Quali Methods Flashcards
(12 cards)
Focus groups use
- Examine people’s way of (collectively) constructing and organising knowledge
- Understand why people hold certain views — participants naturally probe and challenge each other
- Elicit a range of views
Focus groups advantages and disadvantages
Advantages:
* efficient — less time, less travel, more data at once, allows relatively large sample size for quality study
* safety in numbers — may create an accepting environment that puts participant at ease (eg. People experiencing homelessness can be shy and hesitant to meet with a stranger and being in a group can make it easier)
* rewarding for participants as well as researchers — give opportunity to express their views and opinions about a topic they would not usually have the chance to discuss
* richness of data, fertile environment, abstract/less familiar topics
Disadvantages:
* participants reluctant to express unpopular views or disclose personal information — sensitive topics (eg. STIs, adverse childhood events…)
* difficult to collect detailed info from each person — can’t go into much detail about each individual’s opinions
* one or two persons may dominate discussion
* may be difficult to analyse — working out who said what can be tricky + peer pressure/ social desirability so can be tricky to know what actual opinion of each individual is
Ethnography
Research process and written product
Method where researcher is immersed in social setting for extended period
Includes multiple data collection methods such as: participant observation, interviews, collecting documents…
Ethnography: open vs closed setting
Open (public) settings:
* public parks
* city centres
* public transport
Closed (non-public) settings:
* organisations
* services
* private homes
* schools
* cults
Some may have elements of both (eg. Medical settings: waiting areas vs clinical/appointment areas)
Ethnography: Overt vs Covert
Overt: research participants know who researcheris and why they are there
* informed consent possible (not entirely unproblematic) — not always possible to have every single person encountered aware
* recording observations possible
* problem of reactivity ie. Participants changing their behaviours due to researcher being there — the longer time there the less likely they are to keep it up
* access can potentially be problematic (Gatekeepers)
Covert: researcher does not disclose their identity/intentions (undercover)
* avoids problems of access and reactivity
* difficult to record observations and cannot use other methods (eg. Interviews)
*threat of disclosure/having cover blown
* ethical issues — no opportunity of informed consent, deception, against rules of confidentiality
Interviews
Increased recognition of importance and value of the voices of normal people (non-experts)
Different modes:
* in person
* telephone
* video conference
* email
Types of research interviews
Structured:
* fixed questions
* fixed order of questions
* fixed number of questions
* increase reliability and validity (easy to compare the answers between participants)
Semi-structured:
* checklist of questions and/or fairly specific topics
* flexibility to follow up/prompt/clarify and alter order
* tools: topic guide
Unstructured:
* conversational and organised around loose theme/question
* answer and probe at length
* tools: aide mémoire, brief list of topics
* even more flexible than semi structured
Other kind of interviews
Biographical/life history interviews:
* elicit intensive account of whole life through in-depth, unstructured interview often over several sessions
* eg. Impact of disability or chronic illness over life course
Oral history interviews:
* reflection on specific event or period, widely used in historical research
* eg. Welsh miners’ experiences in coal pits
Narrative interviews:
* encourages and stimulates interviewees to tell a story about some significant event in their life, aims to reconstruct social event from participant’s perspective
* eg. Experience of short-term illness or bereavement
Go along interviews:
* interviewer accompanies interviewee as they go about some activities and ask about their experiences and viewpoints
* eg. Medicine prescription pick-up, soup run delivery…
Strengths and limitations of interview
Strengths:
* only way to answer some questions
* non-verbal communication/cues
* goes beyond initial response (finding out reasoning behind certain perspectives)
* flexible to probe and clarify (depending on interview type)
* rich, nuanced, detailed data generated
* elicit stories/opinions of marginalised/disadvantaged groups
* respondent has control over how their ideas and opinions are expressed
Limitations:
* not standardised or replicable (depending on type of interview)
* time consuming and expensive
* may be difficult to recruit respondents or gain access to individuals that researcher wants to interview
* can be invasive and upsetting
* unequal power relationship between interviewer and respondent (not always interviewer in power as respondent are the ones with the answers)
* voluminous data, time consuming to analyse
* contradictory data can be generated
Auto-photography/self-directed photography
- photography conducted by participant
- relatively rare in social science but becoming increasing popular — dissatisfaction with researcher-generated images
- interpretation used to be limited to content but now also explores meaning attached to images by photographers and assessment of what may be learned from the ‘picturing practices’ employed by photographers
Ethical challenges in auto-photography
- resource inside news and high ‘failure’ rate
- anonymity and image ownership
- photographs of other people
- substance misuse/mental ill health and informed consent
- safety considerations
Challenges of auto-photography
- time consuming
- resource intensive research method — especially when used with vulnerable people
