Qualitative research (HL) Flashcards
Structured interview
Interview schedule states exactly what questions should be asked and the order they should be asked in, data collected is easy to analyse and compare however can lead to artificiality and be impersonal
Unstructured interview
Interview schedule only states topic and time, and interviewee has more freedom to express themselves (more valid), however data can be difficult to analyse
Semi-structured interview
Informal conversation that follows an interview schedule, open ended questions that allow interviewee to respond more freely while maintaining focus, flexibility for interviewer to ask additional questions
Focus groups
Group interviews; group conversation can feel more natural, spark ideas in other interviewees, save time for researcher however one strong voice can mean others feel intimidated or do not contribute, leading to conformity effects
Observations
Describe behaviour without establishing cause and effect relationship, can be naturalistic or in a lab; not possible to record everything and researcher bias must be avoided
Participant and non-participant observation
Researcher is part of the group being observed / researcher is not part of the group being observed
Covert observation
Participants don’t know they’re being observed, to avoid reactivity
Overt observation
Participants know they’re being observed (can cause demand characteristics)
Case studies
Researcher observes the behaviour of an individual or a group of individuals using a holistic exploration, producing rich, detailed data; limitations with generalising to the general population and reliability
Key points of qualitative research
Interpretation approach is more subjective than quantitative research; cannot be generalised to the same extent; purposive sampling
Representational generalisation
Whether the findings from the sample can be applied to the population from which they were selected
Transferability/inferential generalisation
Whether the findings from the study can be applied to settings outside of the study
Theoretical generalisation
Whether theoretical concepts from the study can be used to develop further theory
Credibility
Like internal validity; established when the findings of the research reflect the meanings as they are described by the participants, also evident when different researchers agree on the interpretation of findings
Data triangulation
Researcher collects data from multiple different sources
Method triangulation
Researcher collects data using different methods (including qualitative and quantitative
Researcher triangulation
Use of different observers, interviewers or researchers
Theory triangulation
Looking at data from different approaches (such as biological, cognitive and sociocultural)
