Qualitative research designs and data collection (wk 10) Flashcards
What is qualitative research?
Is a process of understanding based on distinct methodological traditions of inquiry that explore a social or human problem. The researcher builds a complex, holistic picture, analyses words, reports detailed views of informants, and conducts the study in a natural setting.
What is quality in qualitative research?
Validity, reliability, trustworthiness
Quality in qualitative research
-Dependability, confirmability, credibility, transferability
- Dependability – Showing that the findings are consistent and could be repeated
- Confirmability – A degree of neutrality or the extent to which the findings of a study are shaped by the respondents and no researcher bias, motivation, or interest
- Credibility – Confidence in the ‘truth’ of the findings
- Transferability – Showing that the findings have applicability in other contexts
What is methodology (strategies of enquiry)?
The strategy, plan of action, the way that you group together your research techniques to make the ‘grand design’
What are methods?
What you actually do, the techniques and procedures you use to gather and analyse data/evidence related to a specific research question or hypothesis.
Phenomenology
-Research purpose, disciplinary origin, primary data collection method, data analysis, report
Ethnography
-Research purpose, disciplinary origin, primary data collection method, data analysis, report
Grounded theory
-Research purpose, disciplinary origin, primary data collection method, data analysis, report
Types of interviews
-> Individual group, structured-semi-structured-unstructured, open questions-closed questions, styles – biographical, clinical, ethnographical, method face-to-face, telephone, computer-assisted.
Strengths of interviews
-> extensive personalisation/interaction, extensive opportunities to ask Qs, possible to probe, flexible
Limitations of interviews
Labour intensive (And costly), not extensive, subjectivities in interpretation and analysis, limited reliability, memory decay
Questions to avoid in interviews
Double questions, long complex questions, questions involving jargon/ technical terms, leading/biased questions, ambiguous questions, invasion of privacy
A good interviewer must have:
Have listening skills, put questions in a straightforward, clear and not threatening way, be sensitive to non-verbal communication, eliminate cues which leads interviewees to respond in a particular way, enjoy it don’t look bored.
What are the 3 stages of qualitative analysis
- Data reduction -> Coding, discarding irrelevant data – on going process throughout the research
- Data display -> Draw conclusions from the mass of data
- Conclusion drawing/ verifications validity -> Examined through references to your existing field notes and critical discussions with tutors
What are the several ways of analysing qualitative data?
Ethnographic analysis, structured analysis, content analysis, axial coding and constant comparison, inductive and deductive analytical procedures, post-structuralism approach, feminist approach
What is the ‘data’ structure?
Words, phrases, paragraphs, connections, patterns, sequences
What is the key process in the data reduction stage?
Coding qualitative data
What is coding?
-> The organisation of raw data in conceptual categories. Each code is effectively a category – first stage of providing some form or logical structure to the data. Codes are tags or labels for assigning units of meaning to the descriptive information complied during a study. Codes are attached to chunks of words of phrases, sentences or whole paragraphs.
What are the stages of data coding?
Data is carefully read, all statements relating to the research question are identified and assigned a code-category. Reread of the transcripts- search for statement that fit into categories. Further codes might be developed- Axial coding. More analytical – look for patterns and explanation.
Subjective well-being?
Developmental, social, material, mental, physical
Developmental and physical
-> Personal development, independence, health, maintenance, fitness
Mental and social
Cognitive function, family, positive affect, social life, contribution, negative affect
What is data trustworthiness?
-Confirmability, dependability, credibility, transferability
- Confirmability (objectivity) -> Link with raw data themes-list of emerged themes
- Dependability (reliability) -> Triangulation of transcripts and themes
- Credibility (internal validity) -> Pilot study, member checking
- Transferability (external validity) -> Demographic characteristics, specific settings
