CCJ 2210: Qualitative Methods and Data Analysis

Focus group

a qual. method that involves unstructured group interviews in which the focus group leader actively encourages discussion among participants on the topics of interest

Covert (complete) participation

a role in field research in which the researcher does not reveal his or her identity as a researcher to those who are observed; the covert participant has adopted the role of a "complete participant"

Complete observation

a role in participant research in which the researcher does not participate in group activities and is publicly defined as a researcher

Theoretical sampling

a sampling method recommended for field researchers by Glaser and Strauss (1967); a theoretical sample is drawn in a sequential fashion, with settings or individuals selected for study as earlier observation or interviews indicate that these settings or individuals are influential --> exhibit 8.3 p. 197

Systematic observation

a strategy that increases the reliability of observational data by using explicit rules that standarize coding practices across observers

Reflexivity

an accounting by a qual researcher that describes the natural history of the development of evidence; this enables others to more adequately evaluate the findings

How did field research lay the foundation for modern qualitative methods

anthropologists and sociologists laid the foundation for modern qual. methods while doing field research in the early 20th century. Franz Boas and Bronislaw Malinowski

Jottings

brief notes that are jotted down quickly during the observation period that will be expanded into more extensive field notes

Participant observation

field research in which a researcher develops a sustained and intensive relationship with people as they go about their normal activitities. Called fieldwork in anthropology. the term participant observer reps a continuum of roles ranging from being a complete observer who doesn't participate in group acitivities and is publicly def. as a researcher to being a covert participant

Tacit knowledge

in field research, a credible sense of understanding of social processes that reflect the researcher's awareness of participants' actions, as well as their words, and of what they fail to state, feel deeply, or take for granted

the observational continuum

1. Complete observer 2.Participant and observer 3. Covert participant

Stages of qualitative research

1. documentation 2. Making sense of it: conceptualization, coding, and categorizing 3. examining relationships and displaying data 4. Corroboration and authenticating conclusions

Qualitative data can be assessed in terms of at least 3 criteria:

1. how credible was the informant? 2. were statements made in response to the researcher's questions or were they spontaneous? 3. how does the presence or absence of the researcher or the researcher's informant influence the actions and statements of other group members?

Qualitative methods refer to three distinctive research designs

1. participant observation 2. intensive interviewing 3. focus groups - participant observation and intensive interviewing are often used in the same project; focus groups combine some elements of the two approaches into a unique data-collecting strategy

Field Notes

notes that describe what has been observed, heard, or otherwise experienced in a participant observation study; these notes usually are written after the observational session Primary means of recording participant observation data usually writing up notes takes as long as making the observations

Intensive interviewing

open-ended, relatively unstructured questioning in which the interview seek in-depth information on the interviewee's feelings, experiences, and/other perspectives many qual researchers employ intensive interviewing exclusively intensive interviewers must plan their main questions around an outline of the interview topic

Qualitative data analysis

techniques used to search and code textual, visual, or other content and to explore relationships among the resulting categories

Reactive effect

the changes in individual or group behavior that are due to being observed or otherwise studies

Computer-assisted qualitative data analysis

uses special computer software to assist qual analyses through creating, applying, and refining categories: tracing linkages between concepts; and making comparisons between cases and events One program is QSR NVivo: collective term for research material in NVivo is sources and data that are imported directly into NVivo are internals. Data that cant be imported but can still be used by creating summaries of their content are called externals.

Ethical issues in qualitative research:

voluntary participation subject well-being identity disclosure confidentiality establishing boundaries maintaining the safety of researchers in the field

the 3 qualitative research designs (participant observation, intensive interviewing, and focus groups) share several features that distinguish them from experimental and survey research designs:

- collection primarily of quantitative rather than quant. data (e.g., emphasize observations about natural behavior and artifacts that capture social life rather than in categories predetermined by the researcher) - exploratory research questions, with a commitment to inductive reasoning - a focus on previously unstudied processes and unanticipated phenomena - an orientation to social context, to the interconnections between social phenomena rather than to their discrete features - a focus on human subjectivity, on the meanings that participants attach to events and that people give to their lives - a focus on the events leading up to particular event or outcome instead of general causal explanations

Problems confronted by covert participants:

- they cannot openly take notes or use any obvious recording devices - they cannot ask questions that will arouse suspiscion - the role of covert participant is difficult to play successfully - covert participants must keep up the act at all time while in the setting under study... some covert observers become so involved that they "go native" - at this point, they abandon research goals and cease to critically evaluate their observations

Saturation Point

the point at which subject selection is ended in intensive interviewing, when new interviews seem to yield little additional information

Progressive focusing

the process by which a qualitative analyst interacts with the data and gradually refines his or her focus

ethnography

the study of a culture of cultures that some group of people shares and that participant observation over an extended period - ethnographic research can be called naturalistic because it seeks to describe and understand that natural social world as it is, in all its richness and detail

Netnography

the use of ethnographic methods to study online communities; also termed cyberethnography and virtual ethnography