Qualitative methods Flashcards
What are qualitative methods?
- Concerned with meanings and experiences
- Tend to explore questions rather than investigate variables and hypotheses
- Data is naturalistic
- Recognises subject meanings
- Generates theory
- Can be used alongside quntitative methods
What common methods are used?
- Interviews
- Focus groups
- Diaries
- Participants observation
- Written resources
- Small number of participants
- Ethics needs to be considered
What are the two types of interviews?
Unstructured and semi-structured
What is an unstructured interview?
No set questions, interview flows. Discuss broad topics
What is a semi-structured interview?
Questions are set by the researcher as a guide. Most common and fairly practical
What is a focus group?
- A group interview
- Participant interaction is a source of data
- Similar to semi-structured interviews
- Less artificial than 1:1 interview
- Less appropriate for sensitive or intimate topics
Types of focus groups: homogenous vs heterogenous
Participants share key features vs. participants are different
Types of focus groups: pre-existing group vs new group
e.g. friends/work friends vs. people who have never met
Types of focus groups: concerned by naïve
Subject matter is important to them vs no connection to the subject matter
What should be considered in an interview design?
- Use an interview schedule
- Small number of open ended questions
- Non-prescriptive: act as a guide, can skip questions, may add questions
How many questions should you use in an interview?
- Fully cover the research topic
- Realistic amount for the available time
- When to include demographics?
What order should you ask questions?
- Introduction - at the start
- More personal questions when the participant is comfortable
- Bring back up to less depth at the end
- Consider whether there is a natural flow
Types of questions: descriptive
ask participants to give a general account of something e.g. What happened the last time you witnessed harassment?
Types of questions: structural
find out about the way a participant makes sense of the world, the frameworks they use to think about the world
e.g. How did you decide whether to intervene?
Types of questions: contrast
prompt participant to compare events and experiences e.g. Can you tell me about another time you witnessed harassment
– what was different about it?
