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Summary Qualitative Research Methods
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QUALITATIVE RESEARCH50% - group assignment.
50% MPC exam. Only on 4 CHAPTERS!!!
Topic group assignment: emancipation: originally stems from Latin; when children/mostly sons, were
gone from their parents authority/guardianship. Later associated from emancipation proclamation:
when slaves were freed from their masters. And even later to women’s emancipation ➔ we can use
the term as we want it.
FIRST CLASSES: on group assignments, NOT exam! → only last 4 classes can be applied on exam.
LESSON 1 – INTRO
LESSON 2 – DEVELOPING RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Research theme: emancipation. → develop research questions based on that.
S4: These RQ’s are based on 6 factors:
S5: 1) formal requirements: 3RQ’s is good balance.
S7: 2) methodological requirements: measure effects is too hard, need positivistic, quantitative
research for that.
Hypothesis testing not possible either in Qualitative RM, need different techniques
S8: → So: HOW-questions instead! Look at underlying processes.
Not what the effect is of a certain training of doctors but how the training is done.
S9: depending on how you analyse your qualitative data, the kind of approach will differ depending on
your kind of research questions. First: adopting a grounded theory (GT) approach. Later we will see
other possible approaches.
S10: key features of GT: instead of collecting data & analysing immediately after (in quantitative), we
use cyclical research: first collect little data, analyse it, develop theory, collect more data, analyse more
and work out theory even more until it’s fully developed.
What’s theory? → interpretive framework you can use to understand/explain a phenomena. = a nr of
central characteristics of the training. Some characteristics will be more important than others.
Read suggestions that other researchers make to know what is still being looked for in research.
LESSON 2 - EXCERSICES ON DEVELOPING RESEARCH QUESTONS
S12: think about and evaluate this 2nd example: →
1) formal requirements: 1) not too many = 3, 4) too interrelated, question 2 is quite unclear. → so quite
a few issues on formal requirements.
2) methodological principles:
3) philosophical traditions: it’s positivist since it’s looking for impact. For grounded theory, use post-
positivist or constructivist approach, but since we’re critical, use constructivism.
S13: explanation doesn’t make much sense. Doesn’t show how RQ’s have changed over time and why.
Talks about grounded theory but doesn’t clearly show it’s being understood.
Is it critical research? → usually talk of dominating structures like gender, class… → not being spoken
of here. YET: talks on corona crisis, which actually could also be seen as structuring. → it effects some
groups more than others, in that way it’s critical research. YET, in explanation this is not clearly
explained. So not that good: thought out of box or just not thought about it.
, LESSON 6 – GROUNDED THEORY
→ NEED TO KNOW FOR EXAM!!
Need to know article GT handbook for exam!!
AND everything we ever learnt on grounded theory in previous classes; e.g. particularly: lesson on
research questions, sampling, etc. all in relation with today’s class:
GT = 1 of most popular approaches of qualitative data-analysis in social sciences, it goes beyond
description. Mostly in nursing health sciences, psychology, also because GT was 1st introduced by Glaser
& Strauss in 1967 with examples within these fields. It was a reaction to sociology that was
deductive/top-down & quantitative. G&S: inductive/bottom-up also possibility for valid & reliable
explanations of social reality. GT can both be applied quantitative & qualitative but is advanced for
qualitative data showing that it could show reality as it is, at time that it was still considered
impressionistic & un-scientific by sociological research community.
Then in 2006 huge spike with Charmaz. 1) You need open mind because you need to progress with
analysis. 2) it is often misunderstood; many say they do GT but just loosely → GT was developed to
have clear guidelines & procedures for researchers. Confusion also exists because of different GT
strands →
S2: Key principles on grounded theory with 2 broad views who start from different philosophical
assumptions: 1) post-positivist approach (PPGT) 2) constructivist approach (CGT) (3) there also is
Clarke’s postmodern situational analysis).
It is important for data analysis: to can go from a mountain of field notes/interview transcripts, etc. to
an actual written output. = that process of coming to that is what we’ll look at the next few weeks.
S3: → don’t need to read original text of authors, need to read handbook of professor himself.
S4: problem that many people say they do GT but actually don’t. → actually there are very specific
requirements which relate to specific outcomes that need to be achieved. It is okay not to use it BUT:
need to explain if you did so, and why (not). Same counts for critical discourse analysis, thematical
analysis…
S5: since the 1990s you see an increase in citations of GT.
S6: Hood criticizes people who say they use it but don’t → she says their approach is actually just
pragmatic = generic inductive qualitative approach to data analysis.
→ there can be 3 approaches of data analysis distinguished:
1) anything can work: as researcher you shouldn’t care about how you should do it, there’s no
wrong/right, how good it is, just depends on the quality of your analysis. = these researches
assume maximum freedom. = can use GT partly, mixed, not…
2) orthodox researchers: you choose 1 method and you stick to it with every step a
researches describes it.
3) in the middle: pragmatic approaches which Hood would describe as GIQM: many approaches
fit into this theory: key elements are used here that are often seen in orthodox approaches,
but applied in a more pragmatic way → don’t have to follow particular steps but some general
guidelines. E.g. Maxwell’s book.
→ what does this generic approach exists of?
S7: 1) so everything that doesn’t test hypotheses = focus on process rather than explaining variance.
2) data analysis & collection happens in cycles = SO: RD, research design continuously adapted
3) pragmatic approach assumes that you can’t aim for representativeness, for random sampling
(quantitative) → SO need to base ourselves on theoretical ground. = samples are purposely
selected on that theoretical ground.
4) can be strongly guided by literature; if literature suggests something, we can follow it.
, 5) memos: written statements of researchers, contemplating on data collection.
6) often a focus on themes: shared set of characteristics of certain phenomena, which can be
put into overarching themes/categories. = Also coding = process of interpreting raw data can
be done in many ways, e.g. by categorizing, 5 but should be specific.
7) = characteristic of GIQM but NOT for GT: when you see that research starts to add nothing
anymore to the analysis you have, when it starts to repeat itself → stop.
→ this method can be perfectly okay, but it’s not GT. → what are 3 features of GT that are alike in both
PPGT & CGT agree on and are different from GIQM?
S8:
1) Theoretic sampling: sample must change throughout process in GT = inductive. You take a
basic initial sample, more homogeneous – to develop a basic theory. From emerging findings,
you decide who to interview after that, what your focus will be = continue to adapt your sample
as long as necessary!! ( in GIQM you take pre-defined sample at start of study and compare
them. The sample is often not modified throughout. Comparisons between cases are build-in
a priori in the research design).
S9:
2) Constant comparative method: before you’ve done research, no way you can decide why your
sample is men & not women → only after analysing data in a very open way, you might find
along the process things to indicate that you do particular comparisons. You analyse data by
constantly comparing additional interviews, or any text = directed by the emerging theory. So
NOT comparing pre-defined categories. E.g. difference parenting styles between men/women
→ after research, find other issues that you did not directly relate to it, which you’ll know
research.
3) Theoretical saturation: in the generic GIQM we stop when we feel we fall into repetition, when
‘we’ve heard it all before’ grounded theorists only do so until you feel you have a grounded
thorough explanation. I.e. go further: if you feel like you’ve heard it before, you don’t stop but
you look for different people or ask different questions. Only when you feel like you have a fully
developed theory, you have reached theoretical saturation.
S10: from here, also key features of GT, but seeing differences between approaches:
1) Developing a new theory: Grounded theory clearly always tries to go beyond description.
Different strands have clear but different view of what the end product should be & what
theoretical innovation is. → GT =
1) if applying a constructivist approach, you try to fully understand the phenomenon by putting
something in its context; thus not necessarily a full understanding but a thorough
understanding. There are necessarily multiple realities and you develop representations of
these realities: show what people see as their reality (e.g. what is good parenting) and how
they construct and act on their views of reality (how do they parent). I.e. might develop a
typology of different views of these relationships. It is not essential to explain something or to
answer a ‘why’ question.
2) if applying a post-positivist approach: try to fully explain the phenomenon, understand how
reality is through developing explanatory models. Goal to develop dense theories that show
complexity of social phenomena and account for all the observed variation in the sample (e.g.
actively seek for contradicting cases in sample to develop all perceived variability in relationship
to this phenomenon).
SO: understand and represent how people see reality vs. show/explain how the world works.
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