Week 9 (Qualitative interviews and data analytics)

Question 1

Qualitative research:

Answer 1

Objective: To learn about the nature of social phenomenon
Aim: Understanding and meaning (to qualify)
Focus: Subjective understandings
Methods: Qualitative interviews, ethnography, field research, content analysis
Data: words, pictures, patterns or themes

Question 2

How do qualitative interviews differ from the everyday conversation?

And critiques of qualitative interviews:

Answer 2

Establishing rapport:
An established purpose communicates interest and ensures a focused conversation
Interviewers listen more than talk; talk is an extension of an interviewees understanding/perspective
Tolerating uncomfortable silence
Be an active and responsive listen
——
Lack of generalizability
Too subjective
Lacks replicability & transparency

Question 3

Stages in qualitative interviews:

Answer 3

1. Thematizing
   2.Designing
   3.Interviewing
   4.Transcribing
   5.Analyzing
   6.Verifying
   7.Reporting

Question 4

Three types of qualitative interviews:

Answer 4

1. In-depth interviews
   An interaction between an interviewer and an interviewee/participant in which the interviewer has a general plan of inquiry but not a rigid set of questions that must be asked in a particular order or in particular words.
2. Focus group interviews
   An interview method is where a number of subjects are brought together to discuss a specific topic or issue with a moderator.
3. Oral history interviews
   A method that uses in-depth interviewing as a means of gathering data about the past from individuals’ recollections, typically focusing on specific events or periods of time

Question 5

Coding and Memoing:

Answer 5

Coding: refers to the development of concepts, categories, ideas and possible relationships in the data. Coding is the process of transforming and reducing data down to a useful form you can interpret (Babbie, 2012). Coding makes quantity of data more manageable, sorts data into meaningful categories, helps us finds patterns.

Memoing refers to the writing of notes and commentaries concerning ideas, insights, patterns, and themes that occur to the researcher in the process of reading and coding data and elaborating on them. Different types of memos include code notes, operational notes, and theoretical notes.

Question 6

5 ways words can be coded and analyzed:

Answer 6

-Repetition
-Indigenous categories/typologies
-Metaphors or analogies
-Similarities or differences
-Missing data

Question 7

Three stages in coding:

Answer 7

1. Open coding refers to the process of closely examining the data with the aim of identifying and labeling as many ideas, concepts, and themes without concern for how these might be related or how they will be used
2. Axial coding relies on open codes. It’s a more focused step in coding, where categories are examined in depth. We regroup data and refine codes to reflect analytic concepts.
3. Selective coding integrates and narrow themes to a manageable few. Lower-order codes are connected to a broader or general code.