APPROACHING QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

Wida Mulyanti1201327

Holiday, A., (2007) Doing and Writing Qualitative Research. London: Sage Publications Ltd. p. 1-21

Qualitative and

Quantitative

Chapter discussion

Schools and Approaches

Writer as Stranger

1. SURVEYS AND EXPERIMENTS

Example 1: Car survey

To find out the proportion of Ford cars to Peugeuts in a particular country. This would entail counting the number of each. If it is not possible to find every single occurrence, a sample may be taken. Statistical analysis tells us both how many, or what percentage of each, and how valid the sample is in representing the whole.

Example 2: Car experiment

To test the hypothesis that more Ford cars will be bought if prospective first-time buyers are exposed to advertising that says they are safer. A sample of first-time buyers is exposed to the advertising; another sample is not; and the degree to which each group buys Fords is measured. A variety of techniques are employed to control variables to reduce contamination. For example, the age and social class of the subjects are kept constant.

Example 3: Eyes survey

To calculate the proportion of brown to blue eyes within a particular nationality. The occurrence of each is counted within a statistically valid sample.

Example 4: Eyes questionnaire

Within the population in Example 3 to find out what people mean by, and what their attitudes are to ‘brown’ and ‘blue’, and what sort of social values underlie these meanings and attitudes.

EXAMPLE 5: EGYPTIAN INTERVIEW

I was sitting in an Egyptian university faculty common room listening to a lecturer answering survey questions about the timetable in her department. The American interviewer was going through the questions with her, perhaps to ensure good researcher-subject relations. Later on the lecturer ‘confided in me that what she had told him bore little relation to reality, but that she had not wished to disappoint him by telling him that she could not answer most of the questions’.

EXAMPLE 6: EYES STUDYAn exploration of what people mean by, and what their attitudes are to ‘brown’ and ‘blue’ eye color, and of what sort of social values underlie these meanings and attitudes. The residents of three households of different classes and ethnicity in a provincial town are studied. They are interviewed in groups on topics related to human attractiveness as displayed in their daily life, in advertising and in the media. The interviews are open-ended, allowing relevant topics and themes to be developed. They are followed up with further interviews to which the residents are invited to bring photographs of family and friends, advertising and the media as props, and with observation of interaction in settings that emerge as significant, e.g. wedding parties.

2. THE QUALITATIVE AREAS OF SOCIAL LIFE

EXAMPLE 7: CAR STUDY

An exploration of attitudes to Ford car adverts. An advert is played on video in three public houses frequented by members of the target first-time buyer group, and their comments recorded. This is followed up with group interviews which explore topics arising from the comments. The public houses are revisited one year later and the same people are interviewed about which cars they bought and what this means to them.

Counts occurrences across a large population

Uses statistics to validate generalization

Attempts to reduce contaminating social variables

Looks deep into the quality of social life

Locates the study within particular settings

Initial foray into the social setting leads to further, more informed exploration as themes and focuses emerge

Quantitative Qualitative

Two paradigms: Activities

Conviction about what is important to look for

Confidence in established research instruments

Reality is not so problematic if the research instruments are adequate; and conclusive results are feasible

Conviction that what is important to look for will emerge

Confidence in an ability to devise research procedures to fit the situation and the nature of the people in it, as they are revealed

Reality contains mysteries to which the researcher must submit

Quantitative Qualitative

Two paradigms: Beliefs

Decide the research focus

Then devise and pilot research instruments

Then go into the field

Rigour:

Disciplined application of established rules for statistics, experiment and survey design

Decide the subject is interesting

Go into the field to see what is going on

Focus on themes emerge

Rigour: Principled development

of research strategy to suit the scenario being studied as it is revealed

Quantitative Qualitative

Two paradigms: Steps

STEPS IN DOING THE RESEARCH

Decide the subject is interesting

Explore the subject Let focus the

themes emerge Devise research

instrument during process

Decide the research focus

Devise research instruments

Approach the subject

Qualitative Quantitative

3. MANAGING SUBJECTIVITY

Develops aspects of anthropology and sociology represents a broad view that to understand human affairs (cannot be answer by survey and statistics)

Walford (1991:1) careful, objective, step by step model of the research process is actually a fraud... Within natural sciences as well as social sicence... (Watson of reseaching DNA)

Are expected to come out and tell it as it really happened

4. DEVELOPING RIGOUR THROUGH WRITING

Decision about research instrument are made in gradual response to the nature of the social setting.

Every qualitative research design will be different.

In quantitative research the source of validity is known.

In qualitative research researcher need to justify every move. Demonstrating how the strategy is appropriate to the social setting.

5. JUDICIOUS BALANCE

To meet the important of the social situation being studied, freedom is needed to explore creatively the best way to approach the scenario

The researcher must be prepared to account carefully for every move made.

Most researchers must be more explicit about their research processes: to offer rationale and further detail on issues such as respondent selection, key changes in research direction and analytical procedures

SOURCE OF VALIDITY

Details of the population (in samples)

What short of questions Which statistics The composition of group

(in experiment) Which variables are being

included and excluded What groups are exposed

to in experiment

Choice of social setting: How feasible (access), how substantial (duration, depth, breadth)

Choice of research activities : how they suit the social setting, how researcher-subject relationship, how to form coherent strategy.

Choice of themes and focuses: how they emerge, why significant, how far they are respresentative of the social setting

Overall need to articulate a judicios balance between opportunism and principle

Quantitative research Qualitative research

6. RESEARCH AS SOCIAL ACTION

Qualitative research is learning culture

Qualitative research is similar to the research in everyday life (ideologically motivated)

Research setting involves interaction between culture of the setting and culture of research (researcher cannot put themselves above other people)

7. RESEARCH AND EVERYDAY LIFE

Research as everyday life = we continually have to solve the problems about how we should behave with other people in a wide range of setting.

This would involve analysing behaviour and language, how and when to be formal/informal, learning new technical terms, specialist turn of phrase, what constitutes humour etc.

8. DISCOVERING AND DOING CULTURE

Culture = socially constructed entities which exist only in the way in which people operationally divided up the world

Culture = composite of cohesive behaviour within any social grouping from a neighbourhood to a work group (Beales et al, 1967: 8)

In this view culture is seen as dynamic, ongoing group process which operates in changing circumstances to enable group member to make sense of and operate meaningfully within those circumstances

9. RESEARCH AS IDEOLOGICAL PRACTICE

Researchers bring with them residues of their own cultural background.

Ideological means systematic body of ideas organized from a particular point of view.

Social groups organize their lives around concepts, purposes, values, beliefs, ideas, theories, notions of reality, and the like.

10. RESEARCH LANGUAGE AND WRITING

Writing of qualitative research is not going to be an easy task

Being as transparent as possible about how the research is constructed in relation to the research setting, enables evaluation of its cultural and ideological appropriateness in writing.

We cannot avoid ideology, it has to be carried out in a very self-conscious way

Any venture into the literature will reveal that quantitative research is presented under a confusing array of different and variable headings.

Schools and Approaches

1. A FLUID PICTURE

Denzil and Lincoln (1994b) state that there are no tight categories. For example, you do not have to choose between case study, ethnography and grounded theory.

2. NATURALISM OR POSTPOSITIVISM

More ‘traditional’ paradigm in qualitative research (much more closer to positivism)

Reality is seen as relatively straightforward Deeper social reality needs qualitative

enquiry Problem truth is supported by extensive

substantiated record or real setting Researcher must not interfere with real

setting

3. PROGRESIVISM

Qualitative research potrays people as constructing the social world

researchers as themselves constructing the social world through their interpretation of it

Reality and science are socially constructed Researchers are part of research settings Investigation must be reflective, self-critical,

creative dialog Aims to problematize, reveal hidden realities,

initiate discussions

The qualitative researcher as writer must see her/his own research experience as strangely and freshly

Writer as Stranger

Thank you