W2: Research Design Flashcards
How do you design a research design?
It is a reflective process operating though every stage of a project
Involved activities of: collecting and analyzing data, developing and modifying theory, elaborating or refocusing the research questions, and identifying and addressing validity threats are usually all going on more or less simultaneously each influencing all of the others
Does not have to be linear
Why develop a research design?
To clearly get from A to B, as a guiding compass
Used as a boundary object in order to get approval from higher management or get everyone on the same page
Final use is for reflection purposes, reflect on the choices made and analyze any potential threats
Constantly revisit your design and re-adjust through
Answering a series of questions that makes you reflect on and justify your research choices
Consider the elements of your study and how they relate to one another, make a provisional plan, and continuously adapt each element to create unity in the whole as tour research emerges
Model for qualitative research design: diagram
Research questions
Goals
Conceptual framework
Validity
Methods
Model for qualitative research design
Process isn’t linear, all steps are interconnected
You need to think of the relationship between all these elements, have a balance/union between them
Model for qualitative research design: conceptual framework
Which theoretical elements are you going to incorporate in your study?
Model for qualitative research design: validity
What academic literature or information you find is valid to what research questions? Which threats of validity exist?
Model for qualitative research design: methods
Which methods are you going to use to try to answer your question?
Model for qualitative research design: goals
Does your question align with the goals of this topic?
Qualitative research approaches
Grounded theory
Ethnography
Netnography
Case study research
Qualitative research approaches: grounded theory
Theory development is made from data of participants that experienced the process you are trying to investigate
Best for theories of actions, interactions, or processes
Qualitative research approaches: grounded theory: unit of analysis, forms of data collection, strategies of data analysis
Unit of analysis: processes, actions, interactions involving many individuals
Forma of data collection: primarily interviews with 20-60 individuals
Strategies of data analysis: open, axial and selective coding
Qualitative research approaches: ethnography
Trying to describe and interpret a culture-sharing group, they share the same practices (ex. Teachers)
Qualitative research approaches: ethnography: unit of analysis, forms of data collection, strategies of data analysis, challenges
Unit of analysis: a group that shares the same culture
Forms of data collection: observations and interviews but also other sources during time in the field
Strategies of data analysis: description and themes of the culture-sharing group
Challenges: this process takes a very long time to complete, even years
Qualitative research approaches: netnography
A new method where you can study communities that exist online, investigate online cultures and practices
Provides researchers with a window into naturally occurring behaviors of groups that can be difficult to access under temporary and virtual collaboration
A lot of participant observations, look at behavior, language, etc.
Qualitative research approaches: netnography: challenges
Digital recordings tend to be incomplete
You can get extensive access to a setting where this cultural group operates in their “nature” setting and where you can observe and converse with them
You can maintain enough distance to tell stories that are relevant to outsider audiences
Qualitative research approaches: case study research
Look at a very specific unique case, or a couple
Provides an in-depth understanding go a case or cases
Qualitative research approaches: case study research: unit of analysis, forms of data collection, strategies of data analysis, challenges
Unit of analysis: an event, a program, an activity or more than one individual
Forms of data collection: multiple sources, interviews, observations documents, and artifacts
Strategies of data analysis: description of the case, themes, and cross-case themes
Challenges: hard to determine whether the case is appropriate for you research, finding the boundaries (ethics),
Subsections of case studies
Exploratory
Revelatory
Multiple
Case study research: exploratory
Aim: try out research questions and find out if the topic warrants further research
Caution: offers preliminary findings, not conclusions
Case study research: revelatory
Aim: unusual setting or situation that helps see something new
Caution: can be exciting but does not necessarily tell us about other cases
Case study research: multiple
Aim: several cases to find similarities and differences between them
Caution: context matters, so what is the point of comparing
Sampling strategies
Population: the largest set about which we want to make some claim
Sample: a subset in a specific context of inquiry
Sampling: your rationale for who/what individual ‘case’ you select to study and collect information about within your target population
Qualitative sampling
Main goal: being information-rich
Characteristics:
Small samples
In-depth understanding
Non-random/purposeful selection of participants
Match type and number of cases to the purpose of the study, within available resources
You can stop gathering new cases when you research “saturation”
Quantitative sampling
Main goal: representativeness
Characteristics:
Large samples
Empirical generalization
Random selection of participants
Sample size functions of population size and desired confidence level
The X question: How many of “X is enough?
No hard rule about the sample size in qualitative research
The X depends on the purpose of the study and what can be done with time and resources
Rule of thumb: use redundancy or saturation as a criterion
If the purpose is to maximize information, then sampling is terminated when no new information is being found: saturation
Sampling techniques
Convenience sampling
Snowball sampling
Typical case
Extreme or deviant case
Theoretical sampling
Stratified purposeful sampling
Convenience sampling
Cases are close at hand rather than being purposely selected
Theoretically a weak technique
Snowball sampling
You initially contact a few potential respondents
Ask them whiter they know of anybody with the same characteristics that you are looking for in your research
Typical case
You are looking for something that is normal/average (company)
Illustrates or highlights what is typical/normal
The case is specifically selected because it is not in any way atypical, extreme, deviant, or intensely unusual
Extreme or deviant case
Learning from highly unusual manifestations of the phenomenon of interest, such as outstanding success/notable failures, top of the class/dropouts, exotic events, crises
Theoretical sampling
Process of data collection for generating theory whereby the analyst jointly collects, codes and analyses their data and devices, what to collect next and where to find them, in order to develop the theory as it emerges
Looking to make a theory about something that is not yet well known, keep talking to people people to help bring ip your knowledge of theory
Stratified purposeful sampling
Trying to illustrate characteristics of particular subgroups of interest, facilitates comparison
This technique is “statistically non-representative stratified sampling” because is must not be seen as a strategy that allows statistical generalization to the larger population
Strategies to ensure validity
Transferability
Credibility
Dependability
Confirmability
What does qualitative validity look at?
External/internal validity, reliability, and objectivity
Validity: transferability
Results that can be transferred to other contexts (not generalizability)
You can have values and understanding in other situations
How to achieve transferability
Thoroughly describing the research context
Verify with the extent of literature
Discuss the limits of transferability in your research paper
Validity: credibility
Make sure the results are believable from the participant’s perspective
How to achieve credibility
Through prolonged engagement
Member checks
Display evidence and procedures so that the readers can judge the strength of your findings
Validity: dependability
You as a researcher hold yourself accountable for changes in the context and how they affected the study
How to achieve dependability
Through maintaining a clear coding scheme with precise definitions, keep notes and memos of your decisions and be reflexive
Validity: confirmability
Results can be corroborated by others looking at your data
How to achieve confirmability
Maintain a clear coding scheme with precise definitions
Keep notes and memos of your decisions
Engage in peer examination
How do you use exiting literature in quantitative research?
Existing literature helps create your hypothesis and helps evaluate your hypothesis and understanding, thereby adding onto the exiting research
How do you use exiting literature in qualitative research?
Use existing literature as pre understanding and sensitivity into the subject, use it throughout the analysis and then add new or refined concepts and theory
How do you incorporate academic literature?
Use literature before your study starts
Use literature during your analysis
Use literature during your write-up
How to use literature before you study starts
Look for sensitizing concepts → important features of social interaction, and suggest directions of what/where to look for phenomena
Find inspiration and identify your ‘gap’ → ideas for what to ask interviews, help you find what is not yet known
Define your key terms → acknowledge that there is not just 1 definition of your concept and explain how you are defining the term and why you went for that definition
How to use literature during you analysis
Enhance your sensitivity to nuances in your data
During secondary cycle data coding: help you make better sense of emergent findings
Show paths for more purposeful sampling (in future)
How to use literature during your write-up
Reference existing studies for:
Definitions and concepts in the introduction and literature review
Support the argument for your study (why it is important and needed) in the introduction and literature review
To discuss your findings in relation to existing empirical/theoretical research in the discussion and conclusion
