Data Collections Final

methods

methods

• structured/non-structured interviews

• questionnaires

• participant observation

• field study/ethnography

• archive data

• content/conversational analysis

quantitative approach

• measuring variables

• describing distributions/associations

• making plots

• formulating hypotheses

• geospatial data concepts

• numbers

• theory testing

• deductive

• positivism (using brief, clear, concise discussion and does not use a descriptive story from human feelings or subjective interpretation)

Qualitative approach

• words

• inductive approach

• generate theories

• not one truth to be discovered

• constructivism (rejects the idea that there is objective knowledge)

• interpretivism (assumption that reality is subjective, multiple and socially constructed)

Quantitative

numbers

pov of researcher

researcher is distant

static

structured

generalization

hard,reliable data

behavior

artificial setting

-- is this always the case?

Qualitative

words

pov of participants

researcher is close

emerging

process

unstructured

contextual understanding

rich,deep data

meaning

natural setting

-- Is this always the case?

Reliability

same results when repeating parts of your study

validity

is your instrument measuring the thing you intent to measure?

(if something is unreliable usually also not valid)

internal validity

important in qualitative studies

A concern with the question of whether a finding that incorporates a causal relationship between two or more variables is sound

external validity

better in quantitative studies

A concern with the question of whether the results of a study can be generalized beyond the specific research context in which it was conducted

trustworthiness

in qualitative studies often talk about “trustworthiness”

• credibility

• transferability

• dependability

• confirmability

Urban Ethnography

method of social science research that investigates peoples lives, actions and beliefs

-study of life of communities, institutions…

-writing about people

Urban Ethnography characteristics

• carried out in a natural setting

• involves intimate face to face interaction

• emphasis on perspective+meaning

• inductive data collection and analysis

• focus usually on small scale cases (no generalization)

• possible to go back and forth between collecting data, analyzing and making theories

• no influence on setting - observe something that is happening

What do Ethnographers do?

• Narrate

• Translate (give form to data)

• Textualize (simulation of data)

• making sense of world by watching

  • observation + field notes

  • photos, videos, texts, objects, documents

  • interviews

Unit of Analysis

• sample (because of time and money)

  -selected by ability to represent entire population

Role of the Researcher

• part of the study (not detached)

• choice of topic from own interests + institution

• interpret, define and construct reality

• knowledge is context specific

• data that is collected depends on who collects it

• personal

• occupies a space of betweenness

• never an insider

Social Identity wheel

→ impacts findings

basically anything that makes you you (identity markers)

• personal/academic experiences

• political preferences

• hobbies, interests

• gender

• sexual orientation etc…

Pros and Cons of an Insider

+ gaining acceptance

+ knowing what to see/ask

+ use knowledge of group to gain intimate insights

+ less invasive

- restricts researcher’s ability to be critical

- difficult to detach personal experiences

- struggle to offer a distinct, neutral and balanced pov

- represent and speaking for the community (going native)

Pros and Cons of an Outsider

+ representing accurately without distorting meanings

+ greater degree of objectivity

+ allow them to see what others may take for granted

+ more likely to be perceived as neutral (give info not given to insider)

- difficult to gain access to participants

- may be unwilling to disclose their attitudes

- lack of internal and intimate knowledge about target groups

ethical challenges

• risk + benefit (benefits should outweigh risks)

• informed consent

• confidentiality

• power relations of researcher and participants

Pre - fieldwork

narrowing down a research question

Topic → narrower → focus → research question

the research question gives you your method

be SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, timely)

Types of questions

What -- purely descriptive questions

How -- process qs

Did -- retrospective qs

Why -- exploratory/motivational

Gatekeeper

• control over key sources

• seek permission

• open + honesty

Observation goal

make the best record possible about what is occurring in order to answer a specific research q.

observe people, activities, things, interactions, built environment

Observation tools and methods

• counting

• mapping

• tracing

• photography

• diary

• test walks

• looking for traces

• visual methods

fieldnotes

• what you see, hear, smell feel

• sensory language to capture atmosphere and emotions

-descriptive writing

reflective writing

field notes types

• daily diary

• mental/head notes

• jotted down

• full notes

• tape recorders

Grounded theory (Glaser + Strauss)

• Theory emerges from the data

• Iterative process (continuously improve)

  data collection <->analysis /theory development

Participant observation

looking through eyes of your participants

+ understanding language

+ study the taken for granted

+ access hidden/private activities

+ link context

+ naturalistic

Unstructured interviews

• little defined topics

• open questions

• similar to normal conversation

semi - structured interviews

• topic guide

• order is flexible

life history interview

respondent looks back at their whole life

oral history interview

respondent reflects on a particular event in the past

Asking questions

• probing

• specifying

• direct

• indirect

• stricture

• interpreting

• silence

• wording!

pros of audio recording

no distractions

corrects memory

detailed

benefits of an interview

• issues that cannot be observed

• reconstructing past

• ethical considerations

• less intrusive

• broader scope

• specific focus

Focus groups characteristics

• small group discussion about a specific subject

• 4-8 participants

• researcher = facilitator/moderator

• interaction generates data

• about 1,5h

Why Focus groups?

• gathering experiencess and opinions about important issues

• basis for development of a questionnaire

• follow up of research - clarity

• brings people together

data

• not all researchers interpret data the same way

• what is said are facts about behavior + opinions

• subjective, authentic experiences

• co - construction (how its told is important)

unstandardized methods

• qualitative interview, ethnography, focus groups…

+ sensitizing concepts

+ flexible

+ rich, deep data

+ trustworthiness

+ small groups

+ contextual understanding

standardized methods

• survey, standardized observation, physiological measurements

• definitive concepts

• focused, testable, valid

• reliability, validity

• large groups

• generalization

Why standardized > undstandardized

• more reliable

• greater precision

• suited for comparison

• more accurate in ordering

Operationalizing

→ turning abstract conceptual ideas into measurable observations

what do you want to measure an how

• concept as meant → operationalization → concept as determined

Interview +

+ suits people with disabilities

+ possible to check where people understood

+ less missing values

+ higher response rate

+ more detailed

questionnaire +

• anonymous

• cheap + quick

• less bias due to social desirability

self report biases

• social desirability

• yes/no sayers

• logical error

• central tendency

• leniency bias

• halo effect

social desirability bias

A distortion of data that is caused by respondents’ attempts to construct an account that conforms to a socially acceptable model of belief or behaviour

yes/no sayers (acquiescence)

participants having a tendency to either agree or disagree with statements?

solve by formulating the questions in different directions

logical error

participant thinks you mean the same thing with two statements

central tendency

participants tendency to fill out the middle/neutral options

leniency bias

personal connections affect decisions - how you see a person - how you might answer questions about them

halo effect

when you don’t know someone really well- first impression matters (can be good or bad)

setting

natural or contrived (situation especially designed for observing behavior)

field experiment - in between → naturalistic environment + manipulation

researcher

covert (not openly acknowledged) or overt (shown openly)

possible ethical problems? but no clear distinction

error variance

true variation = actual variation

error variance= variation due to error because of no training, missuses, social desirability bias

never 100% true variation

Intra - interviewer variablity

interviewer not consistent in their research

inter - interviewer variability

interviewers not consistent with each other

Intra observer variablity

observer does not code consistently

inter- observer variability

observers not consistent with each other

internal reliability

are items consistent with each other?

• measure with cronbachs alpha

Inter rater reliability

are coders consistent with each other?

• measure with cohens kappa

Test - retest reliability

do instruments show stability?

face validity

does the instrument seem to measure what it is supposed to?

Validity standardized measures

• convergent

• discriminant

• predictive

• concurrent

convergent validity

how closely the new instrument is related to other variables and other instruments of the same construct

discriminant validity

the extent to which a test is not related to other tests that measure different constructs

predictive validity

the ability of a test or other measurement to predict a future outcome

concurrent validity

shows you the extent of the agreement between two measures or assessments taken at the same time

quantitative data collection methods

• structured interviewing

• questionnaires

• structured observation

• ethnography/participant observation

• qualitative interviews

• focus groups

case study

a research design that entails detailed and intensive analysis of a single case - term sometimes extended to include the study of just two or three cases for comparative purposes

concept (grounded theory)

a key building block in the construction of a theory

constructionism

an ontological position that asserts that social phenomena and their meanings are continually being accomplished by social actors

epistemology

a theory of knowledge - a stance on what should pass as acceptable knowledge

field notes

a detailed chronicle by an ethnographer of events, conversations,and behavior and the researchers initial reflections on them

focus group

a form of group interview in which there are several participants; emphasis in questioning on a particular tightly defined topic; emphasis on interaction within the group

generalization

concern with the external validity of research findings

grounded theory

an iterative approach to the analysis of qualitative data that aims to generate theory out of research data by achieving a close fit between the two

Inter coder reliability

the degree to which two or more individuals agree about the coding of an item

internal reliability

the degree to which the indicators that make up a scale are consistent

internal validity

a concern with the question of whether a finding that incorporates a causal relationship two or more variables is sound

interview guide

a rather vague term that is used to refer to the brief list of memory prompts of areas to be covered that is often employed in unstructured interviewing or to the somewhat more structured list of issues to be addressed or questions to be asked in a semi structured interview

interview schedule

a collection of questions designed to be asked by an interviewer - always used in structured interview

intra coder reliability

the degree to which an individual differs over time in the coding of an item

measurement validity

the degree to which a measure of a concept truly reflects that concept

objectivism

an ontological position that asserts that social phenomena and their meanings have an existence that is independent of social actors

observation schedule

a device used in structured observation that specifies the categories of behavior that are to be observed and how behavior should be allocated to those categories