+ All Categories
Home > Documents > Wilhelm van Rensburg Qualitative Research Methodology

Wilhelm van Rensburg Qualitative Research Methodology

Date post: 18-Jan-2015
Category:
Upload: fordlovers
View: 1,185 times
Download: 2 times
Share this document with a friend
Description:
 
Popular Tags:
44
Wilhelm van Rensburg Qualitative Research Methodology
Transcript
Page 1: Wilhelm van Rensburg Qualitative Research Methodology

Wilhelm van Rensburg

Qualitative Research Methodology

Page 2: Wilhelm van Rensburg Qualitative Research Methodology

Research Activity: Guiding Questions

• What cultural information does this article include? (Start by analyzing the different social practices, or ‘discourses’ represented in the article)

• What questions could you ask to further uncover this culture?

• In what ways are the questions of a qualitative researcher different to those of a journalist?

• What other information does a qualitative researcher need to answer the question: What is going on here?

Page 3: Wilhelm van Rensburg Qualitative Research Methodology

Discourse

Discourse is not merely ‘stretches of language’. It is about “being together in the world” (Gee): social groups organize their lives around concepts, purposes, values, beliefs, ideals, theories, notions of reality, actions, and the like. Through Discourse human life is organized and understood – it can be ‘read’ as having ‘meaning’ – by ourselves and by others (Lankshear)

Page 4: Wilhelm van Rensburg Qualitative Research Methodology

Towards a definition

• Qualitative Research is a form of social action

• Qualitative research is balancing creative opportunity and maintaining scientific principles:

Page 5: Wilhelm van Rensburg Qualitative Research Methodology

• Creative exploration makes qualitative research akin to the research we all do in everyday life

• As in the rest of everyday life, researchers, like other people, are ideologically motivated

• Approaching the research setting appropriately involves interaction between the culture of the setting and the culture of research

• Accounting for the research strategy, to demonstrate how the ‘balance’ is maintained, requires careful articulation which resides in the conventions of research language

• All in all, qualitative research is learning culture

Page 6: Wilhelm van Rensburg Qualitative Research Methodology

How to do research, or learn about a culture

Qualitative and quantitative research paradigms: the case of surveys and experiments

Is it all about ‘counting’?

Page 7: Wilhelm van Rensburg Qualitative Research Methodology

Example 1: Car survey

To find out the proportion of Ford cars to Peugeots in a particular country. This would entail counting the number of each. If it is not possible to find out every single occurrence, a sample may be taken. Statistical analysis tells us both how many, or what percentage of each, and how valid the sample is in representing the whole.

Page 8: Wilhelm van Rensburg Qualitative Research Methodology

Example 2: Car experiment

To test the hypothesis that more Ford cars will be bought if prospective first-time buyers are exposed to advertising that says they are safer. A sample of first-time buyers is exposed to the advertising; another sample is not; and the degree to which each group buys Fords is measured. A variety of techniques is employed to reduce contamination. For example, the age and social class of the subjects are kept constant

Page 9: Wilhelm van Rensburg Qualitative Research Methodology

Example 3: Car study

An exploration of attitudes towards Ford car adverts. An advert is played on video in three public spaces frequented by members of the target first-time buyer group, and their comments recorded. This is followed up by group interviews, which explore the topics arising from the comments. The public spaces are visited one year later, and the same people are interviewed about which cars they bought and what this means to them

Page 10: Wilhelm van Rensburg Qualitative Research Methodology

So: the quantitative paradigm

Activities:

1. Counts occurrences across a large population

2. Uses statistics and replicability to validate generalization from survey samples and experiments

3. Attempts to reduce contaminating social variables

Page 11: Wilhelm van Rensburg Qualitative Research Methodology

cont

Beliefs

1. Conviction about what it is important to look for

2. Confidence in established research instruments

3. Reality is not so problematic if the research instruments are adequate; and conclusive results are feasible

Page 12: Wilhelm van Rensburg Qualitative Research Methodology

About qualitative research

Activities

1. Looks deeply into the quality of social life2. Locates the study within particular settings

which provide opportunities for exploring all possible social variables; and set manageable boundaries

3. Initial foray into the social setting leads to further, more informed exploration as themes and focuses emerge

Page 13: Wilhelm van Rensburg Qualitative Research Methodology

cont

Beliefs

1. Conviction that what is important to look for will emerge

2. Confidence in an ability to devise research procedures to fit the situation and the nature of the people in it, as they are revealed

3. Reality contains mysteries to which the researcher must submit, and can do no more than to interpret.

Page 14: Wilhelm van Rensburg Qualitative Research Methodology

Research Paradigmatic Choices

• Only Quantitative or Qualitative?

• The case of ‘Mixed Methods’ (converging, connecting, embedding quantitative & qualitative methods)

• Johan Mouton’s ‘Three Worlds’ model

• And even more paradigmatic possibilities!

Page 15: Wilhelm van Rensburg Qualitative Research Methodology

The key

The purpose statement of your study:

“The purpose of this study is to …”

It is all in the verb!

Page 16: Wilhelm van Rensburg Qualitative Research Methodology

Some strong verbs

• Test, prove, experiment, predict, estimate

• Understand, describe, [analyze], [investigate]

• Build, construct, create [determine], [differentiate]

• Change, de-construct, emancipate, redress, transform

• Participate, co-construct, co-operate

Page 17: Wilhelm van Rensburg Qualitative Research Methodology

Paradigms

Denzin & Lincoln (2005):

1. Positivist

2. Post-positivist

3. Critical Theory

4. Constructivist

5. Participatory

Page 18: Wilhelm van Rensburg Qualitative Research Methodology

More paradigmatic taxonomies

LeCompte & Schensul (1999)1. Positivist approaches2. Interpretive approaches3. Critical approaches4. Ecological approaches

(Levels of influence of family, peers, school, work, community and society on the individual)

5. Network approaches (Relationships within and between individuals as a consequence of social relationships)

Page 19: Wilhelm van Rensburg Qualitative Research Methodology

About paradigms

• LegitimacyMore interest/studies/ practitioners/conferences. A ‘qualitative turn’ in social sciences precipitated by an interpretivist, postmodernist, critical stance

• Hegemony: ‘Blurring of genres’, ‘Paradigms not in contestation with one another, but seeking confluences (e.g. Action Research and Critical Theory), controversial issues (e.g. validity, voice/inquirer posture, reflexivity), and contradictions (e.g. Experiment vs Action Research), etc.

• Ethics, responsibility• Morality• Spirituality

Page 20: Wilhelm van Rensburg Qualitative Research Methodology

Basic beliefs of each paradigm

• Ontology:Pos.: ‘Naïve realism’ - ‘real’ reality, but apprehensibleInerpret.: ‘Critical realism – ‘real’ reality but only imperfectly

and probabilistically apprehensible Crit.: ‘Historical realism – virtual reality shaped by social,

political. Cultural, economic, ethnic, and gender values; crystallized over time.

Construct.: Relativism – local and specific co-constructed realities

Part.: Participative reality – subjective-objective reality, co-created by mind and given ‘world’

Page 21: Wilhelm van Rensburg Qualitative Research Methodology

Basic Beliefs (cont)

• EpistemologyPos.: Dualist/objectivist; findings trueInterpret.: modified dualist/objectivist; critical

tradition/community; finding probably trueCrit.: Transactional/subjectivist; value mediated

findingsConstuct.: Transactional/subjectivist; co-created

findingsPart.: Critical subjectivity in participatory

transaction with world; experiential, propositional and practical knowing; co-created findings

Page 22: Wilhelm van Rensburg Qualitative Research Methodology

Basic Beliefs (cont)

• MethodologyPos.: Experimental/manipulative; verification

of hypotheses; chiefly quantitative methods.

Interpret.: qualitative methodsCrit.: Dialogic/dialecticConstruct.: Hermeneutical/dialecticalPart.: Political participation in collaborative

action inquiry; primacy of practical

Page 23: Wilhelm van Rensburg Qualitative Research Methodology

Critical issues for each of these paradigms

• Axiology• Accommodation & commensurability• Action• Control• Epistemology• Validity (‘goodness criteria’)• Voice, reflexivity, postmodern

representation

Page 24: Wilhelm van Rensburg Qualitative Research Methodology

Questions, questions …

• What is the pivot around which your study revolves? What are your basic beliefs? In what way does your study relate to ‘the world’?

• What do you plan to do with the results of your study?• To what extent are you in control of your study?• What knowledge do you want to generate?• How do you know your findings will be sufficiently

authentic/trustworthy/related to the way others see/construct their worlds/the basis for contracts/legislation?

• In what voice do you want to speak?• How do you conceive of yourself as a researcher?• How do you ideally want to represent your findings?

Page 25: Wilhelm van Rensburg Qualitative Research Methodology

Unpacking some critical issues

• Axiology: the branch of philosophy dealing with ethics, aesthetics and religion. Your basic beliefs/values guiding the choice of problem, paradigm, theoretical framework, data gathering, analysis, format, etc.

• Commensurability: Can paradigms be measured by the same standard?

• Action: Action on the research results? Advocacy/subjectivity/change?

Page 26: Wilhelm van Rensburg Qualitative Research Methodology

(cont)

Validity1. Criterion-referenced (judging processes and

outcomes) vs ‘a farewell to criteriology’ (Schwandt, 2000) (radical/practical philosophy/ transformative):

Generate knowledge that complements/supplements rather than displaces lay probing of social problems

Enhance critical intelligenceCan the research findings be used to legislate,

train, calibrate human judgment

Page 27: Wilhelm van Rensburg Qualitative Research Methodology

Validity (cont)

2. Authenticity: Fairness, Ontological, Educative, Catalystic, and Tactical Authenticity

3. Ethical relationships:

Positionality,/standpoint/judgment; specific discourse community to keep in line; voice; critical subjectivity, reciprocity, sacredness (how science contribute to human flourishing)

4. Post-structural transgressions: poems/plays, the crystalline (Richardson)

Page 28: Wilhelm van Rensburg Qualitative Research Methodology

Qualitative Research: Where does it come from?

• Started in the 1920/30 in Sociology (Chicago School) and Anthropology (Mead, Malinowski) as “the study of human group life”. Other disciplines such as Education, History, Political Science, Business, Medicine, Nursing, Social Work, Communication quickly followed in its wake.

Page 29: Wilhelm van Rensburg Qualitative Research Methodology

Qualitative Research (cont)

• Connotations:1. “Mere fieldwork”2. A measure of ‘control’3. “Subordinates the status of scientific

research”4. ‘Humanistic’5. “Imperialist and colonial”6. “A racist project”

Page 30: Wilhelm van Rensburg Qualitative Research Methodology

What is qualitative research?

• A collective noun: ‘A loosely defined category of research designs or models and methodologies, covering a wide range of disciplines, fields, subject matter, concepts, and assumptions, which elicit verbal, visual, tactile, and olfactory data in the form of descriptive narratives such as field notes, transcriptions of audio and/or video recordings and other written records. It is multi-method in focus. Qualitative researchers study things in ‘natural settings’ (Denzin & Lincoln).

• An approach to knowledge production: interpretive, generative, constructivist, transformative, critical

Page 31: Wilhelm van Rensburg Qualitative Research Methodology

Preferences of qualitative researchers

• Analysis of words and pictures rather than numbers• Naturally occurring data: observation rather than

experiment, unstructured rather than structured interviews

• Meaning rather than behaviour; attempt to investigate the world from the point of view of people studied

• Skeptic about natural science as a model• Inductive, hypothesis-generating research rather than

hypothesis testing(Silverman, 2000)

Page 32: Wilhelm van Rensburg Qualitative Research Methodology

Common qualitative research designs

• Ethnography• Field study• Community study• Case study• Life story and autobiographical method• Document and historical study• Survey study• Auto-ethnography• Narrative inquiry• Portraiture• Action Research, collaborative research• Observational studies

Page 33: Wilhelm van Rensburg Qualitative Research Methodology

How are qualitative data collected?

• Participant observation

• Non-participant observation

• Interviews: individual, focus group

• Surveys

• Artifacts, documents

• Data may be generated face-to-face, or via telephone, email, internet

Page 34: Wilhelm van Rensburg Qualitative Research Methodology

How are qualitative data analyzed?

• Analytic induction• Constant comparison• Typological analysis• Narrative analysis• Semiotic analysis• Discourse analysis• Conversation analysis• Content analysis

Page 35: Wilhelm van Rensburg Qualitative Research Methodology

When is qualitative research used?

• Description: What is happening here?1. Detailed accounts of events, experiences, activities2. Fresh perspectives on familiar phenomena3. Participants’ views of processes, groups, settings4. Subjective accounts of phenomena• Analysis: What does this mean?1. Connections and relationships2. Context and its influences3. Differing perspectives toward phenomena• Theory: How can this be understood or explained?1. Philosophical perspectives2. Socio-cultural, psychological, economic and political constraints3. Ideological interpretations such as critical or feminist theories

Page 36: Wilhelm van Rensburg Qualitative Research Methodology

Differences between qualitative and quantitative research?

Qualitative Quantitative

Soft Hard

Flexible Fixed

Subjective Objective

Political Value-free

Speculative Hypothesis testing

Grounded Abstract

Page 37: Wilhelm van Rensburg Qualitative Research Methodology

(cont)

• More inductive• Grounded in thick descriptive accounts• More discovery oriented• Fewer people are studied more intensively• Subjective as well as objective data and stances• Recursive• Triangulation• Naturalistic• Researcher as instrument

Page 38: Wilhelm van Rensburg Qualitative Research Methodology

What makes a qualitative study good?

• Thick, descriptive accounts of what is being studied• Intensive investigation over time• Multiple approaches, triangulation• Participant corroboration• Thorough description and appropriate development of

selection of research methods and research design• Reflective accounts of the researchers’ experiences• Authenticity, credibility, insightfulness, clarity,

comprehensiveness• Thorough consideration of previous literature• Assessment of evidence and alternative explanations for

patterns discovered.

Page 39: Wilhelm van Rensburg Qualitative Research Methodology

What criteria can we use to assess the quality of research?

• How far can we demonstrate that our research has mobilized the conceptual apparatus of our social sciences disciplines, and thereby, helped to build useful social theories?

• How far can our data, method and findings satisfy the criteria of reliability and validity?

Page 40: Wilhelm van Rensburg Qualitative Research Methodology

(cont)

• To what extent do our preferred research methods reflect careful weighting of the alternatives or simple responses to time and resource constraints or even an unthinking adoption of the current fashion?

• How can valid, reliable and conceptually defined qualitative studies contribute to practice and policy by revealing something new to practitioners, clients and/or policy makers?

• Source: Silverman, 2000, p284

Page 41: Wilhelm van Rensburg Qualitative Research Methodology

Characteristics of good qualitative researchers

• Comfortable with ambiguity• Comfortable with a range of methodological

possibilities and a range of interpretations• Have a killer instinct for data• Have a proclivity to seek patterns• Are highly intuitive in that they are sensitive to

context (physical settings and people, overt and covert agendas, verbal and nonverbal behaviours)

• Are able to live with long periods of boredom

Page 42: Wilhelm van Rensburg Qualitative Research Methodology

(cont)

• Have a keen sense of timing, particularly in interviews• Are able to establish rapport with others• Are empathetic• Are excellent listeners• Aren’t easily embarrassed or judgmental• Are extremely well-organized• Are good writers who can describe phenomena clearly

and in interesting detail• Are self-critical, self-analytical, and are capable of

detachment• Are enthusiastic bricoleurs (Denzin & Lincoln, 2005)

Page 43: Wilhelm van Rensburg Qualitative Research Methodology

Do you qualify?

• What exactly makes your study a qualitative study (or something else)?

• What qualities makes you a potentially good qualitative researcher?

Page 44: Wilhelm van Rensburg Qualitative Research Methodology

The next step

• Theoretical frameworks

• Conceptual frameworks

• Literature reviews


Recommended