qualitative research methods Flashcards
interpretivism (beliefs and methods)
- reject ideas put forward by positivists
- peoples actions depend on the meaning they give to a situation
- interpretivists use qualitative methods
- unstructured interviews, observations and personal documents
- unstructured nature of these methods gives valid data
unstructured interviews (advantages and disadvantages)
- no predefined questions
- liked by feminists as there is no power relationship
- allow a good rapport to develop
- produce valid data
- respondents can elaborate
- check meanings and understanding
- very flexible - new ideas could emerge
- interviewers need to be trained (cost)
- could take a long time
- go off on a tangent
- only involve a small sample - not representative
why do positivists dislike unstructured interviews?
- positivists dislike unstructured interviews
- unscientific
- lack objectivity
- lack reliability - no standardised questions
- not representative - very small sample
- produce qualitative data - hard to quantify
unstructured interviews and ethics
- could generated ‘guilty knowledge’ e.g. if illegal information is revealed
- interviewees are empowered - discuss what they want to
- good for sensitive topics
- consent is gained
examples of unstructured interviews in studies
DOBASH AND DOBASH - unstructured interviews to investigate domestic violence
EILEEN BARKER - making of the moonies, lasted 12 hours each - triangulation - questionnaire
PAT CARLEN - 39 female offenders aged between 15-49 - reasons for offending behavior
different types of observations
nonparticipant observations - researcher simply observes
participant observation - researcher joins in with group
overt observation - researchers identity and purpose is known to group
covert observation - researcher undercover
structured observations (positivists) - observations are recorded using a schedule
covert participant observations
- could be problems gaining access to the group - age, gender, social class etc
- have to get accepted by a group
- staying in the group / getting out of the group
- interpretivist: insight into the group living as a member - putting yourself into their place e.g. ‘black like me’ by Griffin
- flexible method - enter with open mind
- no hawthorne effect
- huge ethical issues
problems with covert participant observations
- very time consuming
- expensive
- have to keep up act
- recording data - can’t take notes - rely on memory
- could get too involved and be no longer objective
- can’t ask questions
- could be dangerous (e.g. glasgow gang study - PATRICK involved in illegal behaviour)
- produce lots of qualitive data - hard to categorise
overt participations
- you can behave normally and opt out of dangerous activities
- openly make notes and ask questions
- get insight into group
- access through permission
- flexible
- hawthorne effect will be present
participant observations theoretical considerations
- interpretivists prefer this method
- covert obs very valid data
- first-hand experience of the group
- very flexible
- grounded in theory - no hypothesis - researcher can modify their ideas to produce grounded theory
- concepts and hypotheses come from observation, not imposed by the researcher
- gain good understanding of the group
why do positivists reject participant observations
- not representative
- not standardised - not reliable as hard to replicate
- qualitative data is hard to quantify due to subjectivity
- lack objectivity - rely on researchers interpretation - contain bias
