Qualitative Flashcards
Ontology
How you make sense of the world and how you understand the world around you
Ontology -
Objectivism
Social phenomena and their meaning existence independent of social actors - don’t need actors for the social to exist
Ontology -
Constructionism
Social phenomena and their meaning are made by social actors - NEED actors for the social to exist
Epistemology
Concerned with what is considered valid knowledge
Epistemology -
Positivism
the application of methods of sciences to the study of social reality
Epistemology -
Interpretivism
the subject meaning of social interaction
Qual =
View of those involved:
understand complex world and behaviours
Study things in natural setting
Realism
combination of elements of positivism and interpretivism-
identifies underlying or enduring social structures in order to understand social relations and institutions
- focus on explaining what is not immediately apparent
Critical realism
Aims to identify in order to change
Qual is inductive
Theories emerge from analysis don’t start with one
- Holistic, examines whole system
- Context sensitivity, understood in social, historical and physical context
Meaning
people impose order onto the world in order to create meaning
-meanings are cognitive categories that make up views of reality
Research design - 3
framework/structures to guide data collection and analysis
cross-sectional
longitudinal
case study
Naturalised transcription (Jefferson)
speech patterns between people are of interest
- conversation analysis
- discursive psychology
Conversation analysis
Naturalised transcription
focuses on naturally occurring talk
- analysing fine details of the structure of the convo
- structure and sequences
- talk in interaction
Discursive psychology and Discourse analysis
people perform actions in talk
- talk is constructive
- look for how language ‘does things’
Naturalised transcription
Common in conversation analysis, and discursive psychology where speech patterns between people are of interest to be examined analytically.
Tends to be presented like a dramatic script
Belief that misrepresentation is lessened because the transcript is as close as possible to the actual conversation.
Thematic analysis and grounded theory
Cornered with meaning making and perceptions
Rather than speech patterns!
Thematic analysis and grounded theory use..
Denaturalised transcripts
Denaturalised transcripts
Common in grounded theory/ thematic analysis/ critical discourse analysis, and is concerned with the overall substance of the interview – i.e. the meanings and perceptions created and shared during the conversation.
uses erms and uhhs notes everything that was said between people
+easier to read and flow naturally
- too clean means they can lose context and meaning
3 types of field notes
Head notes (mental notes)
Jotted notes
full-field notes
Ethnographic
is a research method designed to explore cultural phenomena where the researcher observes society from the point of view of the subject of the study.
+ real involvement within field work
- can’t fully immerse yourself
Field notes in grounded theory =
Memo writing
- catch your thoughts
- make connections and comparisons
- Memos allow researcher to actively engage in data
+ pivotal link between collecting data and developing a theory
Secondary data analysis
previously collected data, can be used to describe the attributions and attitudes \+ less cost and time required \+ high quality of data \+ much qual material remains un explored - lack of familiarity with the data - data quality - might not fit your research - ethical issue, consent
Comparative research
comparisons over time or between social groups or regions
