Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
What is it?
Purpose sampling: targets specific group of people with particular set of characteristics, good to obtain a sample quickly Snowball Sampling: used to get participants without investing a lot of time or energy, having existing participants refer to new participants Convenience Sampling: particular group of people who happen to be available
Epistemological Reflexivity thinking about the ways in which knowledge has been generated in the study
Interviews
Evaluate semi-structured, focus group and narrative interviews
Semi-Structured Interviews: Most widely uses method of data collection in qual research. It involves preparation of an interview guide that lists the themes that should be explored in the interview. Flexible. The order of the questions and the actual wording are not determined in advance. Open minded and closed questions Strengths: socially sensitive issues, better as researcher can ask for elaboration on answers. Less biased. Flexibility of open-minded questions but advantages of structural approach. Analysis in a variety of ways. Limitations: Data analysis very time consuming. One-to-one situation is somewhat artificial. Ethics of semi structures a) Before: review of questions for possible distress, consent forms written b) During: Informed consent, leave at any time, right to withdraw information, inform them of privacy, monitor subjects (end interview with distress), tell aim, method etc c) After: debriefing, confidentiality, counselling, data (transcript, recording) or their interview, final results given, publish results Focus groups: method to asses health education messages, group processes can help people to explore and clarify their views (difficult in one-to-one), 6-10 people, supposed to interact with each other, does not discriminate against people who can not read or write, similar characteristics. Strengths: quick and convenient way to collect data, natural setting, gain insight into what/how/why they think those things Limitations: not guaranteed that people will disclose information, may result in group dynamics (conformity) be a problem if participants are not free (prisons, nursing homes). Ethics of Focus groups a) Before: Whether your topic focus is distressing, decide if they will know each other or not, prior information about your participants b) During: Informed consent, leave at any time, right to withdraw information, inform them of privacy, monitor subjects (end interview with distress), tell aim, method, how people feel, conformity, ask if everyone can respect each other c) After: debriefing, confidentiality, counselling, data (transcript, recording) or their interview, final results given, publish results
Narrative Interviews: Based on the assumption humans are story tellers, purpose is to see how people impose a kind of order on their experiences so as to make sense of events in their lives Strengths: can be used with all people as it uses everyday language, valuable means of exploring the complexity of individual experiences. Limitations: can result in enormous amount of data, time consuming Ethics of Narrative interview a) before: approval of ethics board, consider possible stories (distressing?), aim, method, informed consent b) During: monitor the subjects for distress, and stop if needed or redirect confidentiality c) After: debriefing, make transcript or recording for subject, publish results, counselling, assure them of anonymity, access to facial study.
Considerations involved in before, during and after an interview (sampling method, data recording, debriefing etc)
-Training of the interviewer: so they do not react In ways that may intimidate the participants, and jeopardize the interview. (Avoiding interviewer effects) -Choice of interviewer: consider how interviewer effects can be counterbalanced by varying age, gender, ethnicity in interviewers -Interview guide: themes that need to be explored, script how to conduct interview - Questions can be descriptive, structural (meanings), contrasting (comparing experiences) or evaluative (feelings) - Data recording: tape/video, tell participant in advance - Transcription of the data, professional transcripters, require that the material is word for word (verbatim) -Informed consent - During interview: establish rapport (trusting and close relationship) - Active listening technique restate participants comments to show interviewer has been listening - Participant must be debriefed: ensure participant is fully informed and feels confident
texts (mostly transcripts) are studied extensively in order to extract themes relevant to the research question. Means analysis are not based on existing theory or prior assumptions - Analysis involves systematic search for themes in the first reading, subsequent readings will try to connect the themes. -IPA works with transcripts of semi-structures interviews, these are the stages a) Reading and re-reading transcripts b) Identification of emergent themes c) Structuring emergent themes d) Summary table of structured themes and relevant quotation that illustrate each theme
Observations
Researcher enters situation where situation is likely to take place and makes notes about it
Strengths: ecological validity (natural environment, participants behave in natural ways), can be used to collect data in cases where it would be impossible/unethical to do so otherwise. Limitations: Risk that people react to being observed, if data collect alone may be problems, ethical considerations (observing strangers without their knowledge) Overt Observation: Participants know they are being observed, whatever circumstances participants know that he or she is the researcher Covert Observation: Participants are not aware of being studied, so no consent has been given. Ethical issues.
Considerations involved in setting up and carrying out an observation (Audience effect, disclosure)
Preparation: Research problem under observation, set up a plan for observation, decided whether participant or non-participant, decide what exactly to focus on, become familiar with the setting/people before starting. Be aware of own position, may influence his/her interpretation of the situation What kind of notes: Descriptive (just observes what is happening), Inferential (Researcher makes inferences on what is happening; reactions and emotions), Evaluative (Observes, makes inferences plus evaluates behaviour) Conducting: Establishes rapport with participants, important to be involved but stay analytical, advantage if there is more than one observer, notes must be very detailed (rich/thick). Risk of participants not behaving naturally (reactivity), Researcher may be bias (researcher bias)- influences validity but can be counterbalanced with credibility checks. Afterwards: Can conduct post observational interviews, participants must be debriefed, data analysis then carried out. How researchers analyse data obtained in observational research - Based on field notes, compared to data from other sources - One way to analysis: grounded theory analysis (description, and coding and connecting themes, to produce an account)
DCA
Description: Complete description of the phenomenon of interest context of the action, intentions of actor, process in which action is embedded. Coded and Connecting Themes: Means data is organised into categories: reading/readings field notes. Who/what/when/where/why/who. Notes about the notes called memos. Data classified into main (higher-order) themes and subthemes. Critical thinking is essential.
Account: End product based on all the elements of the analysis, gives theoretical framework, may use theoretical triangulation 9includes alternative theories to explain phenomenon). Important that the researcher makes it possible to track and verify how the conclusion was reached.
Case Studies
The use of case studies in research
- Defined as an in depth investigation of human experience. Could be one person/family/social group/ event/organisation. Often takes place in participants natural environment, should always be seen in context, not research method but a research strategy. - Semi-structured interviews widely used, triangulation is best, conclusions based on multiple sources produce more trustworthy results. Main methods of data collection: semi structured interviews, participant observation, diaries, personal notes, official documents and questionnaires. Intrinsic case studies: studied because they are interesting in their own right, researcher simply wants to gain insight into one particular phenomenon by studying that case i.e. person locked into a basement for years by a perpetrator Instrumental case studies: more general phenomenon being studied i.e. losing a child, being homeless. Descriptive case studies: generate a detailed description of phenomenon, findings of descriptive case study not analysed in terms of existing theories Explanatory case studies: aim to describe AND to find possible explanations of phenomenon. Strengths - Opportunity to investigate phenomena that could not be studied otherwise - Permits insight into social processes in a group - Stimulates new research - Contradict established theory and helps to develop new theories Limitations - Difficult to define a case study - Researcher bias may become a problem - Memory distortions and effects of social desirability Ethical Aspects: if only one or two people are in the case study, there is a chance that they can be identified in the research report. Requires active involvement by
participants, could involve self reflection that may affect the participants negatively (deal with painful memories and emotions)
How a case study could be used to investigate a problem in an organization or group (football team, family) The extent to which findings can be generalized from a single case study
Difficult to generalise one case study with the small sample population, however, if evidence from other cases studies confirms it than it is argued that it is possible to generalise to other people who are similar to those in the case study Single case study can be used for inferential generalization (findings can be applicable to similar settings if researcher has provided detailed description and the context of phenomenon) Transferability Yin (1994), results of a single case study can be generalized to existing theory, but not to populations and if patterns found in that case study can be found in multiple cases, the theory derived from the case study gains in robustness