Date post: | 18-Jan-2015 |
Category: |
Documents |
Upload: | fordlovers |
View: | 1,185 times |
Download: | 2 times |
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?
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)
Towards a definition
• Qualitative Research is a form of social action
• Qualitative research is balancing creative opportunity and maintaining scientific principles:
• 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
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’?
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.
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
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
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
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
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
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.
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!
The key
The purpose statement of your study:
“The purpose of this study is to …”
It is all in the verb!
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
Paradigms
Denzin & Lincoln (2005):
1. Positivist
2. Post-positivist
3. Critical Theory
4. Constructivist
5. Participatory
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)
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
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’
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
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
Critical issues for each of these paradigms
• Axiology• Accommodation & commensurability• Action• Control• Epistemology• Validity (‘goodness criteria’)• Voice, reflexivity, postmodern
representation
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?
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?
(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
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)
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.
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”
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
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)
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
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
How are qualitative data analyzed?
• Analytic induction• Constant comparison• Typological analysis• Narrative analysis• Semiotic analysis• Discourse analysis• Conversation analysis• Content analysis
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
Differences between qualitative and quantitative research?
Qualitative Quantitative
Soft Hard
Flexible Fixed
Subjective Objective
Political Value-free
Speculative Hypothesis testing
Grounded Abstract
(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
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.
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?
(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
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
(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)
Do you qualify?
• What exactly makes your study a qualitative study (or something else)?
• What qualities makes you a potentially good qualitative researcher?
The next step
• Theoretical frameworks
• Conceptual frameworks
• Literature reviews