week9 soc20

three qualitative methods most commonly used by sociologists

participant observation, intensive interviewing, focus groups

basic features shared by qualitative methods

discover what people think, capture social life as people experience it, reveals critical meanings

constructivist philosophy

social reality is the goal of social scientists to understand what meanings people give to reality

what ordinary activities are involved in qualitative research

observing, participating, listening, talking

ethnography

study of cultures that a group of people share

participant observation

developing a sustained relationship with people while they go about their normal activities

covert observer, complete observer, overt participant, complete participant

covert does not identify as researcher, overt identifies as researcher, observer does not participate, participant participates

what does participant observation involve

entering the field, developing relationships, sampling people, note taking, managing personal dimensions

gatekeepers

grant researchers access to settings

key informants

knowledgable insiders who share information with researchers

jottings

brief notes written in the field about highlights of an observation period

field notes

notes that describe what has been observed, written after each observation

intensive interviewing

finding out about people’s experiences, thoughts, and feelings

what type of questions are most often used

open-ended questions

what type of sampling is preferred for intensive interviewing

purposive

saturation point

new interviews yield little new information

focus groups

informal discussion among a group of people selected on the basis of specific characteristics

how can the generalizability of qualitative research be enhanced

accumulate findings from numerous qualitative studies, study the typical and perform multisite studies