Session 5: Types of evidence and data collection Flashcards
(15 cards)
When should you use a focus group?
- particularly suited for obtaining several perspectives about the same topic
- helps in gaining insights into people’s shared understanding of everyday life and,
- the ways in which individuals are influenced by others in a group situation
What are advantages of focus groups?
- depth and complexity of response
- group members can often stimulate new thoughts for each other
What is triangulation?
use of mulitple sources of evidence/data to support your findings
convergence of evidence (diverse data sources point to the same conclusion) increases confidence in your findings
How are focus groups distinct from one-to-one interviews?
individuals in a social context
What are limitations of focus groups?
researcher has less control over proceedings
data can be difficult to analyze
difficult to organize / risk of no-shows
tendency for more agreement than disagreement in discussions
What are advantages of focus groups over individual interviews?
the amount of control the interviewer has
the greater amount of information that each informant has time to share
What’s the difference between overt vs. covert ethnography?
overt: participants aware of researcher’s intentions
covert: researcher’s identity not disclosed
What are documents available for research?
personal, public, organizatinal, mass media outputs, virtual outputs
What is sampling?
Sampling is selecting a subset of individuals or cases from a larger population.
What is probability sampling vs. purposive sampling?
Probability Sampling: Participants are selected using random methods; every member of the population has a known chance of being selected. Used in quantitative research.
Purposive Sampling: Participants are selected based on specific characteristics or qualities relevant to the study. Common in qualitative research.
What is theoretical sampling?
Theoretical sampling is a method used in grounded theory where data collection is guided by emerging theory—researchers choose participants who can help develop or refine theoretical concepts.
What is grounded theory?
Grounded theory is a qualitative research methodology aimed at developing theory that is grounded in systematically gathered and analyzed data. Rather than starting with a hypothesis, grounded theory builds theory inductively from the data itself.
What is generic purposive sampling?
Generic purposive sampling involves selecting participants based on predefined criteria relevant to the research question, without the theory-driven iteration of theoretical sampling. It’s common in many types of qualitative research.
What is snowball sampling?
Snowball sampling is a non-probability technique where existing participants refer or recruit future participants, useful for accessing hard-to-reach or hidden populations.
How to establish how many people will be interviewed?
Goal to achieve theoretical saturation, data saturation and informational redundancy.
