Research methods and statistics 2 (year one) Flashcards
What are some advantages of qualitative research?
■ Reduce, reuse, recycle ■ Spontaneity ■ Exploratory, theory formation ■ Systematic and transparent ■ Flexible and open to change ■ Simultaneous data collection and analysis
Explain positivism
- Realist perspective
- Causal knowledge
- Deductive reasoning
- what qualitiatve research is built on
explain post-positivism
■ Criticisms of quantitative methods. – Bias in experimentation and data analysis – Reductionism and determinism – Data do not ‘speak for themselves’ ■ Lived experience and context ■ Words over numbers ■ Inductive reasoning
explain phenomenology and give advantages/ disadvantages
Captures the individual’s interpretation of a particular phenomenon.
Interpretive approach remains close to the raw data.
Can miss important precursors, consequences and factors associated with the phenomenon itself.
explain ethnography and give advantages/ disadvantages
- Examines characteristics that define us as being part of a particular cultural group, and how members of that group ascribe meaning to everyday life.
- Unlike phenomenology, ethnography captures the wider perspective.
- Does not capture the dynamic interactions between individuals within a group.
Explain grounded theory and give advantages/ disadvantages
Generates inductive theory that is fundamentally grounded in the data.
Bridges principles of quantitative and qualitative methods.
Fails to acknowledge the researcher’s role in constructing and interpreting data.
explain unobtrusive data
- generally, data which exist before research begins
e. g., Physical traces, archival data
define obtrusive data
Obtrusive: generated for the current research
e.g., Focus groups
- Field study or ethnography
Qualitative interviews
Define and explain qualitative interviewing
■ One to one semi-structured interviews are the most common form of qualitative data collection
■ A focussed conversation between a researcher and (usually) a single participant, where the researcher has a set agenda regarding issues to be discussed
■ Researcher has a role in encouraging participants to provide rich detail
■ More personal form of research than questionnaires
Explain why qualitative interviewing is useful
■ Generate rich and detailed data
■ Particularly useful for getting the story behind people’s experiences– the personal meaning and value
■ Arguably, easier for respondent than questionnaires, Mutually beneficial? e.g., Bereavement research (Bennett, 2005)
■ Chance for the researcher to develop rapport
■ Flexible, interactive and gives participant control over what they say (rather than researcher choosing IV and DV.)
Give some disadvantages of qualitative interviewing
■ Time consuming and effortful
■ Demands on interviewees time can make recruitment difficult
■ Relies on self-report– accurate information?
■ Cannot be generalised to the wider population
■ Interviewer effect/ bias
Give some solutions/ positives to criticisms of qualitative interviews
■ Time consuming and effortful : rich data
■ Demands on interviewees time can make recruitment difficult : typically small sample
■ Relies on self-report– accurate information? : participants truth often most important
■ Cannot be generalised to the wider population : but not the aim
■ Interviewer effect/ bias : but can consider this when planning and reflexivity also a core feature
Give some steps for planning a qualitative interview
■ Decide on your topic of investigation ■ Consider and account for ethical issues ■ Identify your target group ■ What resources do you need? ■ Decide on the format of your interview ■ Design your interview guide/schedule ■ Prepare by piloting the interview guide ■ When ready, start collecting data
Give some ethical considerations for qualitative interview research
- Researcher - participant relationship
- Data interpretation (e.g., risk of misappropriating data)
- Legal requirements of disclosure
- Data management e.g., storage, participant anonymity
- Potential harm e.g., emotionally difficult topics, vulnerability
Describe some ways of collecting qualitative interview data
specific responses
Unstructured: Very open and interactive, with questions created around a broad theme as interview proceeds
In-depth, semi-structured: Researcher guides discussion using an interview guide or ‘schedule’ containing a series of flexible questions and prompts
Describe the type of sampling used in qualitative research
■ Typically a smaller sample
– As many people as you need to find out what you need to know
■ Recruitment can be challenging
■ Sampling is important but varies depending on methodology
– e.g., Theoretical sampling in Grounded Theory
– Homogeneity in Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), whereas maximum variation and use of extreme or ‘deviant’ cases in Grounded Theory
Describe what makes an effective interview question
■ Effective interview questions are open ended; neutral; sensitive; and easy to understand (Britten, 1999)
■ Better to avoid questions that are closed; biased or leading; confrontational; overly complicated or long; unrelated or nosey
what are some useful characteristics of an interview guide?
- Prompts can work really well
– e.g. What was that like for you? Could you tell me more about that? What do you mean by ___? Could you give me an example? How so?
■ Embed questions into longer sentences and encourage stories
Give some key ways of developing an interviewer-interviewee dynamic
■ A key ingredient to getting rich data
■ Developing interview skills through practice
– Value of conducting a pilot interview to get a sense of how your interview guide works and to examine your role as a researcher
■ Break the ice and develop rapport – first few minutes are crucial
■ Be yourself, but don’t give your views
■ Probe, but don’t cross examine. Draw out, but don’t be overbearing
■ Be clear about your purpose, how the information will be used etc.
Define reflexivity
■ “The process of a continual internal dialogue and critical self-evaluation of the researcher’s positionality as well as active acknowledgement and explicit recognition that this position may affect the research process and outcome” (Berger, 2015, p.220).
■ About acknowledging how aspects of our identities (such as race, class, and gender), histories etc. and how they affect data, analyses, and conclusions
■ Good practice to keep a reflexive journal, logging reflections on potential influence as a researcher
– Sensitises the interviewer to their prejudices, assumptions and subjectivities
What is a focus group?
- A group of individuals selected and assembled by researchers to discuss and comment on, from personal experience, the topic that is the subject of the research” (Powell et al, 1996: p,499)
- Facilitated by researcher (often helped by another person)
- Getting people to think about, discuss/debate an issue (or set of issues) – related to the research question
- Key is group interaction not just many interviews happening at once.
Explain when focus groups are used
- To access attitudes, feeling, beliefs and experiences of a group rather than just individuals (interviews)
- To generate discussion/debate about your research question/ area of research
- When you think that individuals may not be able to provide adequate responses on your research question
- When people may not feel ‘safe’ talking in individual interviews
Explain interpretivism
- social reality can only be understood through social constructions such as language, consciousness and shared meanings.
- Does not predefine variables, but explores human sense-making in naturalistic settings.
Give some benefits of focus groups
- Annecdotes
- Room for discussion
- Allows challenging of view points
Give some of the limitations of focus groups
- Can be conflict
- Hard to maintain anonymity
- Hard to control
- Group may not be fully representative : not everyone in group may equally contribute
- Difficult to arrange
What is the ideal number for a focus group?
- 6 and 10
Describe and explain photovoice methods
- Originally developed by Wang & Burris (1997)
- Qualitative method used in community-based participatory research
- It uses interviews and group discussions, and photographs that participants are invited to take
- Participants use photography to document their experiences and ‘tell stories’ about the photographs which identify and represent issues of importance to them
Give the three types of data collection methods for photovoice
- Focus group discussions
- Semi-structured interviews
- photographs
Explain Freire’s approach to critical consciousness
Visual image is an important instrument for:
) Becoming conscious of the contradictions that govern the world
Advocating for positive social change
The production of knowledge is in the hands of participants, who determine what to represent in a photograph
Through collective discussions, people share the meanings of the photographs they have taken
Describe the phases of a photovoice study
Phase 1: Photographic training and initial focus group discussion
Phase 2: Taking the photographs
Phase 3: Follow-up interview
Phase 4: Second focus group discussion
Phase 5: Summarising the participants’ narratives of the key photographs
Phase 6: Disseminate the findings (Photo-exhibition
what issues can be explored through photovoice?
Feelings ( social inclusion, loneliness in the community…)
Experiences (of living with mental health issues, of being a homeless, of living with chronic pain, diabetes, with intellectual disabilities…)
Features of the environment (e.g. how the local environment influences people’s diets, physical activity, access to green spaces
Give some benefits of using photovoice
- Encouraged engagement between participants and stakeholders
- Photovoice invited participants to successfully engage with the photographs, with the collective discussions offering an opportunity to critically think as a group about strengths and issues of their community
- Creative tool to reach key stakeholders (e.g. policy makers)
Explain some challenges of photovoice methods
Ethical aspects related to taking photographs
Important to ask written permission before taking photos of individuals
Some people may not want their photograph taken, and will have individual reasons for this. People often feel protective of their communities
Photo ownership: asking written permission to use participants’ photos in dissemination of results
Factors that can prevent participants taking photographs that they want to take
Photographing negative social concepts (e.g. social isolation) in comparison with more ‘tangible’ aspects (e.g. rubbish in the street)
Define and explain ethnography
- the study of culture used by a range of disciplines including: sociology, anthropology, psychology, applied educational research, organisational studies, human geography, programme evaluation, and business studies (Hammersley & Atkinson, 2007).
- The defining characteristic of Ethnography is participant observation, with the researcher participating / observing the daily lives and events being studied over an extended period of time (Hammersley & Atkinson, 2003).
Other characteristics of ethnographic research include:
Using multiple methods of data collection
Placing emphasis on context
Focusing on what people do, as well as what they say they do (Savage, 2000)
