test 3 Flashcards
qualitative analysis
the nonnumerical examination and interpretation of observations, for the purpose of discovering underlying meanings and patterns of relationships. This is most typical of field research and historical research.
frequencies
How often does child abuse occur among families in the neighborhood under study? Realize there may be a difference between the frequency and what people are willing to tell you?
magnitudes
what are the levels of abuse? How brutal are they?
structures
what are the different types of abuse: physical,
mental, sexual? Are they related in any particular manner?
Processes
is there any order among the elements of structure? Do abusers begin with mental abuse and move on to physical and sexual abuse, or does the order of elements vary?
causes
what are the causes of child abuse? Is it more common in particular social classes or among different religious or ethnic groups? Does it occur more often during good times or bad?
Consequences
How does child abuse affect the victims, in both the short and the long term? What changes does it cause in the abusers?
cross- case- analysis
an analysis that involves an examination of more than one case; this can be either a variable- oriented or case- oriented analysis.
variable-oriented analysis
an analysis that describes and/or explains a particular variable.
case- oriented analysis
an analysis that aims to understand a particular case or several cases by looking closely at the details of each.
variable oriented analysis
the aim here is to achieve a partial, overall explanation using relatively few variables.
case oriented analysis
would look more closely into a particular case.
grounded theory method
an inductive approach to research, introduced by Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss, in which theories are generated solely from an examination of data rather than being derived deductively.
constant comparitive method
a component of the Grounded Theory Method in which observations are compared with one another and with the evolving inductive theory.
'’comparing incidents applicable to each category.’’
As Glaser and Strauss researched the reactions of nurses to the possible death of patients in their care, the researchers found that the nurses were assessing the ‘‘social loss’’ attendant upon a patient’s death. Once this concept arose in the analysis of one case, they looked for evidence of the same phenomenon in other cases. When they found the concept arising in the cases of several nurses, they compared the different incidents. This process is similar to conceptualization as described in chapter 5- specifying the nature and dimensions of the many concepts arising from the data
'’Integrating categories and their properties.’’
Here the researcher begins to note relationships among concepts. In the assesment of social loss, for example, Glaser and Strauss found that nurses took special notice of a patient’s age, education, and family responsiblities. For these relationships to emerge, however, it was necessary for the researchers to have noticed all these concepts.
'’Delimiting the theory.’’
Eventually, as the patterns of relationships among concepts become clearer, the researcher can ignore some of the concepts that were initially noted but are evidently irrelevant to te inquiry. In addition to the number of categories being reduced, the theory itself may become simpler. In the examination of social loss, for example, Glaser and Strauss found that the assessment processes could be generalized beyond nurses and dying patients: They seemed to apply to the ways all staff dealt with all patients (dying or not).
'’writing theory.’’
Finally, the researcher must put his or her findings into words to be shared with others. As you may have already experienced for yourself, the act of communicating your understanding of something actually modifies and even improves your own grasp of the topic. In GTM, the writing stage is regarded as a part of the research process.
semiotics
the study of signs and the meanings associated with them. This is commonly associated with content analysis. Commonly associated with content analysis. also known as a search for the meanings intentionally or unintentionally attached to signs.
conversation analysis
a meticulous analysis of the details of conversation, based on a complete transcript that includes pauses, hems, and also haws.
open coding
the initial classification and labeling of concepts in qualitative data analysis. In open coding, the codes are suggested by the researchers’ examination and questioning of the data.
axial coding
a reanlysis of the results of open coding in the Grounded Theory Method, aimed at identifying the important, general concepts.
selective coding
In Grounded Method Theory, this analysis builds on the results of open coding and axial coding to identify the central concept that organizes the other concepts that have been identified in a body of textual materials.
memoing
writing memos that become part of the data for analysis in qualitative research such as grounded theory. Memos can describe and define concepts, deal with methodological issues, or offer initial theoretical formulations.
what uses the constant comparitive method?
grounded theory
code notes
identify the codes you are using with specific definitions
theoretical notes
may cover numerous topics, how concepts relate, deeper/ underlying meanings, etc: as we try to make sense of our data
operational notes
specifically for methodological issues.
what are the fundamental assumptions of conversation analysis
Conversation is a socially constructed activity. Conversations must be understood contextually. Conversational analysis aims to understand the structure and meaning of conversation through excruciatingly accurate transcripts of conversations.
coding units
these are the concepts of interest
coding as a physical act
requires physically coding and reorganizing data
creating codes
prior theory vs grounded theory methods
quantitative analysis
the numerical representation and manipulation of observations for the purpose of describing and explaining the phenomena that those observations reflect.
codebook
the document used in data processing and analysis that tells the location of different data items in a data file. Typically, the codebook identifies the locations of data items and the meaning of the codes used to represent different attributes of variables.
purposes of a codebook
1.primary guide in the coding processes (data entry). 2. guide for locating variables (during analysis)
what are the common elements in codebooks
abbreviated variable name. variable definition. numerical label. variable attributes.
univariate analysis
the analysis of a single variable, for purposes of description. Frequency distributions, averages, and measures of dispersion would be examples of univariate analysis, as distinuished from bivariate and multivariate analysis.
what is a continuous variable in univariate analysis.
a variable whose attributes form a steady progression, such as amount of income.
what is a discrete variable in univariate analysis
a variable whose attributes are seperate from one another, sucha as gender or political affiliation.
frequency distributions
a description onf the number of times the various attributes of a variable are observed in a sample.
mode
an average representing the most frequently observed value or attribute. If a sample contains 1,000 protestants, 275 Catholics, and 33 jews, Protestant is the modal category.
mean
An average computed by summing the values of several observations and dividing by the number of observations. If you now have a grade point average of 4.0 based on 10 courses, and you get an f in this course, your new grade point (mean) average will be 3.6.
