qualitative research

Question 1

is qualitative research associated with cause-and-effect relationships?

Answer 1

no

Question 2

what form of data does QR use?

quantitative analysis?

Answer 2

textual data and verbal words

numbers

Question 3

what form of analysis does QR use?

quantitative analysis?

Answer 3

illustrative, interpretative

statistical

Question 4

what is the ‘feel’ of QR analysis?

quantitative analysis?

Answer 4

rich and detailed

cold and bare

Question 5

what are the goals of QR analysis?

quantitative analysis?

Answer 5

idiographic (understanding a behaviour in context)
exploratory

nomothetic (discovery of universal laws)
hypothesis testing

Question 6

what is the product of QR analysis?

quantitative analysis?

Answer 6

potentially variable meanings and rules

reliable, stable relationships between variables

Question 7

what is the application of QR findings?

quantitative analysis?

Answer 7

particular to population and setting with no attempt to generalise

general

Question 8

what is the researcher stance in QR?

quantitative analysis?

Answer 8

involved

detached

Question 9

what is the assumed status of analysis of QR?

quantitative analysis?

Answer 9

potentially subjective as involves interpretations

‘objective’

Question 10

what is the research approach taken in QR?

quantitative analysis?

Answer 10

often inductive

often deductive

Question 11

what type of research can quantitative data be extracted from?

Answer 11

questionnaires
experimental data
structured interview data
(anything that can be represented as a quantity)

Question 12

what type of research can qualitative data be extracted from?

Answer 12

(participant) observations
semi/unstructured interviews
fcous groups
diares, texts, documentss

Question 13

what does it mean to take a positivist view?

Answer 13

adopting the ‘standard view of science’ that research should produce ‘objective’ knowledge as viewed from the outside

Question 14

what does positivism involve?

Answer 14

view of Realist Ontology - objective, underlying reality to be discovered

Deduction - deriving research questions from pre-existing theoretical frameworks so data tests theory
“top down”

usually studied using quantitative methods

Question 15

what does it mean to take the interpretivist view?

Answer 15

concentrating on subjective reality of participants and humanistic approach

Question 16

what does interpretivism involve?

Answer 16

views reality as socially constructed and consists of multiple subjective rather than a single objective reality

Induction - collection of data to develop theory so data driven
“bottom up”

uses qualitative methodology

Question 17

what are some characteristics of the deductive approach?

Answer 17

emphasises scientific principles

seeks to explain causal relationships between variables

operationalisation of concepts

reductionist

generalisation

Question 18

what are some characteristics of the inductive approach?

Answer 18

understanding meanings humans attach to events

understanding of research context

realisation that research is part of the research process

less concern with generalisation

Question 19

can qualitative and quantitative methods be used in conjunction?

Answer 19

yes as although the methodologies are fundamentally different, they are not opposed

Question 20

what is methodological triangulation?

Answer 20

combination of several research methodologies in one study (qualitative and quantitative)

quantitative - highlight trends and causal relationships
qualitative - provides context and meaning

triangulation - helps cancel out the ‘method effect’ and increases confidence in findings

Question 21

what are the 4 qualitative methodologies?

Answer 21

Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA)

Discourse Analysis

Thematic Analysis

Grounded Theory

Question 22

what are some of teh similarities and differences between qualitative methodologies?

Answer 22

similarities : concerned with meaning and experience
focus on ‘subjective’

differences :
degree of reflexivity
role of researcher
analytic procress

Question 23

example of difference in analytic process between qualitative methodologies

Answer 23

thematic analysis uses descriptive themes

grounded theory uses theory development

Question 24

what is thematic analysis?

Answer 24

concerned with organising and describing your data in terms of ‘themes’

Question 25

does thematic analysis offer great flexibility?

Answer 25

yes as it is independent of theory

Question 26

what is a 'theme'?

Answer 26

captures something important in relation to your research question

Question 27

how is thematic analysis an active process?

Answer 27

themes don't just 'emerge' from the data but instead are carefully selected and tested

Question 28

how to select the 'size' of a theme?

Answer 28

key is significance of the theme in relation to research question BUT not a theme if one participant mentions it once

Question 29

what is inductive thematc analysis?

Answer 29

themes strongly link to data itself data coded without trying to fit it to researchers preconceptions as not testing theory

Question 30

what is deductive thematic analysis?

Answer 30

coding for a specific research question so less rich analysis of data than inductive thematic analysis

Question 31

what is a semantic level theme?

Answer 31

refers to themes directly observable in the data

Question 32

what is a latent level theme?

Answer 32

refers to underlying phenomenon (ideas, assumptions and ideologies) that you infer from your data

Question 33

what is realist analysis?

Answer 33

themes that categorise the nature of the social world

Question 34

what is constructionist analysis?

Answer 34

theorises socio-cultural contexts and structural conditions that enable individual accounts (categorise different ways of representing the social world)

Question 35

what is the first step of thematic analysis?

Answer 35

1) familiarise yourself with the data: transcribe, read and jot down intial ideas

Question 36

what is the second step of thematic analysis?

Answer 36

2) generating intial codes: coding interesting features of data set (not for themes) collate all data that fit under each code

Question 37

what is the third step of thematic analysis?

Answer 37

3) searching for themes: sort different codes into potential themes phase ends when you have a collection of themes and data coded in relation to them

Question 38

what is the fourth step of thematic analysis?

Answer 38

4) reviewing themes: some themes may not have enough data to support them, some may combine, some may need to be separated review data set to see if you missed any theme

Question 39

what is the fifth step of thematic analysis?

Answer 39

5) defining and naming themes 'essence' of what each theme is about detailed analysis of each theme and how they all fit together think about names of each theme

Question 40

what is the sixth step of thematic analysis?

Answer 40

6) producing the report provide evidence for your themes (describe data and make argument) tell story of data

Question 41

what are the 6 steps of data analysis?

Answer 41

1. familiarise yourself with the data 2. generating initial codes 3. searching for themes 4. reviewing themes 5. defining and naming themes 6. producing the report

Question 42

what to avoid when doing thematic analysis?

Answer 42

don't use interview questions as themes