privileging of methods & procedures over research questions.

Question 9

What are some problems to consider in Qualitative Research?

Answer 9

Some issues may arise, such as

–Response bias • saying what they think researcher wants to hear

–Or simply provide inaccurate or false information
–Researcher is usually closer to participants

• Ethical issues may be more prevalent
• Researcher objectivity may be more difficult to achieve • Researcher should engage in reflexive practice.

Question 10

What should you make sure you do in Qualitative?

Answer 10

Have I coded my data correctly?
• Have I managed to capture the situation in a realistic manner?
• Have I described the context in sufficient detail?
• Have I managed to see the world through the eyes of my participants?
• Is my approach flexible and able to change?

Question 11

What are some criticisms made towards Qualitative Research? Are they Fair?

Answer 11

– Subjective – Cannot be repeated – May not be generalisable – No definite answers.

No.

– There are explicit and rigorous steps
– Involves much more work for the researcher due to the process of analysis and reanalysis
– Must actively address the issue of bias and make sure that the process identifies its potential influence

Question 12

What are some types of Qualitative Research?

Answer 12

–Content analysis: What the Text can tell us about reality?
–Grounded analysis
–Discourse analysis How the Text creates Reality?
–Narrative analysis
–Conversation analysis

Question 13

What are the 6 steps of Qualitative Research?

Answer 13

1. Literature review
2. Explicating researcher’s beliefs
3. Role of participants: subject or informant?
4. Selection of participants
5. Approach to data analysis
6. Saturation.

Question 14

What is the role of the participant in Qualitative Research?

Answer 14

Participant or informant, not “subject”

–Viewed as active participants in the research
–They “inform” the researcher
• Researcher seeks to understand the participants’ knowledge
–Hence, requires learning about the participants’ beliefs through on-going discussion and involvement

Question 15

What influences the selection of Participants?

Answer 15

Purposive sampling
–Participants must have first-hand experience with the research topic and be able to talk about it
• Researcher establishes clear criteria and rationale for sample selection
• Goal is not necessarily generalization of findings but rich descriptions of phenomenon by those who have experienced it.

Question 16

When does Data Analysis begin?

Answer 16

Data analysis and Data collection are a cyclical process.

Cyclical process –data collection occurs simultaneously with data analysis
– Analysis begins when data collection begins
– Reading, rereading, intuiting, analyzing, synthesizing, and reporting on data
– Sometimes called theoretical sampling(collect data until saturation is reached)

You’re looking for meaning as the data is gathered.

Data similar in meaning are clustered together into preliminary categories

• Requires an extensive amount of time

Question 17

What is Saturation?

Answer 17

When participants’ descriptions become repetitive and confirm previously collected data
–An indication that data analysis is complete
–When data analysis is complete, data collection is terminated

Question 18

What do Qualtative Research questions do?

Answer 18

discover (for example, grounded theory)

explain or seek to understand (for example, ethnography)

explore a process (for example, case study)

describe the experiences (for example, phenomenology

Question 19

What is Qualitative Research good for?

Answer 19

that delves in depth into complexities and processes

on little known phenomena or innovative systems

that seeks to explore where and why policy and local knowledge are at odds

on informal and unstructured linkages and processes in organisations

on real as opposed to stated organisational goals

that cannot be done experimentally for ethical or practical reasons

for which relevant variables have yet to be identified

Question 20

What is the way to do Research? What is research guided by?

Answer 20

There is no unitary way of doing research
Research is guided by:

Purpose/goals of research
Beliefs about the world and what we can know (ontology) [positivism/ realism/relativism/social constructionism]
Beliefs about knowledge and how we can know things (epistemology)
Audience for research
Position/environment of researcher

Question 21

What do Qualitative Researchers reject?

Answer 21

Reject positivism
Adopt relativist position of no fixed ‘reality’
Use relatively unstructured data collection methods
Concerned to capture individual’s perspective
Use highly detailed data analysis methods
Use richly descriptive deep data over ‘hard’ data
Take postmodernist perspective in general
Incorporate constraints of everyday life in studies
Believe reality is constructed socially/individually
‘Closer’ to participants, ‘insiders’
Concerned with interpretation not causal sequences
Largely reject hypothesis testing
Theory emerges form close analysis of the data
Approach, often idiographic, concentrates on the individual

Question 22

What is Philosophy of Science concerned with?

Answer 22

Asks how most scientists actually work given the social and practical circumstances of their work.

concerned with the question of how we should carry out scientific research given our understanding of the nature of knowledge.

how most scientists actually work given the social and practical circumstances of their work.

Aim of science is knowledge generation.

Question 23

What can Quantative Research can and cannot tell us about?

Answer 23

As scientists our first principle is not about generalisability but about how it works  Fixation on numbers in psychology means that we sometimes forget this.

Large) numbers & statistics

• can tell us about norms, predictions, group differences (e.g., between 2 normal distributions)
• cannot tell us about processes, experiences & about meaning in its social context, social reality

Quantitative research asks: how much? how many? how often? to what extent?

Question 24

What are Social Representations

Answer 24

These are common sense theories of the world people use to talk about things like Women and the Environment.

Social Representations Theory aims to provide a more social understanding of peoples beliefs based on a social constructionist perspective.