Week 2 Flashcards
What’s Ethnography?
Study of a culture using qualitative field research
Describe “Participant observation”
A method of qualitative observation where the researcher becomes a participant in the culture of context being observed
Define Phenomenology
A philosophical perspective as well as an approach to qualitative methodology that focuses on people’s subjective experiences and interpretations of the world
What’s Field research?
A research method in which the researcher goes into the field to observe the phenomenon in its natural state
What’s grounded theory?
A theory rooted in observation about phenomena of interest. Also, a method for achieving such a theory.
What methods are common in qualitative measurement?
Participation observation
Direct observation
Unstructured Interviewing
Case studies
Focus groups
Unobstructive methods in qualitative research
Describe the method of direct observation in qualitative measurement
The process of observing a phenomenon to gather information about it. This process is distinguished from participant observation, in that a direct observer doesn’t typically try to become a participant in the context and does strive to be as unobstrusive as possible so as not to bias the observation.
What(s Unstructured Interviewing?
An interviewing method that uses no predetermined interview protocol or survey and where the interview questions emerge and evolve as the interview proceeds
Describe the method of unobstrusive methods in qualitative research
Methods used to collect data without interfering in the lives of the respondents
Describe the mixed methods research
Research that uses a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods
Explain the importance of credibility in assessing qualitative research
Involves establishing that the results of qualitative research are believable from the perspective of the participant in the research
Explain the importance of transferability in assessing qualitative research
the degree to which the results of qualitative research can be generalized or transferred to other contexts or settings.
Explain the importance of dependability in assessing qualitative research
emphasizes the need for the researcher to account for the ever-changing context within which research occurs.
Explain the importance of Confirmability in assessing qualitative research
the degree to which the results could be confirmed or corroborated by others.
Define sampling
Sampling is the process of selecting units from the population of interest so that by studying the sample you can generalize your results to the population from which the units were chosen
There are two major approaches to identifying a sample for a study. Name them:
- Probabilistic/ random sampling
- Non-probabilistic sampling
What’s a theoretical population in terms of sampling?
The theoretical population is a group that you would like to sample from and generalize to.
What’s a accessible population in terms of sampling?
The accessible population is a group that reflects the theoretical population of interest and that you can get access to when sampling
What’s a sampling frame?
The listing of the accessible population from which you’ll draw your sample is called the sampling frame.
When is generalizing possible in a study?
When a study has good evidence of external validity
Define Generalizing
Generalizing is defined as the process of making an inference that the results observed in a sample would hold in the population of interest.
Name the two major approaches to external validity in Sampling
- The sampling model:
model for generalizing in which you identify your population, draw a fair sample, conduct your research, and finally generalize your results from the sample to the population - The proximal similarity model:
Model for generalizing from your study to other contexts based on the degree to which the other context is similar to your study context.
Define the term ‘gradient of similarity’
The dimensions along which your study context can be related to other potential contexts to which you might wish to generalize
Nonprobability sampling methods are divided into two types:
accidental or purposive
Explain accidental nonprobability sampling method
One of the most common methods of sampling
What’s the problem with accidentalnonprobability sampling?
The problem is that you have no evidence that they are representative of the populations you’re interested in generalizing to, and in many cases, you would suspect they are not
Describe purposive sampling
In purposive sampling, you sample with a purpose related to the kind of participant you’re looking for.
When can purposive sampling be useful
In situations where you need to reach a targeted sample quickly and where sampling for proportionality is not the primary concern
How does ‘modal instance sampling’ work?
You are sampling for the most frequent case, or the typical case.
What’s the problem with modal instance sampling?
How do you know what the typical or model case is?
How do you know the three variables are the most relevant?
How does ‘expert sampling’ work?
Expert sampling involves assembling a sample of persons with known or demonstrable experience and expertise in some area
Why should you use expert sampling?
It is the best way to elicit the views of persons who have specific expertise.
It can be used to provide evidence of another sampling approach you’ve chosen.
It is useful if there is insufficient data on a particular topic.
How does ‘Quota Sampling’ work?
In quota sampling, you select people nonrandomly according to some fixed quota until you achieve a specific number of sampled units for each subgroup of a population.
Name and explain the two types of quota sampling
- Proportional quota sampling:
When you want to represent the major characteristics of the population by sampling a proportional amount of each. - Nonproportional quota sampling:
When you are less concerned with having numbers that match the proportions in the population; you simply want to have enough
What’s the issue with quota sampling?
Potential overrepresentation of those individuals who are more convenient to reach, which leads to biased results.
How does ‘Heterogeneity Sampling’ work?
Sampling for diversity or variety - you want to include all opinions or views and aren’t concerned about representing these views proportionately.
Opposite of modal instance sampling.
Explain ‘Snowball sampling’.
Snowball sampling is a sampling method in which you sample participants based on referrals from prior participants.
You begin by asking pople who meet the criteria for inclusion in your study, then you ask them to recommend others they know who fit the criteria as well.
When is snowball sampling useful?
When you want to reach populations that are inaccessible or hard to find.
What’s the advantage of snowball sampling?
Broad coverage of a population
What’s the disadvantage of snowball sampling?
No random selection, leading to biasz
Define ‘response’ in terms of statistical terms relevant to probability sampling.
A response is a specific measurement value that a sampling unit supplies.
Define ‘statistic’ in terms of statistical terms relevant to probability sampling.
A statistic is a value that is estimated from data
Define ‘population parameter’ in terms of statistical terms relevant to probability sampling.
The population parameter is the mean or average you would obtain if you were able to sample the entire population.
How do you get from a sample statistic to an estimate of the population parameter?
Through sampling distribution.
Explain sampling distribution
The distribution of an infinite number of samples of the same size as the sample in your study.
Define ‘sampling error’
Error in measurement associated with sampling. To calculate the sampling error, you sue the standard deviation of your sample: the greater the sample’s standard deviation, the greater the standard error
Define probability sampling
Probability sampling is any method of sampling that uses random selection.
How does ‘Simple random sampling’ work?
Simple random sampling is a method of sampling that involves drawing a sample from a population so that every possible sample has an equal probability of being selected.
Explain the ‘stratified random sampling’ method
Stratified random sampling involves dividing your population into homogeneous subgroups (in which all of the members are similar) and then taking a simple random sample in each subgroup.
Why is it better to use stratified random sampling over simple random sampling?
- You can represent key subgroups of the population
- It has better statistical precision than simple random sampling if the stata groups are homogeneous.
How does ‘systematic random sampling’ work?
Sampling method where you determine randomly where you want to start selection in the sampling frame and then follow a role to select every Xth element in the sampling frame list.
How does ‘cluser random sampling’ work?
Cluster random sampling was invented to address following problem with random sampling:
When you have to sample a wide geographically spread population, you will have to cover a lot of ground geographically to get each of the units you randomly sample.
What are the 3 steps to cluser sampling?
- Divide the population into clusters
- Random sample clusters
- Measure all units within sampled clusters
Explain Multistage sampling
Combining several sampling techniques to create a more efficient or effective sample than the use of anyone sampling type can achieve on its own.
What’s a common field where Multistage sampling is used?
Often used in public health studies.
How big should the sample be?
Challenging to obtain the ‘right’ estimate of sample size.
The ideal sample size can depend on many factors.
What’s the main advantage of probabilistic sampling?
The main advantage of probabilistic sampling is in building the best possible case for fair, externally valid, generalizable, and unbiased results.
What are threats to external validity?
Threats to external validity are any factors that can lead you to make an incorrect generalization from the results of your study to other persons, places, times, settings.
How can you improve external validity
- Drawing a sample from a population based on the sampling model by using random selection, rather than nonrandom procedure.
- Use the theory of proximal similarity more effectively.
There are two dominant philosophical standpoints. One is the ‘Deontological’ view. Explain it:
Argues that the ends served by research can never justify the use of research which is unethical
There are two dominant philosophical standpoints. One is the ‘Teleological’ view. Explain it:
Argues that the ends served by your research possibly justify the means (weighing costs and benefits).
