Qualitative Research Flashcards
Why qualitative?
When you are not testing assumptions, but rather exploring a relatively new topic to see what you can find
Because assigning our own, researcher-driven codes and definitions a priori might get in the way of participants’ experience
When there is no way of ‘measuring’ an experience accurately without stripping it of meaning
When we are not trying to quantify, compare or ask ‘more. less, fewer’ questions
If we are interested in people’s complex experiences and stories
When we want to treat participants as having their own level of expertise, at least as valid as ours.
Thematic analysis
An umbrella term which could describe all the approaches below, as all are concerned with the analysis of themes. Systematised by Braun and Clarke (2006/2013) as a method specific to psychological enquiry
Grounded Theory
An inductive approach using qualitative data to derive a theory about some area of human activity (which would then potentially be susceptible to deductive hypothesis-testing)
Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis
IPA is concerned with trying to understand lived experience and with how participants themselves make sense of their experiences. Therefore it is centrally concerned with the meanings which those experiences hold for the participants.
Discourse analysis
Concentrates on the analysis of (usually) spoken conversation – eg communication between health staff and patients – as a means of understanding relationships and processes
Narrative analysis
Focuses on people’s description of stories – Phenomena best viewed as sequences of events, eg patients’ descriptions of the process of being diagnosed with and treated for an illness
Saturation
when the researcher finds that no new descriptive codes, categories or themes are emerging from the analysis of data
Reflexivity
The process of constantly examining oneself as a researcher, acknowledging how one’s assumptions, experience, beliefs and biases affect the data gathering and analysis. The empirical researcher seeks to eliminate bias; the qualitative researcher seeks to understand and declare it.
