Lecture 6 - Qualitative Research

Question 1

What is qualitative research?

Answer 1

Where the research approaches aren’t countable or measureable

Investigating feelings, thoughts, behaviours or practices

Question 2

What are the big differences between quantitative and qualitative research?

Answer 2

Quant = seeking to measure and put numbers to things and test and confirm hypothesis (LOOKS FOR STATISTICAL RELATIONSHIPS)

Qual = seeking to explore, interpret and contextualise social phenomena (LOOKING FOR PATTERNS/THEMES)

Question 3

Is this a quantitative question or qualitative question:

Do you like puppies? Yes/No/Maybe?

Answer 3

Quantitative

Question 4

Is this a quantitative question or qualitative question:

Why do you like puppies?

Answer 4

Qualitative

Question 5

Basic difference between quantitative and qualitative research?

Answer 5

Quant = numbers/closed ended questions SO CAN BE MEASURED
Qual = not numbers/open ended questions NOT MEASUREABLE

Question 6

How is Qualitative research useful?

Answer 6

Where statistics and numeric data might be insufficient to capture how people feel about something in their own words

Useful for people explaining why they think things, can explain the “why” of statistical findings

Question 7

What are the weaknesses of Qualitative research?

Answer 7

Small sample sizes (breadth for depth)
Not really seeking to be reproducible

No meaning of the data (no relationships/significance to tell whether a hypothesis is true (instead researcher looks for patterns and insights)

Question 8

What are the 2 categories of types of Qualitative research?

Answer 8

Methodologies
Methods

Question 9

What are methodologies?

Answer 9

Approaches to looking qualitatively at an issue

Question 10

What are methods?

Answer 10

Tools and techniques for gathering data

Question 11

What are the 3 methodologies?

Answer 11

Grounded Theory
Phenomenology
Action Research

Question 12

What are some Methods?

Answer 12

Interviews, Focus group
Diaries
Ethnography
Free-text survey questions, documents/reports, social media

Question 13

What is Grounded Theory?

Answer 13

When a broad question is asked
And a theory is attempted to be made by gathering data from MULTIPLE sources and looks for patterns in data

Can use any method

Question 14

What is Phenomenology?

Answer 14

Investigates the everyday experiences, thoughts , feelings of human beings SUSPENDING the researchers preconceived ideas about that experience

Uses interviews, focus groups, arts and diaries

Question 15

What is Action research?

Answer 15

Seeks to find an evidence-based solution to a specific local problem
Do practice based data collection, often collaborative/participative less interested in theory
Want to fix problem

Uses interviews, ethnography

Question 16

What are interviews/focus groups? (Method)

Answer 16

Asks questions on themes aroun d a topic one-on-one or in small groups

Question 17

What are Diaries? (Method)

Answer 17

Asks people to write down thoughts, experiences or reflections regularly over time

Question 18

What is Ethnography? (Method)

Answer 18

Researcher spends time immersed in a place observing practice and experiencing what happens

Done either in person or remotely

Question 19

What are the 3 whys qualitative information can be analysed?

Answer 19

Thematic
Discourse
Narrative

Question 20

What is Thematic analysis?

Answer 20

Looking for topics and themes that come up

Question 21

What is discourse analysis?

Answer 21

Looking for the way people talk about things

Question 22

What is narrative analysis?

Answer 22

Looking for the stories people construct about their experiences