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Qualitative Research Methods Brough
Qualitative Research Methods Brough
Mark Brough
Workshop Objectives
Compare and contrast qualitative and quantitative research Overview the diversity of qualitative methods Discuss the linkages between selection of method and types of research questions Introduce some basic concepts and skills of qualitative research We will focus on doing qualitative exercises rather than just talking about qualitative research
Qualitative Research is like peeling onions Ulin, Robinson, Tolby (2005) Qualitative Methods in Public Health Jossey-Bass, San Francisco What are some layers here?
Structured
Unstructured
Static and external to actor Processual and socially constructed by actor Hard, reliable Rich, deep
In-Depth Interviewing
An in-depth interview is a conversation with a purpose - a conversation between researcher and informant, focusing on the informants perception of self, life and experience, and expressed in his or her own words. It is the means by which the researcher can gain access to, and subsequently understand the private interpretations of social reality that individuals hold. (Minichiello et al, 1995:p. 61)
Interview Strategies
Funnelling (start with the grand-tour question) Story-telling (puts researcher in role of active listener, rather than questioner) Solicited Narratives (requested written pieces) Probing (importance of follow-up) Linking (making a link between an earlier comment and current comment)
Importance of Rapport
What really is rapport?
How can it be achieved? What might be some of the barriers/ facilitators?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxXT1A4zqcU
What is Coding?
Coding is one of the main processes used to analyse qualitative data, to discover concepts within the data
It is the analytical method through which researchers generate and use concepts to reduce large amounts of data to smaller more manageable chunks. It is a means by which a qualitative researcher organises his or her data into categories, represented by codes. Coding helps the researcher to make sense of the data.
Theory Building
Sometimes referred to as grounded theory Based on premise of building theory from grounded experience (inductive logic) Opposite to hypothesis based research (deductive logic) Questions aimed at understanding world from insider perspective
Questions so far?
We have covered some fundamentals of qualitative research If time, can cover a few specialised methods
Discourse analysis
Method which highlights importance of language Makes explicit the social and political context of how language is deployed Key theoretical origin Wittgenstein (18891951) - view that language not simply neutral medium of communication Encouraged a more politicised view of language
Healthy Imagination: A Social History of the Epidemiology of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health
Some examples of racism at work in apparently scientific discourse Threatening Bodies Cook (1927) The matter of aboriginal gins is much more important, since the aliens [chinese], deprived of the society of women of their own kindfell back for conjugal relationship upon the salacious aboriginal Bleakly (1934) exemptions were cancelled so that there could be a good deal of cleaning up (of) a source of danger and infection to our own wards
Content Analysis
A research method that detects, records and analyses the presence of specified words or concepts in a sample form of communication Inferences can then be made about the messages within the texts (p 115, Walter)
Conceptual Analysis
Concepts chosen for examination Then tally the presence of that concept in the text Need: 1. Codebook (explanation of all concepts) 2. Translation rules (description of how researcher codes concepts) 3. The above allow for the possibility of testing inter-coder reliability
Questions?