aims, uses and ethical issues in qualiative research

what was Goodboy and Brann (2010)'s rationale?

single adults seek successful flirtatious encouters, but these can be considered failures

little research has identified flirtation rejection strategies enacted by those not interested in reciprocal flirting

what was Goodboy and Brann (2010)'s aim?

to examine behavioural and verbal flirtation rejection strategies among college students

what is qualiative research?

- exploring things with our participants, how and why they might have beliefs and attitudes, particular experiences they have

- not trying to measure, quite often not trying to find a causal link

- how might we make sense of different ways of seeing

- generate bodies of data make up of words, usually transcripts

- looking to filter and find patterns within the data → coding

when might you start by carrying out qualiative research then carry out quantitative research?

in situations where little is known it may be better to start by carrying out qualiative research, which can point you in a certain direction to generate hypotheses and then carry out quantitative research

What is ontology?

asking what is reality

comes from ontos -> the study of being

- what kind of claims can we make the research we're looking at

what is epistemology?

asking how we know something

comes from episteme -> study of knowledge and understanding

- gives more clarity into claims we are able to make, and the limitations

what are some disadvantages of qualiative research?

- difficult to tell to what extent research is biased by the researcher

- small sample sizes

- potentially lacks scientific rigour

what is realist?

clear understanding of an object in front of us, can measure and make clear claims, objects continue to exist outside of human experience

what is relativist?

multiple theories are acknowledged in relation to human experience, different interpretations

what is positivist?

observable measurement informs knowledge generation

what is post-positivist?

acknowledges contextual and interpretative factors

what is critical realist?

go some way to acknowledge these are observable objects but they can experienced in different ways

what is constructivist?

focusing on individual perspectives

social constructionism?

acknowledges co-constructions generated between people

what type of psychology could qualiative research be useful for and how?

educative psychology

how experiences, attitudes and life circumstances affect learning behaviour at school

people's experiences of emotional needs, of school, of learning and development within a context

understanding of different perspectives, such as those of teachers, pupils and parents

what is content coding?

breaking a text down into small parts, looking for patterns, sort into categories, repeat with other anticipated categories

what is thematic analysis?

seeking common themes across respondents, content as a whole, tells a story about dimensions of a phenomenon

study example of use of thematic analysis

Bartle and Trevis (2015)

- An evaluation of group supervision in a specialist provision supporting young people with mental health needs: a social constructionist perspective

- Psychologists facilitate different models of group processes with school staff

- Data then gathered from a focus group

- Data analysed using thematic analysis

- Findings indicated: a positive impact on team communication and coherence, greater awareness of role and enhanced understanding of supporting mental health needs of young people

ways of working with qualiative data?

- familiaristion of the data

- coding the data

- generating the initial themes

- reviewing and developing themes

- refining, defining and naming themes

- producing the report

is qualiative research scientific?

up to reader if its trustworthy - need to be transparent about how research was conducted and how findings were concluded

can use triangulation to see if there is a shared finding between qualiative and quantative data

when to use qualiative research?

- if theres a problem with only using quantiative analysis when looking at a particular phenomena

- understanding participant perspectives

- explore the meaning they give to phenomena

- observe a process in depth

- knowledge is needed to be a solution to a problem

what should good research questions be?

clear

specific

answerable

what do good research questions do?

they help to:

- define the project

- set boundaries

- give direction

- define success

types of data generation:

- individual interviews, give a participant assurance and confidentiality need to be reproducible, systematic, credible and transparent

- group interviews, initiate a conversation between people, could represent a real world dialogue

- contextual data, can look at different kinds of information, such as government policies or media reports

what types of sampling are generally used?

stratified sampling more likely to align with positivist view, tries to be representative of the whole population

purposive -> people with a particular experience, generate useful data for the study

snowballing → deciding who you want to talk to next based on previous data, current participants might invite new participants

convenience → whoever is closest

how to have a credible sample?

sample needs to have maximum variation

- identify key demographics that may affect participants' experiences or beliefs

- create a grid and select participants with a variety combinations of variables based off the grid

- need to justify sample size, can't calculate an effect size

6-10 participants

core values according to British Psychological Society:

- respect

- competence

- responsibilty

- integrity

what are the protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010

disability

race

religion and belief

age

sexual orientation

gender reassignment

marriage

sex

pregnancy and maternity

what is open coding?

broken down into discrete parts, closely examined, and compared for similarities and differences

what is axial coding?

grouped similar codes together to develop categories...modified categories to best reflect the data by comparing within and across categories and added new categories when the data did not fit an existing category

how are themes created?

lump together similar categories to make themes

how is the codebook created?

after grouping coded responses by commonality and creating themes, a second author coded everything with codebook and their agreement is calculated