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Bryman BOOK SUMMARY - Methods of Qualitative Research
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Chapter 16: The nature of qualitative researchQualitative research = a type of research strategy that emphasized
words, images, and objects when collecting and analyzing data.
Key features of qualitative research:
- It tends toward an inductive view of the relationship between theory
and research.
- It is broadly interpretivist in nature, meaning that it tries to generate
an understanding of the social world by examining how its
participants interpret it.
- It has an ontological position we can describe as constructionist.
Bryman and Burgess suggest that there are three key reasons why it is
difficult to describe qualitative research with precision:
- The term is sometimes taken to imply that it is a research strategy
that does not involve any quantitative data.
- There are different traditions and perspectives within qualitative
research, and there is often significant variation between
approaches.
- Is often discussed in terms of the way in which it differs from
quantitative research.
A summary of the recent themes and ‘’movements’’ associated with
qualitative research are:
- An emphasis on the sensory: recent refocusing on the
importance of the sensory in accessing and interpreting reality.
- A questioning of normative concepts of identity and
experience: renewed emphasizes on how positionality like
intersectionality might intersect to produce particular experiences,
and to reflections about who might be best positioned to access and
research these areas.
- The use of creative and participatory approaches: these
attempt to rebalance power relations in research by conducting
studies by or with rather than on participants.
The main methods of data collection associated with qualitative research
are:
- Ethnography/participant observation
- Qualitative interviewing
- Focus groups
- The collection of texts and documents
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Methoden van kwalitatief onderzoek samenvatting boek
, Difference between quantitative research and qualitative research is that
quantitative is profoundly influenced by the natural sciences in terms of
what should count as acceptable knowledge and qualitative are more
influenced by interpretivism.
The five common concerns of qualitative researchers are:
1. Seeing through the eyes of the people being studied:
Understanding and conveying the views of the people they study is the
central focus for their research.
This goes along with the closely related goal of probing beneath surface
appearances.
This resonates with the goals of interpretivism.
This Is not without practical problems, which include the risk of ‘going
native’ and losing sight of what you are studying.
Some say it is more abductive instead of inductive.
Abductive meaning the researcher grounding a theoretical understanding
of the contexts and people they are studying in the language, meanings,
and perspectives that form that worldview.
2. Providing full descriptions and emphasizing context:
More likely to provide a lot of descriptive detail when reporting their
findings.
Argue that we cannot understand the behavior of members of a social
group without appreciating the specific relations, networks, and
environments in which they operate.
When we know the social context, a lot more of the behavior can make
sense.
Conducting qualitative research in more than one setting can also
demonstrate the significance of context and the ways in which it
influences behavior and ways of thinking.
3. The importance of process in social life:
Tends to view social life in terms of processes.
Ethnographic research is particularly associated with this emphasis. This
means that they are able to observe the ways in which events develop
and/or ways in which the different elements of a social system
interconnect.
Researchers can also examine process through semi-structured and
unstructured interviewing.
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Methoden van kwalitatief onderzoek samenvatting boek
,4. Prioritizing flexibility:
Most qualitative researchers prefer a research orientation that involves as
little prior contamination of the social world as possible. Keeping some
flexibility in the ways they collect data also makes it more likely that
research participants’ perspectives will be revealed.
Within ethnographic approaches, the preference for a less structured
approach to data collection often means that the investigator does not
need to develop highly specific research questions.
Another advantage of taking a less structured approach is that it offers
more scope for flexibility.
The researcher can change direction in the course of their investigation
much more easily than in quantitative research, which tends to have a
built-In momentum once the data collection is under way.
5. Grounding concepts and theory in data:
Qualitative researchers usually develop concepts and theories using that
data that are collected during the research project. This differs from
quantitative research.
In qualitative research the relationship between theory and data is more
nuanced and ambiguous.
The main steps in qualitative research:
Step 1. General research question(s):
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Methoden van kwalitatief onderzoek samenvatting boek
, Step 2. Selection of relevant site(s) and subjects
Step 3. Collection of relevant data
Step 4. Interpretation of data
Step 5. Conceptual and theoretical work
Step 5a/b. tighter specification of the research question(s) and
collection of more data
Step 6. Writing up findings/conclusions
Sensitizing concepts = terms that point to what is relevant or important
and are used to guide an investigation.
Theory and concepts in qualitative research:
Theory emerges from an iterative process of data collection and analysis
grounded theory, thematic analysis, analytic induction, and some forms
of discourse analysis.
Silverman said: qualitative researchers have become increasingly
interested in the use of theories to shape the research and suggest that
this reflects the growing maturity of qualitative research.
Concepts are also very much part of the landscape of qualitative research.
According to Blumer there are two types of concepts that can be used:
- Definitive concepts = typified by the way in which a concept, once
developed, becomes almost entirely defined by its indicators.
- Sensitizing concepts = these provide a more general sense of
what to look for and guide empirical work. They help researchers
uncover the variety of ways in which something can exist and be
seen, rather than imposing rigid measurements.
There has been some discussion among qualitative researchers about how
relevant the criteria of reliability and validity are for qualitative purposes.
Some researchers have suggested using an entirely different set of criteria
for qualitative studies:
1. The use of reliability and validity in qualitative research:
Alter the emphasis of the terms associated with reliability and validity so
that they resonate more strongly with the opportunities and constraints
presented by qualitative research.
LeCompte and Goetz consider the terms in the following way:
- External reliability = refers to the degree in which a study can be
replicated.
- Internal reliability = the extent to which, when there is more than
one observer, members of the research team agree about what they
see and hear.
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Methoden van kwalitatief onderzoek samenvatting boek
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