Qualitative Methods Flashcards
What is Qualitative data?
Data which is represented in words. Usually smaller data sets, more concerned with personal opinions/feelings
Is qualitative data generally considered to have high or low validity?
High validity
Is qualitative data generally considered to have high or low reliability?
Low reliability
Do interpretivists or positivists prefer qualitative data?
Interpretivists
What is an unstructured interview?
Where researchers ask a participant a series of questions, with an idea of what they want to cover, but no pre-prepared questions
True or false: A practical strength of unstructured interviews is that it is easy to build rapport with participants, encouraging more detailed answers
True
True or false: A practical strength of unstructured interviews is that they are quick and easy
False - the opposite is true
True or false: A practical strength of unstructured interviews is that it is easy to train researchers to perform them
False - researchers need to be able to come up with questions on the spot
True or false: A practical weakness of unstructured interviews is that it can only be used for topics the researcher knows lots about
False - the participant leads the interview, so they researcher doesn’t need to be an expert in the topic
True or false: An ethical strength of unstructured interviews is that informed consent is gained, as participants don’t need to do it if they don’t want to
True
True or false: An ethical strength of unstructured interviews is that participants could be uncomfortable discussing some issues face to face
False - this is a weakness
True or false: An ethical weakness of unstructured interviews is that it does not allow much opportunity to build rapport with participants
False - the opposite is true
True or false: An ethical strength of unstructured interviews is that there is little chance of the participant being harmed
False - talking about negative experiences could cause psychological harm
True or false: An ethical strength of unstructured interviews is that participants do not need to reveal anything they don’t want to/they can maintain privacy
True
True or false: A theoretical strength of unstructured interviews is that verstehen can be built through building rapport
True
True or false: A theoretical strength of unstructured interviews is that they have high validity because of their open questions and flexibility
True
True or false: A theoretical weakness of unstructured interviews is that the Hawthorne effect could take place
True
True or false: A theoretical strength of unstructured interviews is that the participant’s answers cannot be biased in any way
False - the researcher’s body language, tone of voice, and internal biases can all affect the validity
What is a group interview?
A structured or unstructured interview with more than 1 participant
True or false: A practical strength of group interviews is that data is quick to analyse
False - group interactions are more complex and take more time to analyse
True or false: A practical strength of group interviews is that it’s less time consuming that other interviews because researchers can interview multiple people at once
True
True or false: A practical weakness of group interviews is that it may be difficult to keep the group focussed on the discussion topic
True
True or false: A practical strength of group interviews is that it can be a useful way to generate initial ideas, which can be further researcher later
True
True or false: An ethical strength of group interviews is that they can be used to observe group norms and dynamics
True
True or false: An ethical strength of group interviews is that they are suitable for use with pupils (methods in context) as it creates a safe peer environment which they are used to from school
True
True or false: An ethical weakness of group interviews is that it can be uncomfortable for some participants to be in a group dynamic, especially if discussing sensitive issues
True
True or false: An ethical weakness of group interviews is that interviewees may feel unable to withdraw from the interview or certain questions due to group dynamics
True
True or false: A theoretical weakness of group interviews is that they have low representativeness
False - they are done with groups of people, increasing representativeness
True or false: An ethical strength of group interviews is that participants can stimulate each others’ thinking, causing new ideas and increasing validity
True
True or false: An ethical weakness of group interviews is that some participants may dominate the discussion, meaning others don’t get a say, reducing validity
True
True or false: An ethical strength of group interviews is that the Hawthorne effect can’t take place
False - in fact, it could be doubled thanks to the presence of researchers AND other participants
What is a participant observation?
A study where the researcher gets involved in the activities of their participants
What does covert mean?
The researcher’s identity is NOT known to the participants
What does overt mean?
The researcher’s identity is known to the participants
True or false: There are 2 kind of participant observations (overt and covert)
True
True or false: A practical strength of participant observations is that (when overt) they allow researchers to ask naïve but important clarification questions
True
True or false: A practical strength of participant observations is that (when covert) they can be used to access groups who denied overt access
True
True or false: A practical weakness of participant observations is that it can be difficult (when covert) to get in, stay in, and get out without arousing suspicion
True
True or false: A practical weakness of participant observations (when covert) is that it requires the researcher to maintain a disguise 24/7
True
True or false: A practical weakness of participant observations is that (when overt) researchers may be denied access to the group
True
True or false: An ethical weakness of participant observations is that (when overt) they involve high amounts of deception
False - this would be for covert participant observations
True or false: An ethical weakness of participant observations is that anonymity of the participants can be ensured
False - this is a strength
True or false: An ethical strength of participant observations is that researchers are protected from doing anything illegal or immoral
False - whether overt or covert, researchers may have to do these things to earn trust
True or false: An ethical strength of participant observations is that the researcher does not need to deceive participants
False - whether overt or covert, the researcher may need to lie about why they are there for their own safety
True or false: A theoretical strength of participant observations is that they avoid the Hawthorne effect (if covert)
True
True or false: A theoretical weakness of participant observations is that it does not allow researchers to gain verstehen
False - the opposite is true
True or false: A theoretical strength of participant observations is that the researcher can remain objective and unbiased the whole time
False - researchers cannot remain objective while being so involved
True or false: A theoretical weakness of participant observations is that they are time consuming and often have small sample sizes
True
What is content analysis?
A secondary source of data. A way of extracting the main messages, ideas, themes, or biases in a document
Content analysis can be qualitative OR quantitative. What’s the difference?
Qual: looks for meanings and messages in content
Quant: looks for how many times certain words/phrases appear
True or false: A practical strength of content analysis is that it is quick and easy to do
False - can be time consuming to go through lots of content, especially if doing qualitative analysis
True or false: A practical weakness of content analysis is that it can be hard to find content to analyse
False - material could be newspapers, TV, radio, books, etc
True or false: A practical strength of content analysis is that it allows the discovery of things that may not be obvious, e.g. whether gender role stereotypes really occur across children’s books
True
True or false: An ethical strength of content analysis is that researchers cannot bias the research, meaning it won’t support immoral viewpoints
True for quantitative
False for qualitative
True or false: An ethical weakness of content analysis is that it can cause harm to participants
False - there are no participants
True or false: An ethical strength of content analysis is that it can serve the public interest by showing how the media can be manipulated
True
True or false: A theoretical weakness of content analysis is that the Hawthorne effect can take place
False - there are no participants
True or false: A theoretical strength of content analysis is that qualitative content analysis can be used to gain verstehen in certain situations (e.g. when analysing a diary)
True
True or false: A theoretical strength of content analysis is that (when qualitative) the results are subjective to the researcher
False - this is a weakness
True or false: A theoretical weakness of content analysis is that (when qualitative) it could be argued that counting the number of times a word appears doesn’t really tell us anything
True
What are documents?
A secondary source of data. Can include written articles, diaries, videos, images, and (more recently) social media posts
How many kinds of document are there?
3: personal, public, and historical
What is a personal document?
Something that was never intended to be seen by others, e.g. a diary, a personal note, a private piece of art
What is a public document?
Something that was intended to be seen by the public, e.g. Ofsted reports, newspapers, TV, and (arguably) public social media posts
What is a historical document?
A public OR personal document that was produced in the past, e.g. Anne Frank’s diary. There is no set amount of time that has to pass before a document is considered document
True or false: A practical strength of documents is that they are quick and cheap because someone else has already gathered the information
True
True or false: A practical strength of documents is that there are legitimate documents on every possible topic
False - there may not be documents available on the topic sociologists want, and documents can be faked/hoaxes
True or false: A practical weakness of documents is that it can be difficult to access some documents, e.g. classified government documents, personal diaries
True
True or false: A practical weakness of documents is that it can be time consuming
True
True or false: An ethical weakness of documents is that it can cause harm to participants
False - there are no participants
True or false: An ethical weakness of documents is that, when using historical documents, there is no need to gain informed consent
True
True or false: An ethical weakness of documents is that there are unique challenges involved. E.g. would Anne Frank want the world reading her diary?
True
True or false: An ethical strength of documents is that no one except the author could be affected by the research
False - anyone mentioned in the book, or friends and family of the author, could be affected
True or false: A theoretical weakness of documents is that they cannot be used to gain verstehen
False - can gain verstehen in personal documents
True or false: A theoretical strength of documents is that (when personal) they are high in validity as the author had no reason to alter the truth, seeing as no one else was ever meant to see it
True
True or false: A theoretical weakness of documents is that they are based on subjective interpretations of events
True
True or false: A theoretical strength of documents is that researchers can be 100% objective towards them
False - researcher bias can lead to misinterpretations and reduce validity
