IB Psychology Paper 3

To what extent can one generalize from qualitative studies? (Be sure to use the terminology that is discussed in this workbook with regard to Guba & Lincoln's vocabulary for discussing qualitative research studies).

1)Representational Generalization- findings can be applied to populations outside the study. 2) Inferential Generalization: findings can be applied to settings outside the study setting. Also referred to as "transferability". (ex. one homeless program for research can be applied to other homeless programs.) 3) Theoretical Generalization-concepts from the study can be used to further develop the theory.

A case study, in and of itself, is not a method. What is meant by this statement?

A case study is not a method of study, but the researcher select methods of the data collect which will suit the case study like qualitative research and apply it to one participant.

Define back translation. Why would an interviewer use this technique?

Back translation is the process of translating a document already translated into another language back to the original language it was written in. Interviewers use this technique to check the accuracy of the translation that is made.

What is meant by a "focus group?" Why would a researcher use this method? What would be the strengths and limitations of this interviewing technique?

Characteristics of a focus group interview: • A group of around 6-10 people (the focus group) are interviewed at the same time. • A facilitator introduces the participants to each other, asks questions and leads group interactions. • Participants are supposed to interact with each other as they would in real life. They can use their own language and even people who are illiterate can participate. • Participants discuss and respond to each other's statements. This gives the special dynamic to the interview and generates rich data. Strengths: • It is a quick way to collect data from several participants at the same time. • It provides a natural setting for interactions between participants and the conversational approach may result in better ecological validity than the semi-structured interview. • It may be useful in socially sensitive issues because people may be more likely to reveal how they think and why they experience what they do. Limitations: • It may raise ethical issues when participants are not free, for example in institutions like prisons or nursing homes. • The presence of other participants may result in group dynamics such as conformity. This could result in data that do not really represent the individual participant's beliefs. • If the topic is particularly sensitive participants may not want to disclose private information.

What is a naturalistic observation? Explain the strengths and limitations of carrying out a naturalistic observation rather than a controlled observation.

Characteristics of naturalistic observations: • Data is collected by researchers who observe and record how people (or animals) behave. The aim is to collect information in a natural environment to provide an account of the interactions in a particular social group. • The researcher often spends a long time in the field in order to become familiar with participants' natural environment. The researcher collects data and writes field notes used for analysis. • Observations in the field can be complemented with, for example, interview data or quantitative data from questionnaires (triangulation). Strengths: • The researcher can observe natural behaviour in a natural environment. Qualitative researchers prefer naturalistic observations because it increases ecological validity. • It can be combined with controlled laboratory observations and data from other qualitative methods (triangulation to increase credibility). • Observational data can be cross-checked with other observers to establish credibility. Limitations: • Ethical issues involved if the naturalistic observation is covert. • Analysis of data can be time consuming and costly - especially if the observation is unstructured.

What is meant by a "semi-structured interview?" Why would a researcher use this method? What would be the strengths and limitations of this interviewing technique?

Characteristics of semi-structured interviews: • There is an interview guide giving themes to explore (a checklist of themes to cover to ensure standardization of interviews). • Open and closed-ended questions can be used. • These interviews are informal and conversational in nature. • They are mostly face-to-face interviews. Strengths: • Themes to explore are decided beforehand and noted in the interview guide. • The researcher can ask the interviewee to elaborate on answers and get in-depth knowledge. • It is useful in socially sensitive issues because themes can be fully explored. Limitations: • There is only limited space to explore themes that have not been planned beforehand. • The one-on-one situation can appear somewhat artificial and may raise issues of ecological validity. • Data analysis is very time consuming.

What is meant by a "narrative interview?" Why would a researcher use this method? What would be the strengths and limitations of this interviewing technique?

Characteristics of the narrative interview: • A narrative is a mix of facts and interpretations of experiences that help the individual to create meaning and identity. • A narrative is often constructed like a real story with an opening, a middle and an ending. It can be based on a life story or a story of a particular situation. • Interviewer stimulates narratives by asking questions such as: "Could you tell me more about the time when you were told you would never be able to have children?" • The interviewer does not interrupt during the narrative interview but may show interest through eye contact or other physical signs of attention or invite for further narrating by asking questions such as: "And then what happened?" Strengths: • It is a useful way to gain an in-depth understanding of how people construct meaning in their lives. • It can be used with all people because they can use their own language and can talk freely without being interrupted. • It may be useful in exploring socially sensitive issues because it gives insight into how people think and why they experience what they do. Limitations: • It is time consuming to transcribe and analyse the huge amount of data from narrative interviews. • The narrative may go in all directions because it is the participant who decides what to tell. Not all data can be used in the research. • Ethical issues involved in having people tell about traumatic experiences - especially if they experience a major life crisis.

What is a covert observation? When would this technique most likely be used (strengths)? What are some of the limitations of this technique?

Covert observation: participants do not know they participate in the research. Strengths: • It is possible to study groups that cannot be studied otherwise; or when it is vital to avoid reactivity. • There is limited or no reactivity since participants do not know about the research. Limitations: • Participants are not informed about the research and cannot give informed consent. • It can be dangerous if participants find out about the study.

What does it mean if we say that a study lacks "credibility?" Why is this important in qualitative research?

Credibility in qualitative research is equivalent to internal validity in quantitative research. It is used to judge the quality of the research. For a study to be credible it must present a true picture of the phenomenon under investigation and it should be possible to check how the results of the study were obtained. Credibility check is one of the most important factors in establishing trustworthiness in qualitative research.

Explain the three techniques of recording data during an observation: event sampling, time sampling, and point sampling.

Event sampling: recording observations in an unlimited amount of time but asking about all the specifics. Time sampling: observations, which are based on sets amounts of time. Point sampling: recording of observation aimed at individual points.

Case studies use an idiographic approach. Explain what is meant by this term.

Idiographic approach: relating the study to the individual.

What ethical considerations must be made when carrying out a case study?

In case studies the researcher must state the clear purpose of the study, while keeping information of the individual confidential, and cause no harm in while carrying out the study.

Explain what is meant by "purposive sampling." Why is this often used in qualitative research studies?

In purposive sampling the characteristics of individuals are used as the basis of selection in order to reflect the diversity of the sample population. Recruitment of participants can continue throughout the research project until the researchers find that they have enough data to generate a theory. This is why it is often used in qualitative research, as it allows the research to collect enough information to help generate a theory, without having to repeat the entire research project.

Explain how an inductive content analysis might be used to analyze and interpret an observation. How could the researcher increase the credibility of the findings?

Inductive content analysis for an observation: • Reading and rereading of the field notes to provide a complete description of the topic of interest. The more description the "thicker" the description (detailed) and this is considered as rich data. • Coding and connecting themes: - The data is then coded (organised into categories/themes). - A graphical representation of categories and their connection is created with case or text samples. - The analysis is summarised in "memos" so that independent readers can follow how and why the connections between the themes are suggested. - The categories (themes) are organised into lower-order and higher-order themes to create an overall picture of the meaning of the data. - The researcher interprets the data based on the summary table but it is important to consider alternative interpretations. • Researcher produces a coherent description of the phenomenon under investigation. This could lead to formulation of new concepts and theory, which has emerged from the data (grounded theory).

What are the limitations of the technique of inductive content analysis?

Inductive content analysis is a purely descriptive method. It describes what is there, but may not reveal the underlying motives for the observed pattern ('what' but not 'why').

What would be the advantage of gathering quantitative data for a study instead of qualitative data? Give an example to illustrate your argument.

It is easier and requires less amount of time. An example is by looking at surveys and determining the averages in data given.

What are some of the difficulties of carrying out a one-on-one interview? A group interview?

One-on-one Interview: • Both data collection and analysis are very time consuming. • The one-on-one situation can appear somewhat artificial and may raise issues of ecological validity. Group Interview: • The presence of other participants may result in group dynamics such as conformity. • If the topic is particularly sensitive participants may not want to disclose private information.

What is an overt observation? When would this technique most likely be used (strengths)? What are some of the limitations of this technique?

Overt observation: participants know they participate in research. Strengths: • Participants can be informed about the topic and give informed consent. • Data collection can be triangulated with interview data. Limitations: • The researcher may lose objectivity and become too involved. • The researcher's presence is a potential source of bias (reactivity).

What are two participant effects? How may they affect the findings of a qualitative research study?

Participant expectations: participants ideas of the research and the researcher which can effect the trustworthiness of the data. (ex: participant acts in a certain way to try to please researcher) Researcher bias: researcher not paying enough attention to participants so researchers own beliefs determine research process.

Define participant observation. What is one advantage of this method? One disadvantage?

Participant observation: the researcher participates actively in the participants' life, observes, listens, and produces field notes. Characteristics of participant observation: • The researcher becomes part of the target group under investigation. • The focus of the is on natural behaviour in its natural context. • The researcher enters the field (the place where the research takes place) and acts as the instrument of data collection. The aim is to obtain a close and intimate familiarity and empathy with the participants through personal involvement with people in their own environment. Strengths: • It generates detailed and in-depth information of a topic, which cannot be studied by other methods. • It is useful in exploring socially sensitive issues because the researcher can take many different aspects of a topic into consideration (holistic approach). • It is a good method to avoid researcher bias because the aim is to understand social processes from the perspective of participants. Limitations: • Data collection and analysis is very time consuming, especially in long-term projects. Often groups are small so it is difficult to generalise findings. • It is a highly invasive research method: can influence people's lives and environment. • The researcher may lose objectivity. It is difficult to keep a balance between involvement and detachment. Reflexivity can increase credibility.

What would be the advantage of gathering qualitative data for a study instead of quantitative data? Give an example to illustrate your argument.

Qualitative data has more detail that goes beyond numbers and statistics. An example is when a person is asking people about their opinions on what is the best sport. From qualitative research you asked the individual directly about what they think, while in a quantitative research you can only get statistics from numbers.

To what extent can findings be generalized from a single case study?

Qualitative researchers would say that generalizations from a single case study may be possible if there is: • Inferential generalization: the findings from a single case study can perhaps be applied in other but similar settings. • The researchers should provide rich descriptions of the case. • Theoretical generalization: Yin (1984) argues the results of single case studies can be generalised to existing theory (theoretical generalization). If the patterns from one case study can be repeated, the theory derived from this single case study is said to be robust.

What are the key differences between quantitative and qualitative data?

Quantitative data are data such as averages and numbers, which can be recorded, qualitative data are data gained from things such as emotions, or perspective, which cannot be recorded again simply.

Explain what is meant by reflexivity - and why it is an important part of qualitative research.

Reflexivity: a strategy used by qualitative researchers to explain how a researcher's subjectivity contributes to the findings. This approach acknowledges that a researcher may be biased towards the findings because he or she perceives and interprets through his or her own individual lens (subjectivity). Reflexivity is linked to the validation of qualitative research, for example credibility and trustworthiness, and is of major importance in qualitative research studies. In order to achieve credibility a qualitative research report should include some information about the researcher as well as information about the researcher's relation to the topic or the people under investigation. The researcher demonstrates self-awareness and critical self-reflection by explaining how his or her potential biases could have affected the researcher process and conclusions.

In general, what are the ethical considerations that must be made when carrying out qualitative research? Is this in any way different from the ethical considerations that must be followed when carrying out experimental research?

Same: informed consent, right of withdrawl, confidentiality, justification of use of deception,debriefing, consider implications and consequences Special: may not need consent (because the group does not know they are being studied), under 16 consent from parents must be issued, participants must know it is voluntary, protect participants against harm, identity and confidentiality kept a secret

What is researcher bias? How can a researcher try to minimize its effect on research?

Researcher bias is when the researcher takes the data and bases it on their own beliefs. To minimize the effect is by having a controlled procedure and come up with possibilities for hypotheses that are likely to come up.

Two other types of sampling used are snowball samples and quota samples. Explain why a psychologist may choose to use these samples, and explain one disadvantage of each.

Snowball Sampling: • A type of purposive sampling. • Participants who are already in the study can help the research recruit more participants. • May be used when it is difficult to recruit participants (e.g. because the research is socially sensitive, involving people such as drug addicts or the homeless). • Disadvantage: it is likely to be biased because participants know each other and may have same attitudes or experiences. Convenience Sampling: • Participants chosen on availability. • People at hand are simply asked if they are willing to participate in the research. • Disadvantage: it is likely to be biased and since the participants are not recruited based on any population so it is very difficult to generalise.

In order to achieve a purposive sample, researchers often use self-selected samples. What are one strength and one limitation of this type of sampling?

Strengths: • Participants represent the research topic because they are selected specifically based on salient characteristics relevant to the research. • It is relatively easy to select a sample. The sample may be supplemented with more participants during the research. Limitations: • Sampling may be biased. If the sampling process is based on objective selection criteria, documented and explained then the bias is limited. • It is very difficult to generalise from a small purposive sample.

Explain how an inductive content analysis would be used to analyze and interpret an interview.

The goal of inductive content analysis is to give credible representation of the social world under investigation. Inductive Content Analysis Process: • Identification of initial themes based on first readings of the raw data. • Organisation of low-level themes into higher-level themes. • Checking whether interpretations are credible occurs at every step. • Emergent themes are then structured and a table is made summarising all the low and high-level themes. • Inferences and conclusions are then formed based on the summary table. At this stage the researcher tries to identify relationships between themes. This is very important part of the process may reveal specific patterns in the themes which may lead to the formation of a theory.

Discuss how two different participant effects may overly influence an observation.

The participants' difference in opinion of the research and the researcher may affect the trustworthiness of the observation. There also could be participant bias because they are behaving differently influencing the observation.

How could an interviewer increase the credibility of his findings?

The researcher should add insights based on the research and analysis without being biased with personal opinions.

What is meant by inter-coder or inter-rater reliability?

The test-retest method assesses the external consistency of a test. This refers to the degree to which different raters give consistent estimates of the same behavior. Inter-rater reliability can be used for interviews.

What is the difference between traditional and postmodern transcription methods?

Traditional methods focus on using the recorded interview and later transcribe the interview word for word, while post-modern methods involves the interviewer to do multi-tasking, asking questions and recording the answers even for the body language or non verbal communication the individual uses.

Define triangulation, giving two examples of how it works.

Triangulation is based on the assumption that by comparing data obtained by different methods or different researchers in the same setting it is possible to overcome potential biases from using a single method or a single researcher. The purpose is to establish credibility/ trustworthiness. Examples of triangulation are: method triangulation, data triangulation, researcher triangulation, and theory triangulation. Method comparison: use of different methods in the same study. Effect is that bias is reduced and credibility increased. Takes advantage of strengths of the different methods and compensates for their methodological limitations. Data triangulation: comparison of data from multiple sources. Effect is that bias is reduced and credibility increased. It provides additional sources to describe the phenomenon under investigation.

Why is triangulation important in qualitative research? How does it affect the credibility of the study?

Triangulation is used to increase the credibility of the conclusions in a qualitative study. Researchers can use different procedures or sources in the study to ensure that the conclusion gives a true picture of the phenomenon under investigation.

What are three things that a researcher should remember when carrying out an interview?

• Establishing rapport between interviewer and participant(s): a trusting and relationship. • Data recording should be operating properly (from the start so as not to disrupt the research project). • The interviewer should perform active and neutral listening. • Maintain professionality- remember that the participant should be able to withdraw at any point of time if they wish.

What are the advantages of a non-participant observation?

• It is easier to collect data because the researcher does not interact with participants but only observes. • The researcher can observe natural behaviour. • It is a useful way of observing the behaviour of small groups or interactions between individuals. • Observational data can be cross-checked with other observers to establish credibility.

What are two advantages of using a case study approach?

• It is well-suited to investigate sensitive and complex issues in areas that could not be studied otherwise. • It is useful for studying group processes within a social group (e.g. beliefs, norms and communication patterns).. • The results from a case study may generate entirely new knowledge, which challenges preconceived notions and contradicts established theory.

What are three disadvantages of using a case study approach?

• Researcher bias could potentially be a problem since the researcher's own beliefs and ideas could influence data collection. • Generalization of findings from a single case study or a small number of cases is not always possible. • There is a risk of participant expectancy (or researcher bias) since researchers and participant interact with each other for long periods.

Discuss three things that a researcher must do to prepare to carry out an observation.

• Take into account methodological considerations (covert/overt; participants/non-participant observation) and how they could affect results. • Take into account ethical considerations (informed consent, debriefing, anonymity of the participants, etc.) • Decide on the sampling method to be used. • Choose data recording method.

What are three things that a researcher should do when setting up or planning to conduct an interview?

• The data collection method should be decided on. • An interview guide should be established. • The right interviewer should be chosen and trained (consider gender, ethnicity, language and age). • The sample selection criteria should be decided. • The sampling method should be decided. • The data recording method should be decided and prepared. • The method of transcription of the data should be decided (verbatim or post-modern (including features such as pauses, laughter, etc.)) • Ethical considerations should be taken into account. • Reflexivity should be considered- how would it affect the research project and how can this be addressed?

What ethical considerations must be made when carrying out an interview?

• Whether the research is socially sensitive and if it involves emotional stress. • How informed consent and briefing will be addressed. • Maintaining a professional approach and allowing the participants to withdraw themselves from the research projects at any point. • Maintaining confidentiality and anonymity of the participants.