Qualitative methods + interview skills

Question 1

When abouts did qualitative methods emerge?

Answer 1

1980’s

Question 2

What is meant by Hermeneutics?

Answer 2

the interpretation of language

Question 3

Is Qualitative inductive or deductive?

Answer 3

Inductive - using data to generate theory

Question 4

In qualitative research, researchers bring their subjective experiences into the research: is this viewed as a strenth or a weakness?

Answer 4

A strength: allows in depth understanding of participants experience

Question 5

——– research allows NARROW but RICH generation of data. What sort of research is this referring too?

Answer 5

Qualitative

Question 6

Raj is researching helpline telephone calls and has collected and transcribed 20 of these to analyse thematically. Are the recordings or the transcripts naturally occurring data? if so, why?

Question 7

True or False?

Answer 7

A semi - structured interview is standardised and non directive (this means the researcher doesnt direct the questions as much. interviewer can ask questions that come up on the spot)

Question 8

What is the main agenda of focus groups?

Answer 8

Used for talking about social issues and/or sensitive topics

Question 9

Describe the 3 Q’s

Answer 9

Big Q- Qualitative technique within qualitative paradigm
Small Q- Qualitative technique within quantitative paradigm
Biggish Q- in between big and small Q. e.g. more in quantitative philosophy

Question 10

What is meant by the ‘small Q?’

Answer 10

use of qualitative data within a quantitative paradigm

e.g. would have a concern for accuracy, reliability and controlling researcher subjectivity

Question 11

What is meant by ‘triangulation?’

Answer 11

A mixed methods approach

benefits? overcomes the weaknesses of both qualitative and quantitative methods

Question 12

Give 2 things qualitative methods research can differ in:

Answer 12

1) Epistemological Position; e.g. varies between small Q, big Q. Variation in researchers philosophical view
2) Degree of reflexivity: acknowledging how your stance as a researcher influenced the research. Would be less involvement if the research is based on small Q paradigm

Question 13

When was thematic research first used?

Answer 13

in the 1990’s

Question 14

Give the 6 step procedure for the thematic analysis procedure

Answer 14

1) Familiarise yourself with data e.g. re reading transcripts
2-generate initial codes- reviewing potential codes line by line
3- theme searching- codes are turned into themes
4- theme reviewing
5- defining and naming themes
6-producing report

Question 15

What are the three approaches to thematic analysis?

Answer 15

Reflexive approach (Big Q)
Coding reliability (small Q) – data is based around pre determined codes and themes). Coders are used who have no knoeledge of subject- they code independently
Codebook approach (biggish Q) – there is a structured approach to coding, however a qualitative philiosophy is used

Question 16

Give the funnel approach associated with thematic analysis

Answer 16

1) Data corpus: the type of data used e.g. interviews , websites
2) Data set: the data used from the corpus for a particular analysis: e.g. interviews
3) Data item- piece of collected data e.g. an interview
4) Data extract-the chunk of the data item e.g. quote from an interview

Question 17

Discourse is C, C, A and S. Fill in the words.

Answer 17

Constructed: made up of linguistic blocks e.g. repetition, words
Constructive: this view about the world is the product of the talk, rather than something which has existed before the talk
Action Orientated: e.g.blame
Situated: need to examine discourse in its particular context

Question 18

What is meant by ethos, and which key concept does it relate to?

Answer 18

Ethos: speakers emotions expressed in order to persuade an audience

Relates to discourse analysis

Question 19

what is meant by ‘epistemological stance?’

Answer 19

• the researchers research goal

Question 20

Provide 3 respond which support qualitative research being naturally occuring data:

Answer 20

1) researcher does not impose their own categories in the data
2) researcher may be exposed to novel expectations they may not have otherwise been exposed to e.g. participant says something suprising
3) captures life as it happens

Question 21

In the transcript of an interview, what does () and (()) indicate?

Answer 21

() = the speech was unclear to transcribe

(()) - indication of contextual information

Question 22

Give 4 criticisms regarding qualitative research

Answer 22

1) Subjectivity: this can be reduced by using the small Q method and by having a reflexivity paragraph to show how researcher may have influenced the researcher process.
2) Replicability: difficult to replicate as researcher influenced data
3) Generalisability: people selected do not reflect the wider population
4) Transparency: sometimes difficult to know hoe conclusions have been made about the
research

Question 23

What is paradigm relativism?

Answer 23

Using a specific method to suit the right research question