1
Q
What are the three components of theory and explain each
A
- Definitions - explains what the key terms in the theory means
- Descriptions - outline the characteristics of the phenomena of interest
- Relational statements - connects 2 or more variables - the two forms of these are deterministic (the variables always go together) and probabilistic (the variables go together with some degree of regularity)
2
Q
What are the two types of theories?
A
Theories of middle range = limited in scope and can be tested directly
Grand theories = general and abstract
3
Q
What is deductive and inductive reasoning?
A
Deductive = Start with coming up with a theory, comes up with a hypothesis based on the theory, tests it and the tests either confirm or reject the theory Inductive = data is gathered first then construct a theory based on what you found
4
Q
What is epistemology and what are the two epistemological positions?
A
The study of how we know (the how of knowledge production and research methods)
- Positivism = associated with quantitative research - thinks research should be value neutral
- Interpretivism = associated with qualitative research and believes interpretation is the root (so depending on how we understand something has an impact on how we interpret it)
5
Q
What is ontology and what are the two sides?
A
The study of what we know
- Objectivist = think social phenomena have a reality independent of our perceptions
- Constructionist
- hard = what passes for reality is a set of mental constructions
- soft = there is an objective social reality but many of our ideas and perceptions are false because they have been constructed to justify some form of domination
6
Q
What is qualitative research and name the common characteristics of qualitative research
A
What it is:
- concerned with words and images
- usually inductive
- tends to be interpretivist
- often constructionist
- takes a naturalistic perspective
Characteristics:
- uses adaptable methods of collecting data
- generates data that is detailed, rich, and complex
- a reflective approach where the role and perspective of the researcher is acknowledged
7
Q
What are the common critiques of qualitative research?
A
- Too subjective
- Almost impossible to replicate
- Problems of generalization = samples not meant to be representative
- Lack is transparency = responsibility of researcher to be transparent
8
Q
What are the different types of research designs?
A
- experimental design = more or less artificial conditions in a controlled environment (usually a lab) - generally not used with qualitative research
- cross-sectional design = observing patterns or collecting data that you hope will help you observe and explain patterns at one moment in time in more than one case
- longitudinal design = tries to capture change over time so you do the survey or interview more than one (you observe at least two point in time)
- case study design = you use the methods of both longitudinal and cross-sectional but you look at an in depth study of one case
9
Q
What are the criteria for evaluating social research?
A
- reliability = the result remains the same each time a particular measurement technique is used on the same subject
- replicability = the result is the same when other repeat the study
- validity = there is integrity to the conclusion
- measurement validity = are you measuring what you want to measure?
- internal validity = looks at whether causation has been established by a particular study
- external validity = are your finding applicable to situations outside your research, and can the findings be generalized beyond the people in your study
10
Q
According to research ethics, what takes priority above all else?
A
The welfare of the research participants
11
Q
What is the name of the guide that the ethics boards use for social research?
A
The Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans (TCPS2)
12
Q
What are the core principles of TCPS2?
A
- respect for persons = involves adherence to human rights, free informed and ongoing consent (usually has to be in writing), notifies of the risks and benefits of the research
- concern for welfare = involves privacy, confidentiality, and well being of the person/group/community
- justice
13
Q
What are the 3 strategies of interviews?
A
- Structured = for quantitative research - all answers are fixed, you just check a box, you can get more results but don’t understand why a participant chose that box, not interested in finding out why only interested in the final answer
- Semi-Structured = for qualitative research, the interviewer has questions in the general form of an interview guide and is able to very the order of questions and is free to ask further questions based on the replies of the research participant’s replies
- Unstructured = for qualitative research, the interviewer is free to explore any topic but an interview guide is usually used, the questions may vary from one interview to another
14
Q
What are the advantages and disadvantages of structured interviews and questionnaires?
A
Advantages:
-Organized = everyone is on the same page, answers may be superficial but you get a Snapchat or people’s answers that does not deviate from interview participant to interview participant
- Cost efficiency
- Ease of analysis = all possible answers are known so it’s just a matter of counting - this allows you to work with a Parker sample group
Disadvantages:
-people could read the box incorrectly and give the wrong answer
-layout needs to be easy to navigate so that people don’t make mistakes
15
Q
What is variability due to error and where does it come from?
A
What is it?
-it is variation due to the interviewer or interviewing process
Where does it come from?
- intra-interviewer variability = an interviewer is no consistent in asking questions or recording answers with the same respondent
- inter-interviewer variability = lack of consistency in asking questions or recording answers between interviews
16
Q
What is the interviewer effect?
A
- reactive effects are part of any research process (reactivity)
- characteristics of interviewers may influence the responses given
- gender, class, and race are key reactive issues
17
Q
What are the three types of interviews?
A
- In-person interview = face-to-face interviewing is the preferred methods in academic research
- Telephone interview = cheap, quick and reduces biased from interview effect but excludes people without phones, hard to sustain for long periods of time, cannot read body language
- Online interview = cheap, people have longer to give a more thoughtful answer, no need to transcribe but high dropout rate
18
Q
What are questionnaires and what are advantages and disadvantages of them?
A
What are they
- Structured interviews without interviewer
- involve filling out a form which is then returned to the researcher usually by mail
- must be very clear because there is not aid from and interviewer
- mostly closed questions, simple design, short
Advantages
- cheap, quick
- no interviewer effects
- respondent more likely to give genuine answers to sensitive questions
Disadvantages
- researcher can’t explain questions
- difficult to ask a lot of questions
- difficult to ask open questions
- not everyone can answer (those with little literacy)
- some may not complete questionnaires
19
Q
How do you code open questions?
A
Post-coding = data are gathered, then themes or categories of behaviour are descerened
Pre-coding = themes are categories are decided before data is gathered (usually done with fixed response items ex. Strong agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree) then each answer is assigned a number
20
Q
What are the specific rules for designing research questions?
A
- avoid ambiguous terms
- avoid long questions
- avoid double-barrelled questions
- avoid general questions
- avoid leading questions
- avoid questions that are actually two questions
- avoid questions that include negatives
- minimize technical terms
- do not start with most sensitive questions
21
Q
What are vignette questions?
A
- present people with one or more situations and asking them how they would respond
- creates distance between question and respondent
- weakness: how people say they react is not always how they actually would
22
Q
What should you note in your field notes after the interview?
A
- how the interview went
- where the interview was conducted
- other feelings and issues raised during the interview
- what was going on around the interview
23
Q
What should you be focusing on during the interview?
A
- primary intent is to listen
- bring a calm presence, interviews can be stressful
- make sure to have a good question order, start with easy questions people are comfortable with answering then progress into more sensitive questions
24
Q
What are some disadvantages in qualitative interviewing?
A
- people may go in a direction you didn’t intend
- you end up with a ton of data that you can’t really compare the way you do with standardized research
- some people might not want to open up
- the quality of data depends of who the interviewer is
25
What are some advantages of qualitative interviewing?
- you get unexpected answers
- more personal so interviewees tend to share more and have a more meaningful impact in the research
- participants are not “subjects” like in quantitative research
26
What are focus groups?
A facilitator interviews several interviewees at once.
27
In focus groups are what natural groups?
People who already know each other which is good when observing how people interact but has a draw back because pre-existing styles of interactions or status hierarchies may affect discussion
28
How should questions be asked in focus groups?
- small number, open, clarifying
- moderators might need to refocus the group but how often they have to do this depends on the topic of discussion, how knowledgeable the participants are, the goal of the research
29
What are some limitations of focus groups?
- not much control over discussion
- hard to keep track of all the data and it’s difficult to analyze
- personality traits (some are dominant some are quiet)
- difficult for sensitive issues
30
Why do researchers use observation techniques to gather data and what kind of data can you obtain through observation?
- Discrepancy in self-reporting - people often do not tell you what they really do
- You can describe who people give their attention to, how fast a line is moving, if people are always on their phone
- Not good because you have no insight into their motivations - you will never know why they’re behaving a certain way
31
What is the naive mind involved in observation?
When you are observing you want to eliminate any pre-existing notions as much as possible and record any patterns no matter how obvious they seem - if you make assumptions you miss things
32
What is the purpose of observation?
To observe, systematically record, and analyze social behaviours and processes, usually over an extended period of time, while they are occurring within their social environment
33
What are the advantages and disadvantages of observation?
Advantages:
- can provide a more precise study of events and behaviours
- can capture behaviour
- can provide a more in-depth, contextual understanding
Disadvantages:
- observations are filtered through the interpretations of the researcher
- reactive effects
- practical considerations - the time and effort it takes to do this work
34
What are unstructured observations?
- No rules for observing or recording the observations
- The observer attempts to gather as much detail as possible, makes thorough notes, and develops a narrative account of the behaviour at a later time
35
What is participant observation/ethnography?
- Researcher is immersed in a particular social setting for a long period of time
- behaviour is observed in an unstructured way, in depth, discussions and interviews are held with the people studied
36
What is visual ethnography?
- Includes materials like memory aids (ex. Field notes), prompts for discussion
- Challenges: context of how it was taken and who it was taken of, different meaning can be ascribed to the material by the researcher and different participants
37
What is a reflexive approach?
Recognizes that the visual ethnography materials may be collaborative and may be subject to multiple interpretations
38
What questions should you consider when trying to gain access to a certain social group?
- To which group do you think you could easily gain access?
- What groups might be hardest for you to access?
- How might you go about gaining access into some of these groups and settings?
39
What are the 4 ethnographer roles?
1. Complete participant
- you are part of the group
- they don’t know you’re observing them
- complicated ethics - may be deceitful
2. Participant-as-observer
- you are a member of the group, you tell them you are doing research and get them to sign a form
- closer to being a participant
- risk of reactivity
3. Observer-as-participant
- you are participant but more detached
- on periphery of group
- risk of reactivity
4. Complete observer
- you’re a complete outsider
- you have no involvement
- they know you’re observing them
- ethics in your side
- low risk of reactivity
- limited understanding of group
40
What is unobtrusive observation?
- Observer takes no part in activities of observed group
- Group May or may not know they’re being observed
- Can be structured or unstructured
41
Why is qualitative data analysis an iterative process?
- It is a repeating process made up of a succession of approximations, each one building on the one preceding, used to achieve the desired degree of accuracy
- you start the analysis when you have some data and then collect more to fill in the blanks
42
What is a code?
- A word or short phrase that captures, condensed and groups together portions of data
43
What are the steps and considerations in coding?
1. Transcribe and code as soon as possible after data collection
2. Read through the data before considering any interpretation
3. Read through the data again
4. Start coding
5. Don’t worry about producing too many codes
6. Several rounds of coding
7. Review the codes and consider relationships between them
8. Consider general theoretical ideas regarding codes
9. Keep coding
44
What can be analyzed using content analysis?
- Anything that has been created or modified by people
- Value positions
- Subjects and themes
- How or why questions
45
What is manifest content and what is latent content?
Manifest
- Any content immediately evident
Latent
- Content that requires work in uncovering the implicit meanings
46
What is discourse analysis?
- An interpretive approach to identify sets of ideals or discourse used to make sense of the world within a particular social context
- When you apply textual analysis to contextual analysis
47
What are benefits of community-engaged research?
- contextualized research
- More informed (participants learn from experience, academic researcher also learns from them)
- Gains the trust of research participants as a way of access to community and information
- researcher, the participants and broader audience all gain and learn from research
48
What are some characteristics of participatory action research?
- Investigate problems as identified by research-participant/co-researcher
- Fosters critical dialogue, reflection, action
- Proposes solutions based on voices and expert knowledge of participants
- Engage stakeholders and decision makers
49
What are the two approaches to Participatory Action Research?
1. Part. Action research with participants as co-researchers
- emphasis on approach- wants to change dynamics in research process
2. Transformative part. Action research
- emphasis on reaching changes it wants to see
50
What are the 3 basic action research cycles?
1. Observe/record -> reflect -> plan -> act ->
2. Observe/record -> reflect -> revise plan -> act ->
3. Observe/record -> reflect -> revised plan -> act
51
What does it mean to decolonize research?
- make it less academic and make it accessible to more
- gives people opportunity to do their own research instead of just relying on researcher
- requires deconstruction of dominant paradigms and colonial, racist and gendered assumptions upon which they are based
- requires reconstruction of epistemological and knowledges of indigenous people
52
What is indigenist research and what are some of its principles?
To describe and use the paradigms researchers need to place themselves and their work in a relational context (cannot be separate)
Principles:
- respect for interrelationships
- honestly and compassion
- reason for research must bring benefits to indigenous communities
53
What does OCAP stand for?
Ownership
Control
Access
Possession
54
What is the USAI research framework?
Having it be community driven research - asserts that community need to be in the driver’s seat
Qualitative Research Methods
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