qualitative research design and data collection Flashcards
what should be asked about the approach?
- is the approach flexible
- is it able to change
what should be done correctly by qualitative researchers?
- coding
- have I coded my data correctly?
what question matters to a qualitative researcher regarding the situation?
- have i managed to capture the situation in a realistic manner?
what is described by qualitative researchers?
- context
- have I described the context in sufficient detail?
what question matters to a qualitative researcher regarding participants?
- have i managed to see the world through the eyes of my participants
what reasoning does quantitative research involve?
- deductive reasoning
what does quantitative research start with and what does it do?
- starts with a theory
- tests via specific examples to prove or disprove the theory
what type of reasoning does qualitative research use?
- inductive reasoning
what does qualitative research start with? what does it form?
- starts with specific examples
- analyses to generate theory
how is quality in qualitative research determined?
- validity
- reliability
- trustworthiness
what are the four dimensions of trustworthiness?
- dependability
- confirmability
- credibility
- transferability
what is dependability? what does it check for?
- reliability
- shows findings are consistent and could be repeated
what is an example of dependability?
- triangulation of transcripts and themes
what is confirmability? what does it check for?
- objectivity
- degree of neutrality/ extent to which the findings of a study are shaped by the respondents and not researcher bias, motivation or interest
what is an example of confirmability?
- link with raw data themes
- list of emerged themes
what is credibility? what does it check for?
- internal validity
- confidence in the truth of findings
what are examples of credibility?
- pilot study
- member checking
what is transferability? what does it check for?
- external validity
- shows that the findings have applicability in other contexts
what are examples of transferability?
- demographic characteristics
- specific settings
what are some examples of methodology?
- experimental research
- survey research
- ethnography
- phenomenological research
- grounded theory
- heuristic inquiry
- action research
- discourse analysis
- feminist standpoint research
what are some method examples?
- questionnaire
- observation
- case study
- visual ethnographic methods
- data reduction
- cognitive mapping
- interpretative methods
- content analysis
what are the three research designs?
- phenomenology
- grounded theory
- ethnography
what is phenomenology?
- describes one or more individuals’ experiences of a phenomenon
what is the disciplinary origin of phenomenology?
- philosophy
what is the primary data collection method of phenomenology?
- in- depth interviews
what is the data analysis of phenomenology?
- list significant statements
- determine meaning of statements
- identify essence of phenomenon
what does phenomenology report?
- rich description of the essential characteristics of experience
what is ethnography?
- describe cultural characteristics of a group of people
what is the disciplinary origin of ethnography?
- anthropology
what is the primary data collection method of ethnography?
- participant observation over an extended period of time
- interview with informants
how do you analyse data in ethnography?
- holistic description and searches for cultural themes in data
what does ethnography report?
- rich description of context and cultural themes
what is grounded theory?
- inductively generate a grounded theory describing and explaining a phenomenon
what is the disciplinary origin of grounded theory?
- sociology
what is the primary data collection method in grounded theory?
- interview
- observations frequently used
how do you analyse data in grounded theory?
- begin with open coding, then axial coding and end with selective coding
what do you report from grounded theory?
- description of topic and people studied
- presentation of the theory
what is important to consider when choosing the right design? (4)
- research focus
- what would you like to investigate
- what research design will you follow and why
- what research methods you would choose and why?
what would you ask when finding out what is being investigated?
- what is your research question
- who is your target population?
what is an interview?
- two- person conversation initiated by the interviewer for the specific purpose of obtaining research- relevant information
what do interviews focus on?
- content specified by the research objectives of systematic description, prediction or explanation
what are the different types of interview? (5)
- individual- group
- structured- semi- structured- unstructured
- open questions- closed questions
- styles- biographical, clinical, ethnographical
- method- face- to -face, telephone, computer assisted
what are the strengths of an interview? (5)
+ extensive personalisation/ interaction
+ extensive opportunities to ask questions
+ possible to probe
+ good rate of return
+ flexible
what are the limitations of interviews? (5)
- labour intensive & costly
- not extensive
- subjectivities in interpretation and analysis
- limited reliability
- memory decay
what are the four important questions when designing an interview?
- why are you asking people questions?
- why are you asking these people?
- what do you want to ask? (identify key Qs)
- how do you plan to ask them? (open, closed, scales)
what questions should you avoid in interviews?
- double questions
- long complex questions
- questions involving jargon/ technical terms
- ambiguous questions
what specific questions would you not ask? give examples (2)
- leading/ biases questions e.g., don’t you like tennis?
- invasion of privacy e.g., how much do you earn?
what characteristics does a good interviewer have? (5)
- listening skills
- put questions in a straightforward, clear and non- threatening way
- be sensitive to non- verbal communication
- eliminate cues which lead interviewees to respond in a particular way
- enjoy it, don’t look bored
what are the three main steps of qualitative data analysis?
- data reduction
- data display
- conclusion drawing/ verifications validity
what is data reduction?
- coding, discarding irrelevant data
- on going process throughout the research
what is data display?
- draw conclusions from the mass of data
what is conclusion drawing/ verifications validity?
- examined through references to your existing field notes and critical discussion with tutors
what are the 7 qualitative data analysis methods?
- ethnographic analysis
- structured analysis
- content analysis
- axial coding and constant comparison
- inductive and deductive analytical procedures
- post- structuralism approach
- feminist approach
what is the qualitative data structure?
- words
- phrases
- paragraphs
- connections
- patterns
- sequences
what is a key process in the data reduction stage?
- coding
what is coding?
- organisation of raw data in conceptual categories
what is a code?
- tags/ labels for assigning units of meaning to the descriptive information complied during a study
what is a code attached to?
- chunks of words/ phrases, sentences or whole paragraphs
what is each code effectively?
- effectively a category
- first stage of providing some form of logical structure to the data
what do you do first in coding?
- data is carefully read
- all statements relating to the research question are identified and assigned a code- category
what is the second step of coding?
- reread transcripts
- search for statement that fits into categories
what coding does the third step involve?
- axial coding
- further codes might be developed
what is the fourth step of coding?
- more analytical
- look for patterns and explanations
what are 6 questions that need to be considered after coding?
- to what extent does my sample allow generalisation?
- what did i do that produced these findings?
- what was left out and why?
- what/ who does not fit?
- what is missing?
- what is surprising?
what is lower order theme?
- consists of raw data themes
what is the combination of lower order themes?
- higher order themes
what is first in the hierarchy of themes?
- transcripts
what is second in the hierarchy of themes?
- raw data themes
what is third in the hierarchy of themes?
- lower order themes
what is fourth in the hierarchy of themes?
- main themes
what is last on the hierarchy of themes?
- dimensions
