Week 2 - Research Techniques Flashcards
What is qualitative data focused on
Focus on understanding the meaning experiences and motivations a topic of interest
What does qualitative data lead to
Leads to a rich and in depth understanding of the data
What research question did sinden et al explore in 2013
What pressures and risks do female fire fighters encounter within their occupations
What themes did Siden et al 2013
Negative attitudes of male counterparts
Earning respect
How is collecting qualitative data usually done
Through focus group and interviews
Describe an interviews
A person sits down and has a face to face conversation with a person who will ask questions and write down what the participant is saying. They are usually semi-structured and can be flexible.
Name some advantages of interviews
Better for sensitive topics
Easier to organise
Better for people who don’t like speaking out in front of a group
Researcher has more control
Name some disadvantages of interviews
Less data collected than focus group
Time consuming
Unfocused prompts impair quality of data
Describe the qualitative research technique of focus groups
Groups comprise of 3-6 people, with the research starting a group decision about a specific topic/question.
Name some advantages of focus groups
Greater understanding of shared experiences
Participants feed off one another and spark conversation
Provides more data in short space of time
Multiple viewpoints on topic
Name some disadvantages of focus groups
Some participants can dominate group discussion
Researcher has less control
What is an open question
An open question will allow the participant to freely express their thoughts
What can be used to follow on from participants responses
Prompts
Why should a researcher avoid the use of leading questions
Can bias participants responses
What is a closed question
Conclusive in nature, designed to give a quantifiable answer, a number of yes or no answer
