Unit 1: Ch. 3 Flashcards
Study
An investigation
Studies with humans involve 2 sets of people. Those types of people are?
Those who do the research and those who provide the information
In a quantitative study, the people being studied are called?
Subjects or study participants
In a qualitative study, the people cooperating in the study are called study participants or?
Informants
The person who conducts the research is the?
Researcher or investigator
Study Site
Specific location for the research
-could be an entire community (ex: Haitian neighborhood in Miami) or an institution (ex: clinic in Seattle)
Multisite Studies
Use of multiple study sites
-offers a larger and often more diverse sample of participants
Concepts
Something everyone knows to be true
Abstractions in qualitative studies
Constructs
Deliberately invented/constructed
Construct vs Concept
They’re sometimes used interchangeably, but by convention a construct often refers to a slightly more complex abstraction than a concept
Theories
An explanation of some aspect of reality
Quantitative Study Theory
Start w/ theory and do research to make prediction
-deductive reasoning; make predictions about how phenomena in real world would behave if the theory were true
Qualitative Study Theory
Do research and make a theory
-inductive reasoning (theory is often the PRODUCT of research)
Variable
Something that varies
The term “variable” is used almost exclusively in quantitative research
Types of varibles
Continuous
-ex: height, weight
Categorical
-ex: marital status, gender
Independent Variable (IV)
Dependent Variable (DV)
Independent Variable (IV)
The presumed cause
Corresponds to intervention, influence, or exposure
Dependent Variable (DV)
The presumed outcome that researchers want to understand, explain, or predict
Conceptual Definition
The abstract or theoretical meaning of a concept
Ex: definition of caring was found by Morse and colleagues (1990) to have 5 conceptual definitions: human trait, moral imperative, affect, interpersonal relationship, and a therapeutic intervention
Operational Definition
Indicates what researchers specifically must do to measure the concept and collect needed info
Data
The pieces of info researchers collect in a study
Singular = datum
Quantitative researchers collect ____ data.
Numeric (quantitative)
Qualitative researchers collect ____ data.
Narrative descriptions (qualitative)
T/F: Variables are not inherently dependent or independent.
True
-a DV could in one study could be an IV in another
Example of quantitative data (just for reference)
“Thinking about the past week, how depressed would you say have been on a scale from 0 to 10, where 0 means ‘not at all’ and 10 means ‘the most possible’?”
Data:
- subject 1: 9
- subject 2: 0
- subject 3: 4
Example of qualitative data (just for reference)
Question: “Tell me about how you’ve been feeling lately - have you felt sad or depressed at all, or have you generally been in good spirits?”
Response: “Well, actually, I’ve been pretty depressed lately. I wake up each morning and I can’t seem to think of anything to look forward to. I just can’t seem to shake the blues.”
Relationship
A bond or connection between variables
Cause and Effect Relationship
aka “causal relationship”
Within the positivist paradigm, natural phenomena are assumed to have antecedent causes that are discoverable
Ex: there is a causal relationship between eating more calories and gaining weight
Associative Relationship
aka “functional relationship”
A relationship exists between the 2 variables but you cannot say that one caused the other
Ex: there is a relationship between a person’s pulmonary artery and tympanic temperature: people w/ high readings on one end tend to have high readings on the other. HOWEVER, you cannot say that one caused the other despite the relationship that exists between the 2.
Major classes of quantitative research: Experimental Research
Researchers actively introduce an intervention or treatment - most often to address therapy questions
Major classes of quantitative research: Nonexperimental Research
Researchers are bystanders - they collect data w/o introducing treatments or making changes (most often to address etiology, prognosis, or diagnosis questions)
Qualitative research disciplinary traditions: Grounded Theory Research
Seeks to understand key social psychological processes
Developed in the 1960s by 2 sociologists (Glaser and Strauss).
A major component of grounded theory research is the discovery of a core variable that is central in explaining what’s going on in that social scene. Grounded theory researchers strive to generate explanations of phenomena that are grounded in reality.
Qualitative research disciplinary traditions: Phenomenological Research
Focuses on the lived experiences of humans
Developed by Husserl and Heidegger.
Phenomenology is an approach to thinking about what life experiences of people are like and what they mean.
Phenomenological researcher asks :”What’s the essence of this phenomenon as experienced by these people? What’s the meaning of the phenomenon to those who experience it?”
Qualitative research disciplinary traditions: Ethnographic Research
Focuses on the patterns and lifeways of a cultural group
Ethnographers typically engage in extensive fieldwork, often participating to the extent possible in the life of the culture under study. Ethnographers strive to learn from members of a cultural group, to understand their world view, and to describe their customs and norms.
In medical and epidemiological research, experimental studies are usually called?
Clinical trials
Nonexperimental inquiries are called?
Observational studies
Phenomenology
Is concerned with the lived experiences of humans
Ethnography
Providers a framework for studying the patterns, lifeways, and experiences of a defined cultural group in a holistic fashion.
The primary research tradition in anthropology
List the 5 phases in quantitative studies.
Phase 1: Conceptual Phase 2: Design & Plan Phase 3: Empirical Phase 4: Analysis Phase 5: Dissemination
Phase 1: Conceptual (5 steps)
- Formulate and delimiting the problem.
- formulate good research questions (substantive, theoretical, clinical, methodological, ethical) - Review literature
- Understand clinical fieldwork (observe the field)
- Define framework and developing conceptual definitions
- define your questions, understand concepts of study - Formulate hypotheses
Phase 2: Design and Plan (7 steps).
- Select research design
- plan it, no bias! - Develop protocols for intervention
- define specifics of your independent variable - Identify population
- Design sampling plan
- how will your sample represent the population? - Specifying methods to measure variables
- data collection plan - Developing methods to safeguard human/animal rights
- adhere to ethical principles - Review and finalize research plan
- have reviewers critique research plan; submit proposal for financial support
Phase 3: Empirical (2 steps)
- Collect data
14. Prepare data for analysis
Phase 4: Analysis (2 steps)
- Analyze the data
16. Interpret the results
Phase 5: Dissemination (2 steps)
- Communicate findings
- prepare research report - Put evidence into practice
Activities in a qualitative study
Conceptualizing and planning the study
Conducting the study: undertaking iterative activities through emergent design
Emergent design
A design that emerges during the course of data collection
Conceptualizing and planning the qualitative study
- ID the research problem
- begin with broad topic, focusing on an aspect about which little is known - Doing a literature review
- some researchers believe doing a review before collecting the data might influence the conceptualization of the phenomenon under study
- others believe that researchers should conduct at least a brief literature review at the outset - Selecting and gaining entrée into research sites
- ID an appropriate site
- researchers may have access to the selected site but in others they need to gain entrée into it
- gaining entrée typically involves negotiations with gatekeepers who have the authority to permit entry into their world - Developing an overall approach
- use an emergent design - Addressing ethical issues
- develop plans for addressing ethical issues
- there are special concerns in qualitative studies b/c of the more intimate nature of the relationship that typically develops between researchers and participants
Conducting a qualitative study
Begin by talking with or observing people with first-hand experience w/ the phenomenon under study
Actual process of data analysis involves clustering together related types of narrative info into a coherent design
-through an inductive reasoning process, researchers begin to ID themes and categories which are used to build a rich description or the theory of the phenomenon
Use the principle of saturation
-sampling decisions are guided by the data
Qualitative researchers are the main data collection instrument and must take steps to demonstrate trustworthiness of the data.
Saturation
Occurs when themes and categories in the data become repetitive and redundant, such that no new info can be gleaned by further data collection
