Qualitative Research Methods Mid Term
Unobstructive Research
- DO NOT invollve interaction between research and participants
- Researcher collects and analyzes data that already exists
Textual anaylsis
Any form of communication
- written
- visual
- spoken
- sung
Why use Textual Analysis?
Structural- organization
- are political figures portrayed in a certain light?
- are specific events highlights?
Substantive- actual meaning of text
- ideologies
- metaphors
- norms
- assumptions
Manifest Content
Literal or surface meaning of the message (quantitative)
Latent Content
Underlying or implied meaning (Qualitative)
Coding
- Going through data, finding terms or phrases to categorize chunks of data
- Organizing the data in a form the researcher can work with
Coding Categories
1) Idea- issue or message
2) Frequency- how often
3) Direction - classification
4) Intensity- emphasized
5) Prominence- location in text, importance
6) Size- space or time in text
Discourse analysis (Qualititative)
- Sets of meaning, representations, images, stories, and statements to produce a particular version of events
- Focuses on meaning reflected
Strengths of Textual Analysis
1) Flexibility in mixed methods
- integrated with other research
-surveys
-interviews
2) Availability of texts
- newspapers
3) Unobstructed
- no direct interaction
Weaknesses of Textual Analysis
1) Availablity can be hard
2) Interpretations
- biases
3) intercoder reliability
- coding criteria inconsistent, interpret different
Purpose of Field Research
1. Researcher attempts to understand behaviour from the perspectives of the participants
2. Qualitative
- interviews
- texts
- focus groups
-may illustrate a gap between reported and actual behaviour
3. people often overestimate or underestimate behaviours
Ethnography
- In-depth study of a group, culture or society
- Observing ACTUAL behaviour rather than REPORTED behaviour
Features of Ethnography
- Focus on exploring particular social phenomena
- Unstructured data
- Examination of smaller number of people or just one
Autoethnography
Researchers analyzes his/her own experiences
Hawthrone effect
Subjects under observation alter their behaviour because of the researchers presence
Levels of Participation
1. Complete participation
- concealing intent
- group member
2. Participant as Observer
- presence known
- participants sometimes
3. Observer as Participant
- presence known
- interacts limited
4. Complete Observer
- concealed intent
- does not interact
Ethnography Advantages
1) Deep rich understanding compared to other methods
2) Prevents ethnocentrism, false interpretations of community
3) Formulate questions from local language not researcher perspective
4) Brings about change, health area
Ethnography Disadvantages
1) Contrasts world perspectives, uncomfortable with info
2) Long time in fieldwork, time, budget
3) Gaining entry into community- hardest part
4) Small collected data of people, cannot be generalised to wider popultation
Focus Groups
- Group discussion
- Probe beneath surface opinion
- Explore what people really like or dislike
- Not representative
Focus Group Advantages
1) Fast/efficient method data from multiple participants
2) Dif beneath surface opinion for more details
3) Concerned with understanding attitudes than just measuring them
Focus Groups Disadvantages
1) Participant recruitment
2) Not representative of wider community
3) Does not asses participants knowledge of an issue
4) Need a skilled moderator
Focus groups work when
- members are knowledgeable, willing, and capable of communicating
- topic and group setting are compatible to group interaction
- interaction between participants rather than with moderator
- Facilitator has adequate skills
When NOT to use Focus Groups
- Group rapport and trust cannot be established
- If individuals within the group know each other
- A group discussion is not an appropriate forum
- Participants have difficulty discussing the topic
- Statistical data is required
Moderator Resposibites
- Follow the goals of the focus group
- Number of scripted questions & prompts
- Flexible convo
- Conversation isnt dominanted by 1-2 people
- Draw out shy folks
- Finish with over arching question
Framing the Problem
- Emphasizes aspects of concern
- Ignoring others
- Connects aspects with contexts
Policy Narrative
- The story of the problem
- Identifies heroes, villains, victims
- Metaphors
Descriptive case study
some aspect of reality, involves questions of who, what, where, when
Theory-testing case study
seeks to modify an existing theory or generate a new theory
failed most-likely case
confirms assumptions of a theory but in practice refutes them
successful least-likely case
refutes assumptions of a theory but in practice confirms them
Most similar-systems design
compares similar cases to explain differences between them
Most-different-systems design
compares different cases to explain similarities
Diachronic comparison
comparison in one setting, but compare across time
Synchronic comparison
compare institutions or behaviours at one point in time, but compare across jurisdictions
Unethical Research
Experiments that contravene ethical norms:
- protection of research participants
- treatment of research animals
- patient confidentiality
- consent to take part or withdraw
- informing participants the nature of the research
Tri-council Principles of Ethical Research
1) Respect for Persons
- free, ongoing consent
- data a choice and informed
- understanding of the purpose of the research
-entails
-risks
-benefits
2) Concern of Welfare
- ensure participants are not exposed to unnecessary risks
- balance of risks and benefits
- third parties make final judgement
3) Justice
- fairly, equitably
- equal respect and concern
- benefits and burdens equally distributed
Types of Interviews
1) Standardized (quant)
-survey
2) Semi-structures (qual)
- pre-determined but open-ended questions
3) Unstructured (qual)
- interviewee determines direction of interview
Common Pit Falls Interview
- Interrogation-type questions
- avoid "why" questions focus on "how"
- leading or loaded questions
- complex questions
- closed-ended (yes or no)