Week 11: Qualitative Methods of Data Collection

Interview

central resource to which social science engages in issues; pervades and produces our contemporary cultural experiences, and knowledge of authentic, personal, private selves

Interview Data as Resource

reflecting interviewees’ reality outside the interview

Interview Data as Topic

reflecting a reality jointly constructed by the interviewee and interviewee

Structured Interviewing

used in survey method; standardized ways of asking questions though to lead to answers that can be compared across participants and possibly quantified

Unstructured Interviewing

have little preset structure; example: life story interviews

Semi-structured Interviewing

most widespread form of interviews in the human and social sciences

In-depth Interview

conversation between the researcher and interviewee that requires active asking and listening; useful in accessing subjugated voices and knowledge

Intensive Interview

another term for in-depth interview

Qualitative Interviews

inherently interactional; locally and collaboratively produced; data out of it is more of a reflection of the social encounter between the interviewer and interviewee

Rapport

refers to how you communicate trust, reassurance and likeableness to your respondent

Neutrality

refers to being detached, unbars in the conduct of the interview

Robert Merton

he is associated with Focus Group Discussion in Sociology

Focus Group Discussion

data collection is that it is ‘focused’ and ‘relatively staged.

Moderator, Documentor/Recorder

two important roles in conducting FGD

Observation

application range from a situation where the researcher is a complete observer to a complete participant

Complete Observer

researcher is in a one-way mirror or in an ‘invisible role’...that permits undetected and unnoticed observation

Observer as Participant

possible roles - researcher is a known overt observer from the beginning who has more limited or formal contact with members

Participant as Observer

possible roles - researchers and members are aware of the research role, but the researcher is an intimate friend who is a pseudomember

Complete Participant

possible roles - researcher acts as a member and shares the secret information of insiders because the researcher’s identity is not known to members

Jotted Notes

recording observations - these are usually made while the event being observed is going on

Direct Observation notes

recording observations - these include a more systematic and organized body of field data; done at night or after leaving the field

Researcher Inference notes

recording observations - where you indicate your analysis and interpretation of what you observed

Analytic notes

recording observations - consists of a researcher’s emergent theoretical insights about the data and research experience