Unit 3: Ch. 14 Flashcards
characteristics of qualitative designs (6)
- flexible, elastic; more wiggle room
- almost always non-experimental
- intent is to thoroughly describe or explain
- real-world, naturalistic settings
- cross-sectional or longitudinal (also used in quantitative)
- cross-sectional: “slice in time”
- longitudinal: across time - emergent: ongoing analysis guides design decisions
- the design emerges as the study is conducted
- occurs while the researcher is performing interviews/in the field during the study
qualitative design features (5)
- interventions, control, and blinding: NOT used (only in quantitative studies)
- aim for understanding - comparison: compare individuals for greater understanding to get at the truth of the situation that’s under investigation
- setting: collect data in a variety of different settings; the setting that they choose may depend on where they collected data last time; all built into the IRB proposal
- timeframe: may be cross-sectional, longitudinal, and retrospective
- NOT prospective - causality: do not look for causation - this is b/c researchers typically don’t know enough about whatever they’re researching to look for causation
why select one method over the other? (3)
- qualitative researchers want to see the world as participants see it
- to learn more about the phenomenon when little or nothing is known
- in some types of studies, a qualitative study may be done in preparation for a quantitative study. May be done to learn the words and phrases that are needed in the quantitative study
major qualitative methods and approaches (11)
- phenomenology
- grounded theory
- ethnography
- historical research
- case studies
- focus groups
- narrative analysis
- descriptive qualitative studies
- critical theory
- feminist approach
- participatory action research (aka community research)
ethnography
Purpose: describe and interpret a culture and cultural behavior
- culture is the way a group of people live, pattern of activity, and the symbolic structures that give such activities their significance (ex: values and norms)
- relies on extensive, labor intensive field work
Assumption: cultures guide the way people structure their experiences
Perspectives: ethnographers seek an emic perspective of the culture and an etic perspective of the culture
- emic: insiders’ view of the culture
- etic: outsiders’ view of the culture
Method of Data Collection (Data Source): relies on wide range of data sources, such as interviews, observations, documents, and some data sources may even be quantitative
-participant observation is a particular important source of data collection
Product: in-depth, holistic portrait of the culture under investigation
phenomenology
has a very specific philosophy behind it
Purpose: focuses on description and interpretation of people’s lived experience
-asks what is the essence of the phenomenon as it is experienced by people (what does that experience mean to them?)?
Aspects of experience (4)
- lived space: space that each of us live in
- lived body
- lived time
- lived human relation
Data Source (Method of Data Collection): in-depth conversations with a small number of participants; all of these participants have experienced what it is that the researcher is studying
Types (2)
- Descriptive phenomenology: simply describes human experience; based on philosophy of Husserl
- Interpretive phenomenology: emphasis is on interpreting and understanding the experience, not just describing it; based on the philosophy of Heidegger
Product: in-depth interpretation and understanding of the phenomenon
descriptive phenomenology
simply describes human experience; based on philosophy of Husserl
4 steps:
- bracketing: identifying and holding in abeyance preconceived views; may involve maintaining a reflexive journal; putting your preconceived notions aside
- intuiting: being open to the meaning attributed to the experience
- analyzing: extracting essential statements and making sense of essential meanings in the experience
- describing: when the researcher comes to understand the experience
- bracketing: identifying and holding in abeyance preconceived views; may involve maintaining a reflexive journal; putting your preconceived notions aside
interpretive phenomenology
emphasis is on interpreting and understanding the experience, not just describing it; based on the philosophy of Heidegger
Bracketing does NOT occur. May use supplementary sources or texts in addition to talking to participants
-“Heideggerian Hermeneutics” - looks at interpretive phenomenology
“Heideggerian Hermeneutics”
looks at interpretive phenomenology
who came up with descriptive phenomenology?
Husserl
who came up with interpretive phenomenology?
Heidegger
“Heideggerian Hermeneutics”
grounded theory
Purpose: to focus on discovery of a basic social-psychological problem that a defined group of people experience. Often used in businesses to describe business processes. Elucidates social structures and processes. Developed by sociologists (Glaser and Strauss)
-has a number of theoretical roots. One of them is symbolic interaction
Data Source: in-depth interviews with 20-40 people and the interviews may be supplemented with observations, written documents
Data Analysis: data collection, data analysis, and sampling occur simultaneously
- method of analysis: constant comparison (used to develop and refine theoretically relevant categories)
- the focus is on understanding core variables. A basic social process comes to explain how people solve a problem or concern
Product: ultimately to come up with a theory
who came up with grounded theory?
Glaser and Strauss
case studies
focuses on a thorough explanation and description of a single case (ex: single unit in a hospital, single person)
Purpose: in-depth description but the actual purpose may vary with the study itself
Data Source: individuals, families, groups of people, organizations, even communities. Typically data is collected over an extended period of time.
Product: description of the case
case studies may be done when things are rare (ex: a particular dz) –> need to describe the dz, where it came from, what worked best, and what didn’t work best
focus groups
frequently used in CQI, nursing research, business marketing. May be used to use the language and words that are used by a group so that those words and phrases may be used to develop an instrument or so that language (ex: languages/terms within particular groups such as gangs) can be used to develop an interview schedule
Purpose: wide ranging; may be to learn group opinions and problem solve before making changes such as student views before making curriculum changes
Assumption: people are most comfortable expressing their views in a similar group to themselves; group dynamics facilitate discussion
-typically in focus groups you collect people who are more alike than different b/c you want people who are comfortable with talking
Method of Data Collection (Data Source): a group of somewhere between 5 and 12 people; are assembled for a discussion led by an interviewer (called a “moderator”)
- purpose of the moderator is to keep the discussion on track, keep the discussion balanced so all views are heard from and so there’s no one person dominating the discussion and so group think is avoided
- recorder typically records the discussion and watches body language during the discussion
- participants should be homogeneous so everybody in the group feels comfortable. If you want to study another group, you must assemble another focus group
- a very sensitive or emotionally charged group may need to be smaller
- ->ex: illegal activities, sex abuse
- discussion setting should be neutral, comfortable, easily accessible, some place where discussion is facilitated (good acoustics)
- typical focus group discussion lasts about 2 hours guided by 12 or so questions. Go from general/broad to specific questions
Product: an instrument development; change based on the evidence
