Textbook Questions CH11

Which is one advantage of digitizing interview transcripts, field notes, and other related documents?

Digitizing makes the documents keyword searchable.

Which is true regarding study design and structure?

Ethnographic fieldwork is a more flexible design than a classic experiment.

When it comes to response categories, how do the foci of qualitative and quantitative research differ?

Qualitative research determines what the categories are, but quantitative research lets researchers know how many people are in each category.

One benefit of conducting qualitative research using archives is ______.

archives represent decades of action from a multitude of observers

Kellan and Yolanda are both observing the hunting behaviors associated with an African tribe to assess patterns of dominance and communication among the hunters. When they are finished recording their notes and observations, they check in with one another to cross-reference what they have observed and resolve disagreements. This process creates ______ within the data.

intersubjectivity

If researchers want to know how people think, they should ______.

interview them

Combining data that comes from interviews or direct observations of participants with artifacts, photographs, and other relics is known as ______.

mixed methods

When photographs, videos, and artifacts are combined with direct observations of participants, this is known as ______.

mixed methods

The tradeoff that occurs when comparing field research to lab research is that the lab offers ______.

more control, but the field offers a more real-world setting

Imagine that the State of Michigan established a new law where, in two years, in cities over 100,000 residents, cars have to pass emissions inspections before license plates are sold. Devin is planning to collect baseline data in those communities regarding how environmentally friendly and clean people think the community is. Then, Devin will collect data from city residents after the law has been in place for two years and compare it to the baseline data. This is known as a(n) ____.

natural experiment

If research studies have no structure, ______.

no patterns can be discerned in the data

If researchers want to know what participants do, and not just what they say they do, they need to ______.

observe them

At what point can researchers begin to use the "thick description" in their field notes?

once researchers have been in the field long enough that they know the relevant categories

Ideally, a participant observer remains in a position between ______.

participant and observer

The interviewee within ethnographic research is known as the ______.

Informant

The process of cross-referencing notes and recollections with others on a research team is known as ______.

Intersubjectivity

How are experiences gained during participant observation initially documented?

Participant observers take field notes.

Why do qualitative researchers tend to ask fewer, more open-ended questions than quantitative researchers do?

Qualitative researchers want to give respondents freedom to bring up their own, unscripted thoughts.

Field work is usually costly in terms of time.

True

In qualitative research, the researcher is the data collection instrument.

True

How can videos aid qualitative research?

Videos allow those who cannot be on site to engage in the data collection.

The lab offers more control over variables, but the field offers ______.

a more real-world setting

The qualitative approach involves ______.

a shorter list of questions that allows participants to give longer answers

If a researcher structures the study design less, more structure will have to be added to the ______.

data analysis

While quantitative research helps researchers understand how many people are in various categories, qualitative research helps researchers ______.

determine what the categories are

The main goal of all types of scientific research is to ______.

establish patterns that can help researchers explain behavior

The design social scientists most closely associate with qualitative research is the ______.

ethnographic design

The most common qualitative designs are ______.

ethnographic designs

After data has been collected, researchers should devise a data management system.

false

All field work is monetarily expensive.

false

Artifacts must be housed in museums.

false

It is unethical to create images of people and objects encountered in the field.

false

Qualitative research is less scientific.

false

Qualitative research is non-experimental.

false

Researchers cannot conduct studies within unfamiliar communities.

false

Initial experiences and perceptions gained during participant observation are known as ______.

field notes

Photographs, videos, and artifacts that do not come directly from participants are known as ______.

indirect observations

A data management system should be developed before data collection begins.

true

A long and detailed survey might still miss insightful data

true

Deciding where to place the video camera when filming interviews can be consequential to how the data are analyzed.

true

During ethnographic interviews, interviewers may have to change the list of interview questions per interviewee.

true

Ideally, researchers incorporate both qualitative and quantitative approaches to data collection into a single study.

true

Qualitative approaches give researchers more flexibility to dialogue with respondents.

true

Qualitative researchers often find that there are a lot of unknowns even in familiar communities.

true

Questionnaires do not return valid and reliable data in all research settings.

true

Videos are important to field research in that they allow those who cannot be on site to engage in the data collection.

true