qualitative methods

Question 1

what is narrative?

Answer 1

how you represent reality rather than the reality

Question 2

what did Marsh and Savigny find by comparing 2 UK based journals and 2 US based journals?

Answer 2

the US had a tendency towards positivism, whereas the UK is more pluralist, with a strong tradition of normative theory and non-positivist research

Question 3

why did Bennett et al find the US had a minimal qualitative movement?

Answer 3

due to most colleges not teaching qualitative methods (only 16%)

Question 4

what are 4 key features of qualitative research?

Answer 4

1. Inductive analysis to discover categories not only testing theoretically derived hypotheses
2. A holistic perspective with a sensitivity to the context
3. Qualitative data collection based on detailed, description
4. Empathic neutrality not objectivity

Question 5

what is also important to qualitative research?

Answer 5

reflexivity

Question 6

what are 5 primary research techniques for qualitative research?

Answer 6

•	Semi structured / in-depth interviews 
•	Focus groups
•	Ethnography
participant observation
experiments

Question 7

who are interviews associated mostly with? (5)

Answer 7

institutionalism, post-positivist behaviouralism, constructivism, interpretivism and feminism

Question 8

how do institutionalists use interviews?

Answer 8

with elites

Question 9

why are focus groups used?

Answer 9

group interaction used to produce data which wouldn’t be found otherwise – size and composition of the group is very important

Question 10

what is ethnography?

Answer 10

uses both participant and non-participant observation within ‘natural’ social and political contexts

Question 11

what are 2 secondary research techniques for qualitative research?

Answer 11

historiographies

case studies

Question 12

why can secondary research be affected by bias?

Answer 12

somewhat inevitable as sources are chosen based on accessibility or the researcher’s awareness of their existence

Question 13

what are historiographies used for?

Answer 13

to explain real world outcomes (not really predictions)

Question 14

what are the two approaches to analysing words?

Answer 14

discourse analysis

content analysis

Question 15

what happens within discourse analysis?

Answer 15

Makes a clear attempt to go beyond the data, uncovering how people seek to portray their actions

Question 16

is discourse analysis more qualitative or quantitative?

Answer 16

qualitative

Question 17

what is linguistic discourse analysis?

Answer 17

Focus on the words themselves, precise meanings to see how an argument is constructed

Question 18

what is critical discourse analysis?

Answer 18

unpack the ideological underpinnings of things we take for granted to expose the power relations underneath

Question 19

what happens within content analysis?

Answer 19

systematic analysis of the content of political communication

Question 20

is content analysis more qualitative or quantitative?

Answer 20

quantitative

Question 21

how is content analysis used in the study of political parties?

Answer 21

to identify drifts in the ideological self understanding of parties

Question 22

what is the Manifesto Project Database?

Answer 22

Quantitative assessment of party manifestos

Question 23

how many parties are included in the Manifesto Project Database?

Answer 23

1000+

Question 24

how many countries are included in the Manifesto Project Database?

Answer 24

52

Question 25

when do the manifestos begin from the Manifesto Project Database?

Answer 25

1945

Question 26

what are 3 strengths of the Manifesto Project Database?

Answer 26

Gives a genuinely comparative tool with which to measure changes in party position on the ideological spectrum (over time/space)
•A sound basis for deeper, more qualitative analysis
•Helps hypothesis and theory generation

Question 27

what are 5 weaknesses of the Manifesto Project Database?

Answer 27

• Coding scheme must have been decided by someone eg what policies make you left/right wing?
• Inter coder unreliability
• Can’t change the coding scheme now…
• Some conclusions downright bizarre
• Parties that are seen as ‘non coalitionable’ not normally included in the analysis – what happens if they become coalitionable?

Question 28

what’s an example of a conclusion that the Manifesto Project Database came to which is odd?

Answer 28

far right MSI party in Italy considered more left than the communist party

Question 29

what is verstehen? (Weber)

Answer 29

when a researcher aims to understand another person’s experience, he can try to put himself in the other person’s shoes