EPSY 5003 - ch 15, 21, 22 terms

ch 15 - case study research; ch 21 - qualitative data collection; ch 22 - qualitative research: data analysis and interpretation

case study research

The in-depth investigation of one unit (e.g., individual, group, institution, organization, program, or document).

participant observation

Observation in which the observer becomes a part of and a participant in the situation being observed

nonparticipant observation

Observation in which the observer is not directly involved in the situation being observed; that is, the observer does not intentionally interact with or affect the object of the observation. Also called external observation.

field notes

Qualitative research material gathered, recorded, and compiled, usually on-site, during the course of a study.

interview

An oral, in-person question-and-answer session between a researcher and an individual respondent; a purposeful interaction in which one person is trying to obtain information from the other.

unstructured interview

An interview that consists of questions prompted by the flow of the interview itself.

structured interview

An interview that includes a specified set of questions to be asked.

questionnaire

A written collection of self-report questions to be answered by a selected group of research participants.

trustworthiness

Along with understanding, a feature essential to the validity of qualitative research; is established by addressing the credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability of study findings.

credibility

A term used in qualitative research to indicate that the topic was accurately identified and described.

transferability

Transferability refers to qualitative researchers’ beliefs that everything they study is context-bound and that the goal of their work is not to develop “truth” statements that can be generalized to larger groups of people.

dependability

the stability of qualitative data

confirmability

the neutrality or objectivity of the data that have been collected

reliability

The degree to which a test (or qualitative research data) consistently measures whatever it measures.

generalizability

The applicability of research findings to settings and contexts different from the one in which they were obtained.