Public Affairs 116 final exam

Interviewing - What are they good for?

boundaries, interpretations, identity, cultural ideals, classifications, reactions

types of interviews

structured, semi structured, unstructured

good interview questions are

open ended, jargon free, single barreled, progressive, and non leading

probe

follow up questions used to gather richer information

rapport

chemistry between the researcher and interviewee. how do you greet them and set the tone?

social desirability bias

when participants alter responses to appear more socially acceptable

informed consent

ensuring participants understand: purpose of research, risk, benefits, confidentiality, right to withdraw

preamble

the opening section of an interview where expectations, protections, and ground rules are established

power differential

the unequal power relationship between researcher and participant

saturation

point where additional interviews yield no new information; point at which you’ve done enough interviews (can help tell us how many interviews we need, seek out new data until this point)

falsifying cases

case that contradicts an emerging explantation: researchers should seek out

societal significance

Societal significance: what qualitative researchers should aim to find, according to Small; Importance of a case based on what it reveals about society

Generalizability

what quantitative researchers seek (representative, random samples), not the goal of qualitative

dependent variable sampling

Selecting only cases where the outcome already exists (critique Small makes)

cargo cult science

Mimicking scientific forms without understanding their logic; Small argues this is often what qualitative researchers do (they’re trying to mimic quantitative researchers by randomly selecting interviewees or searching for a “representative neighborhood”); he argues this is a mistake

focus groups

a moderated group discussion that relies on participants interactions to generate data

strengths of focus groups

Increases sample size: hear from many participants at once

Group interaction produces insights unavailable in individual interviews

Participants build on each other’s ideas; hearing others can help people clarify their own views 

Can embolden participants to share things they wouldn’t disclose alone

Combines well with observation and individual interviews (triangulation)

foster collective empowerment

limitations of focus groups

Less researcher control: talkative participants may dominate

Time constraints limit depth of individual narratives

privacy/embarrassment concerns: not ideal for highly sensitive personal topics

Censoring: participants may self-censor in front of peers

Logistically challenging to schedule and manage

Analysis is complex as we must move between individual and group levels

 Status differences can silence some voices even with segmentation

types of recruitment

Researcher-driven: researcher directly recruits

Key Informant: Participants are recruited through trusted community members

Spontaneous: recruited opportunistically

double consciousness

W.E.B. Du Bois; Seeing yourself through your own eyes and simultaneously through the eyes of a dominant group that judges you.

hidden transcript

The beliefs, criticisms, and experiences that marginalized people keep hidden from those in power; Poor mothers may not tell welfare workers, employers, or researchers everything because disclosure can be risky (Dodson)

coding

Open Coding → Axial Coding (connect open codes into broader themes)→ Theory Building

neologism

a newly coined word, phrase, or an existing word that has been given a new meaning. new terms should only be created when they genuinely improve understanding.

prompts, not questions

Ground your questions: How would you describe [ the setting, event, attribute, or experience] to someone who is unfamiliar with it

Counterfactual questions - “Imagine Silicon Valley without any government regulation and supervision. What would happen?”

Comparison questions - “How would you compare your life now to the time when you did not have a green card?”

No limit question: “Some people say X others say Y what do you think?

typologies

a classification system with distinct categories that capture different varieties of a phenomenon, helps explain variation within a population

concept mapping

showing relationships among concepts to build explanations

manual coding

process of using word processors to produce effective codes (ex: word docs)

open coding

aimed at identifying concepts or key ideas that are hidden within textual data

descriptive coding

categorizes the basic topic, setting, or surface content of the data. ex: race, class, gender

explanatory coding

coding goes further by examining why something is happening or what social meaning it has

inductive coding

Best for the first round of analysis

Determine tags as you go along

Lengthier process (ground up)

deductive coding

-best for subsequent rounds of analysis

Use a predetermined set of tags

Quicker process (top down)