Field Methods and Qualitative Research in Psychology

Vocabulary flashcards covering core concepts, methodologies, sampling techniques, worldviews, and field note types in qualitative psychological research.

Qualitative Research

An inquiry process of understanding based on a methodological tradition that explores a problem, constructs a complex holistic picture, analyzes words, reports detailed views of informants, and occurs in a natural setting.

Biography or Narrative Research

A qualitative methodology focused on collecting people's stories about experiences that have a significant impact on their lives.

Phenomenology

A qualitative approach aimed at gaining an understanding of what really happens and what it feels like to live a particular experience, directly observing reality as experienced in consciousness.

Grounded Theory

A qualitative research design in which the inquirer generates a general theoretical explanation of a process, action, or interaction grounded inductively in participant data.

Ethnography

A qualitative design in which the researcher describes and interprets the shared and learned patterns of values, behaviors, beliefs, and language of a culture-sharing group over time.

Case Study Research

An in-depth study of an issue explored through one or more bounded cases within a specific setting or context using multiple sources of information.

Saturation

The point in qualitative data collection where no new perspectives, patterns, or insights are being obtained, indicating data collection can cease.

Theoretical or Purposeful Sampling

A sampling strategy where participants are intentionally selected across factors likely to influence outcomes or guided by emerging analysis to develop a theoretical model.

Convenience Sampling

A qualitative sampling process driven primarily by the feasibility, accessibility, and willingness of available participants.

Snowball Sampling

A sampling technique where initial relevant respondents refer or connect researchers to additional respondents to construct a sample.

Direct Observation

A field research method where data is collected in a natural setting without any interference or manipulation by the researcher.

Participant Observation

An observational field technique where the researcher becomes deeply involved with a community or group, acting as both a participant and an observer.

Restorying

The process in narrative research of gathering participants' stories, analyzing them for key elements (time, place, plot, scene), and reorganizing them into a chronological framework.

Emplotment

A term used in narrative analysis to describe how a story's structure is put together, including main plots and subplots.

Bracketing

A concept advocated by Edmund Husserl in phenomenology where prior beliefs, assumptions, and thoughts are suspended so a phenomenon can be observed in its purest form.

Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA)

A qualitative, psychology-based method focused on examining how individuals make sense of personal life experiences, relying primarily on semi-structured interviews and verbatim transcriptions.

Postpositivism Worldview

A deterministic and reductionistic philosophical approach typical of quantitative research that focuses on cause-and-effect relationships, objective measurement, and testing existing theories.

Social Constructivism Worldview

A philosophical worldview common in qualitative research holding that individuals develop varied, subjective meanings of their experiences through social and historical interaction.

Transformative Worldview

A philosophical worldview holding that research inquiry must be intertwined with politics and a political change agenda to confront social oppression and empower marginalized groups.

Pragmatic Worldview

A philosophical framework associated with mixed methods research that emphasizes the central research problem and utilizes any combination of approaches to achieve solutions.

Open Coding

The initial phase of data analysis in grounded theory where information is segmented into initial categories describing the phenomenon.

Axial Coding

The grounded theory coding stage where data is reassembled in new ways to connect central phenomena, causal conditions, strategies, context, and consequences.

Selective Coding

The stage in grounded theory analysis where a central narrative storyline or explicit hypotheses are formulated to link all developed categories.

Job Notes

Short, concise field notes written in condensed form while the researcher is actively present in the study setting.

Field Notes Proper

Detailed, expanded notes written immediately after completing an observation session to record exact events and verbatim participant descriptions.

Methodological Notes

Field notes documenting the specific research methods used, proposed methodological changes, and progress monitoring during a study.

Journals and Diaries

Personal field research notes capturing the researcher's daily life and reflections to track personal bias and prevent errors such as the Halo effect.