Unit 9 - Qualitative Research

Qualitative research questions EXAMPLES

Not a true experiment, not a quasi-experiment, not a correlational design.. Because this is a ________________

• How do homeless people in London experience their lives?

• What social and environmental barriers do parents and children see to healthy eating, physical activity and child obesity prevention programs?

• How do cohabitating same-sex couples think about and manage their finances?

• How is male and female sexuality represented in women’s magazines?

• How is prejudice like racism ‘done’ in and through language?

Quantitative - Numbers used as data

• Seeks to identify relationships between variables– with the aim of generalizing the findings to a wider population

• Data is shallow but broad (not a lot of detail from each participant, but many participants take part)

• Aims to reduce diversity to an average response

• Tends to be deductive (theory-testing)

Qualitative - words/images used as data

• Analyzing words themselves without limiting what people say/local meaning want to know how people frame an experience

• More focused on a small population

• Narrow but rich descriptions– get lots of data from a few participants

• Look for patterns and individual differences, and similar experiences.

• Usually generates a theory by seeing patterns in several instances (theory-generating)

Methods of data collection

Where do you get your words?

• Interviews: important data collection method for qualitative, particular experience or opinions on a given concept

• Focus Groups: like a group interview but to discuss with each other as well

• Surveys: more often are quantitative, but open-ended questions

• Researcher-directed diaries (a diary a researcher looks at)

Obtaining pre-existing textual data

• Newspapers: the way Canadian print news talks about infertility

• Magazines

• Textbooks: the way psyc101 textbooks talk about science from 1950-2026

• Advertisements

• Websites

• Blogs

• Political speeches: is the way Obama talked about war different from Biden

• Instagram comments

• Any other “fragments of culture” (Braun & Clark, 2013)

Read 9a. notes for more compairisons

Qualitative vs. Quantitative have diff. goals and ways of going about things

Quantitative Research Aim

Assessment of sexual behaviours, sexual attitudes, and sexual risk in Sweden (1989-2003) (Herlitz & Ramstedt, 2005)

__________________: To identify changes in the general Swedish population’s attitudes, knowledge, beliefs and behaviours related to HIV/AIDS over time.

Quantitative Hypotheses

Assessment of sexual behaviours, sexual attitudes, and sexual risk in Sweden (1989-2003) (Herlitz & Ramstedt, 2005)

__________________: most quantitative research has these

A) sexually risky behaviour would have decreased;

B) attitudes to sex would be more conservative, due to risk of HIV/AIDS

Quantitative Sample

Assessment of sexual behaviours, sexual attitudes, and sexual risk in Sweden (1989-2003) (Herlitz & Ramstedt, 2005)

__________________:Random sample, stratified for age, generated from the general population in 1989, 1994, 1997 and 2003 (n = 4000 each year) (random and big)

Quantitative Method of Data Collection

Assessment of sexual behaviours, sexual attitudes, and sexual risk in Sweden (1989-2003) (Herlitz & Ramstedt, 2005)

__________________: Survey–Quantitative questionnaire (closed-response options), consisting of 85-90 items, delivered my mail.

Quantitative Method of Data Analysis

Assessment of sexual behaviours, sexual attitudes, and sexual risk in Sweden (1989-2003) (Herlitz & Ramstedt, 2005)

__________________:Statistical. Multiple logistic regression, a statistic method that determines the relative influence of multiple variables on a particular outcome

Quantitative Key Results

Assessment of sexual behaviours, sexual attitudes, and sexual risk in Sweden (1989-2003) (Herlitz & Ramstedt, 2005)

__________________: Neither hypothesis supported. Significant increase in casual sex without condoms and with multiple partners between 1989 and 2003; attitudes to ‘sex’ outside relationships was more permissive in 2003 than in 1989

Quantitative Conclusions

Assessment of sexual behaviours, sexual attitudes, and sexual risk in Sweden (1989-2003) (Herlitz & Ramstedt, 2005)

__________________:Need for continuous, extensive sexuality education to help reduce sexual risk which can be controlled by behaviour (e.g. condom use)

Quantitative Research Pros/Cons

• This type of research can show: Changes in sexual attitudes and practices (at a population level), factors that might predict outcomes (ex. Attitudes)

• This type of research cannot show: Why these changes occurred, The meanings of different experiences

• Our evaluation: Useful for mapping large population-level patterns in behaviour, Can inform interventions

Qualitative Research Aim

‘Eyes wide shut’– sexuality and risk in HIV-positive youth in Sweden (Christianson et al., 2007)

__________________:To explore perceptions of sexual risk taking among HIV-positive youth, and their understanding of why they contracted HIV

Qualitative Research Question

‘Eyes wide shut’– sexuality and risk in HIV-positive youth in Sweden (Christianson et al., 2007)

__________________:we are not theory testing, no hypotheses

A) How do HIV-positive youth perceive sexual risk-taking;

B) How do HIV-positive youth understand why they contracted HIV?

Qualitative Sample

‘Eyes wide shut’– sexuality and risk in HIV-positive youth in Sweden (Christianson et al., 2007)

__________________:Purposive sample (picked on purpose bc of characteristic about them) of 10 HIV-positive Swedish residents (five female; five male; seven born in Sweden; three born abroad) aged between 17 and 24. Participants were recruited through three HIV clinics/organizations (small and not random)

Qualitative Method of Data Collection

‘Eyes wide shut’– sexuality and risk in HIV-positive youth in Sweden (Christianson et al., 2007)

__________________:In-depth semi-structured interviews (specific questions, but flexibility); tape recorded, transcribed verbatim

Qualitative Method of Data Analysis

‘Eyes wide shut’– sexuality and risk in HIV-positive youth in Sweden (Christianson et al., 2007)

__________________:Grounded theory. Multiple stages of coding and recoding the data into core categories and sub- categories

Qualitative Key Results

‘Eyes wide shut’– sexuality and risk in HIV-positive youth in Sweden (Christianson et al., 2007)

__________________:Identified two main clusters of factors that limited individuals’ possibilities for choice in sexual interactions:

A) ‘sociocultural blinds’ referred to factors which make safer sex a hard topic to broach, like the idea that being in love protects you from sexual risk

B) ‘from consensual to forced sex’ referred to factors within consensual encounters, like pleasure and trust, and coercion which resulted in risky sex

Qualitative Conclusions

‘Eyes wide shut’– sexuality and risk in HIV-positive youth in Sweden (Christianson et al., 2007)

__________________:Sexual experience and practices are context-bound. Power and gender affect most experiences. Contrary to the idea that informs health promotion, of a rational agent who makes informed choices about their behaviour, these accounts show that one’s ability to choose can be compromised by various factors outside the individual’s control

Qualitative Research Pros/Cons

• This type of research can show: Can offer insights into the lived complexity of individuals, Can help understand how and why young people are at risk for HIV

• This type of research cannot show: General patterns across the population, Cause and effect

• Our evaluation: Useful for gaining a deep understanding of what a topic really is like for people in their lives, Can inform interventions

meaning

Qualitative research is about ______________ not numbers.

You cannot answer qualitative research with numbers

single answer

Qualitative research does not provide a _______________.

Acknowledge there is more than one way of making meaning from the data

• More than one “story” could be told about any given data set

Qualitative research is subjective– there is more than one story to be told

context as important

Qualitative research treats ____________________________. It wants to consider all extraneous factors– focus on individual differences instead of averaging them out. Develop a holistic understanding of subjective experiences. (were there different factors for gay/lesbian youth?)

• Whereas quantitative want to control all extraneous factors to isolate the impact of IV on DV– average individual differences

Example: Swedish “risky” sex studies

experiential or critical

Qualitative research can be ________________________.

Experiential

_________________ -validates views, perspectives, and experiences

• Driven by a desire to know people’s own perspectives

• Participants’ interpretations are prioritized, accepted and focused on and are more important than the researchers

• To “get inside the person’s head”

• E.g. How do homeless people in London experience their lives? (Radley, Hodgetts, & Cullen)

Critical

_________________ -takes an interrogative stance toward the meaning or experiences expressed in the data 

• Language is understood as the main mode in which the reality of our world is created, interrogate the way its used to frame ideas and concepts

• Doesn’t take data at face value

• Researcher’s interpretations take precedent

• Focus on how language is used “out there” in the world

• E.g. How is male and female sexuality represented in women’s magazines? (Farvid & Braun, 2006)

Transcription

________________ - the process of turning audio or video recordings into written text

• Many different ways of doing it, it is up to the researcher to choose

• Depends on how much detail is needed for the analysis

• Depends on the methodology being used and the analytic methods (surface level analysis of themes probably just requires words spoken, conversational analysis would need the intonation and pauses)

Transcription EXAMPLE

Takes a long time— gets all the specfic details

Sylvia: She was born in [small town] so she was one of the last babies that was actually born at the hospital there. Um, so the local doctors, the local nurses um, so when she was born, nobody said anything to me about um, what they thought. But they got us um, sent off to [city] for tests…

Sarah: Um, so you said that initially, nobody said anything about what they thought, right? And so, I assume by ‘nobody’ you were referring to— was it a doctor who delivered—

Sylvia: —doctors, nurses—

Sarah: — doctors, nurses. Um, in hindsight do you think that they all knew and just weren’t telling you? You’re nodding, yeah?

Coding

__________________ - process of identifying aspects of the data that relate to your research question— get the most important/relevant data

Depending on the research question, there could be LOTS of diff. ones

A smaller amount of text to represent a larger amount of data. The first step of many qualitative analysis

Coding EXAMPLE

Data extract:

it's too much like hard work I mean how much paper have you got to sign to change a flippin’ name no I I mean no I no we we have thought about it ((inaudible)) half heartedly and thought no no I jus- I can’t be bothered, it’s too much like hard work. (Kate F07a)

• Codes: 1) Talked about with partner; 2) Too much hassle to change name

Qualitative methods of analysis

1. Thematic Analysis

2. Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis

3. Grounded Theory

4. Narrative Analysis

5. Discourse Analysis

Thematic analysis

Qualitative methods of analysis

_______________ - Identified patterns of meaning across a dataset in relation to a research question

Interpretive phenomenological analysis

Qualitative methods of analysis

________________ - Focuses on how people make sense of their lived experience

Grounded theory

Qualitative methods of analysis

____________________ - Focuses on building theory from data; emphasis on understanding social processes

Narrative analysis

Qualitative methods of analysis

____________________ - Exploration of human experience as it’s represented in narratives

Discourse analysis

Qualitative methods of analysis

________________ - Concerned with patterns in language use connected to the social production of reality; concerned with how accounts are constructed in particular ways

Interrogating Qualitative Research

________________ - Applying quantitative criteria like validity and reliability to qualitative research is illegitimate; like “Catholic questions directed to a Methodist audience”

• Different researchers have provided different methods for evaluating quality

• Trustworthiness (Guba & Lincoln, 1985)

Trustworthiness (CTDC)

Framework for interrogating qualitative research

(___________)

1. Credibility

2. Transferability

3. Dependability

4. Confirmability

Credibility (CTDC)

CTDC

_________________ - Confidence in the ‘truth’ of the findings—is this interpretation a plausible interpretation of the original data?

• Member-checking

• Triangulation

• Negative case analysis

• Peer debriefing

Transferability (CTDC)

CTDC

__________________ - Showing how the findings could have applicability in other contexts (the extent to which the findings specific to them apply to others)

• Ex. receiving your child’s down syndrome diagnosis requires info of Canada’s free healthcare, socioeconomic status, sociopolitical climate of down syndrome in Canada

• Thick description

Dependability (CTDC)

CTDC

___________________ - Showing that the findings are consistent and could be repeated— grounded in data and excerpts/stories support the claim

• Inquiry audit

Confirmability (CDTC)

CDTC

___________________ - The extent to which the respondents shape the findings of a study and not researcher bias, motivation, or interest.

• Inquiry Audit

• Triangulation (comparing with other studies, a sign to look back at stuff)

• Reflexivity

Inquiry audit

Dependability

________________ - Researcher not involved in research process examines process and product of study– how coding was done, interviews, etc.

Have them see if conclusions are supported by the process and supported by the data to find out accuracy and whether data supports conclusion

Reflexivity

Confirmability

_______________ - explaining how you are situated to the research and how it could have affected your results. Researcher turns focus to themselves taking responsibility for the context, how you conducted, etc.

Member checking

Credibility

____________________ - Returning data to participants if they agree and it accurately reflects their experiences

Triangulation

Credibility + confirmability

_______________ - Comparing results to other similar studies’ findings – the truth is somewhere in that triangle

Negative case analysis

Credibility

____________________ - Discuss cases that are different from the dominant pattern and see how their experiences are different from the dominant. Shows the researcher is careful

• Ex: Parents of children with down syndrome initially thought it as a horrible event, but eventually began to see it as positive – both the minority saw it as negative

Peer debriefing

Credibility

_______________ - Discuss methods and findings with other researchers (neutral) to determine if the conclusion is reasonable and plausible