Qualitative Research II Flashcards
Debates within qualitative methods
Which is the best method of data collection?
Do some methods move the data too far away from the participants own voice?
Do the researchers impose their own interpretation on the data?
what is classic qualitative research
Classically qualitative researchers became immersed in the environment they were studying – e.g. move into the culture or organization and experience what was like to be a part of it – almost ethnographic
example of classic qualitative research
zimbardo
what is a Semi-Structured interview
Semi-Structured
Semi-directive, partly scripted
Closed and open questions (but open questions prevail)
Develop set of core, open questions and then probe and prompt informants’ responses to gain further elaboration, clarification, insight etc.
what is an Unstructured interview
Unstructured interview
Unstructured/exploratory interview
non-directive, non scripted, respondent led
rich data – grounded theory, discourse analysis
what are the 5 Contingent problems: Potter & Hepburn (2005)
5 Contingent problems: Potter & Hepburn (2005)
The deletion of the interviewer
The conventions of representation of interaction
The specificity of observations
The unavailability of the interview set-up
The failure to consider interviews as interaction.
Global observations
It is not uncommon in contemporary qualitative interview papers in psychology to find a large block of text reproducing interviewee’s talk, with some observations made about it that are very hard to clearly link to specific elements of the talk.
The challenge in analysis is to show how your claims can account for the specifics of the talk, not just its broad themes. The block-of-text form of representation does not allow those specifics and their relation to the analysis to be clearly seen.
Unavailability of set up
What category have the participants been recruited under? Are they taking part in the research on the basis that they are a ‘lesbian mother’, an ‘adolescent male’, a ‘recreational drug user’, or something less explicit?
Interview research typically recruits participants under categories of this kind. After all, this is a feature of proper attention to sampling. How are these categories constructed in the various parts of the recruitment (including the introduction to the research, ethics procedures, administrative arrangements, and so on)?
Second, what is the task understanding offered to the participant? This involves questions such as: what are they told that the interview will be about, what it will be for, and what the task of the interviewee will be?
Solution to unavailability of a set up
(1) At minimum it should include the relevant interview question(s). This is probably the topic initial question as well as any follow-ups or ‘prompts’.
(2) The interview extracts should be transcribed to a level that allows interactional features to be appreciated even if interactional features are not the topic of the study.
(3) The interview extracts should be presented in such a way, probably using line numbers and short lines that allow discrete connections to be made between elements of talk and analytic interpretations.
(4) The report should include information about how participants were approached, under what categories, with what interview tasks. Some current interview studies include some of these elements;
what does Naturally occurring mean
Naturally occurring is when the events happen with or without any research taking place
The benefits tape recording include:
The benefits tape recording include:
The researcher can concentrate and listen and respond better
The discussion flows better when there are no distractions
In note taking there is an increased risk of the researcher being more subjective
The entire interview/observation is recorded, which gives a better, more holistic picture of what is going on
The participants may feel less observed if the tape recorded is used in a discreet way
During analysis, the researcher has the opportunity to go back over material
what is transcribing
Transcribing the interview involves taking notes of the interview…it is the full ‘script’ of the interview and the aim is to take a full written version of the interview
Transcribing an interview is very time consuming, with an estimated time ratio of 5:1 (i.e. 5 hours of transcribing a one hour interview)
Tape analysis can be used, which is a combination on the two and involves the researcher taking notes from the recording
what computer programme helps tape recoridngs
cool edit
what does (.) mean
A full stop inside brackets denotes a micro pause, a notable pause but of no significant length.
what does (0.2) mean
(0.2) A number inside brackets denotes a timed pause. This is a pause long enough to time and subsequently show in transcription.
