2023-2024, Block 1 GW4003MV. Advanced Research Methods
WEEK 4
Intro into qualitative research and
Discourse analysis
Inhoud
Knowledge clips................................................................................................................................................2
Knowledge clip 4.1: Introduction into qualitative research.......................................................................2
Knowledge clip 4.2: Discourse analysis.....................................................................................................4
Knowledge clip 4.3: Taking discourse analysis into the field.....................................................................5
Short assignment:.....................................................................................................................................6
Lecture 4 (22 sept)............................................................................................................................................7
Part 1. Introduction into qualitative research...............................................................................................7
Part 2. Different forms of discourse analysis.................................................................................................8
Workgroup meeting 4 (26 sept)......................................................................................................................11
Homework assignment...............................................................................................................................11
Assignment 1 (prepare at home)............................................................................................................11
Assignment 2 (during the workgroup)....................................................................................................13
Workgroup meeting 5 (28 sept)......................................................................................................................14
Homework assignment...............................................................................................................................14
Case 1. The depression report................................................................................................................14
Assignment 1 (prepare at home)............................................................................................................14
Assignment 2 (during the workgroup).....................................................................................................16
Case 2. Doctor-patient conversation.......................................................................................................16
Assignment 3 (prepare at home)............................................................................................................16
Literature........................................................................................................................................................17
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,2023-2024, Block 1 GW4003MV. Advanced Research Methods
Knowledge clips
Knowledge clip 4.1: Introduction into qualitative research
So the what, how and why of social
phenomena.
Principles that differ between qualitative and quantitative research:
In qualitative research there are many different perspectives on the role of knowledge, how we acquire
those knowledge through research practices, and what counts as valid knowledge claims. Such different
epistemic positions have huge implications for what we expect from good qualitative research and good
academic papers. (What are the different epistemological positions? - Studybuff.com)
Examples of perspectives are: positivism, critical theory, social constructionism, phenomenology,
interpretative approaches, feminist approaches, participatory research. (See the book of Green and
Thorogood; resource 1).
Positivism: a positivist epistemological approach would assume that there is a stable world out there and
that phenomena exist whether we observe them as humans or not. For each phenomenon in the world
there is a potential real explanation, that is beyond human speculation and interpretation. This approach
celebrates value-free inquiry, it foregrounds empiricism (= it studies only that what can literally be
observed), and it tries to work towards a unity of study. E.g.: a focus on studying a specific sequence of a
virus (e.g. covid-19) or other characteristics, such as incubation time.
Interpretative approaches: question whether such an emphasis on a unity of studies is possible when
studying human beings and social relations. They are not looking for a reality out there, but want to better
understand how people interpret a certain phenomenon. E.g.: a study on how citizens attach meaning to
mini-updates about a covid-19-pandemic and adjust their behaviour accordingly.
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, 2023-2024, Block 1 GW4003MV. Advanced Research Methods
Social constructionism: this approach specifically questions the
positivist assumption that there is a stable reality out there waiting to be
discovered. Instead, they pose that reality is socially constructed. So the
world is a result of historical social-political processes in which we
produce a specific race in which we divide up the world into categories,
classes, and other observable and measurable units. The specific ways in
which we construct such categories influences the ways we intervene in
the world; shaping reality in human ways. E.g.: the reproduction number
attached to the covid-19 virus.
Critically theory: in these approaches the researcher sets out a problematised excess of power relations;
how certain ways of knowing and doing gives power to some people, but silences other people. E.g.: look at
the large influence epidemiologists had in shaping covid-19 policies, whilst sociologists, economists, and
political scientists were focusing too much on spreading of the virus were pushed to the background. You
can be critical in different ways and that critical theorists first and foremost would like to foreground the
mechanisms through which voices are silenced and unaccredities are produced.
Each of these epistemological approaches generates its own kind of research questions and has its own
expectations about what should be present in a certain research paper. You have to recognize the approach
by yourself (therefore read the chapter in the book of Green and Thorogood, resource 1), because the
positions themselves often aren’t implicitly referred to in academic papers.
Themes that will be discussed in the coming 3 weeks of this block:
Positioning a study (Sandberg & Alvession, 2010)
Where are research aims and questions coming from?
o Gap spotting: ‘it adds a missing piece to the puzzle’. The author seeks to contribute to the
knowledge you already have. It can be considered a conservative method; it builds on existing
theory rather than challenging theory itself.
o Problematization: the researcher questions the assumptions underpinning existing knowledge
claims and theories. This would be a more radical strategy in formulation research questions.
Exploring 2 methodological traditions
o Discourse analysis: focuses on the use of language.
o Ethnography: focuses on practices and social interactions.
Quality in qualitative research
o Positivist
o Constructionist
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