Components of the Research Process

INFO 272. Qualitative Research Methods

Administrative My Office Hours

Tuesdays 1:30 to 2:30

Outline The relationship between qualitative and

quantitative research Research processes (differences in

sequencing that derive from the inductive approach)

Discussion of Becker’s ‘Epistemology of Qualitative Research’

Myths of the Qual/Quant Divide Renewed relevance for qualitative (inductive)

approaches?

Myths of the Qual/Quant Divide No quantification without qualification

Myths of the Qual/Quant Divide No statistical analysis without interpretation

Myths of the Qual/Quant Divide Methodological pluralism? The timeline approach as a solution? Another process of refinement, through

iteration…

The Linear Model1) theory/model

2) hypothesis

3) operationalization

4) sampling

5) data collection

6) interpretation

7) validation[Flick]

The Iterative Model

movement back and forth between these phases

1) research topic/questions

2) ‘corpus construction’

3) data gathering

4) analysis

5) write-up

The Iterative Model

movement back and forth between these phases

1) research topic/questions

2) ‘corpus construction’

3) data gathering

4) analysis

5) write-up

4) more analysis

Field work

A Double Iteration1) research topic/questions

2) ‘corpus construction’

3) data gathering

4) analysis

5) write-up

4) more analysis

Field work

academic setting: contextualized within the major debates in your discipline

‘the boy with the hammer’ (law of instrument) = there should be a match between research questions and methods used to answer those questions

(does not mean that questions always precede choice of method, nor does it mean that you will not tend to favor certain methods)

1) research topic/questions

recruiting people for interviews

selecting texts or images

fieldsite selection

• Why not ‘sampling?’• how to start, where to

look, when to stop – meaning saturation

• but more generally, the search for data richness and visibility of certain cultural processes

2) ‘corpus construction’

interviews (transcripts)

participant-observation (field notes)

collecting texts/images (from the field)

• expediency• technique - how the

communicative process between researcher and researched influences the data produced

3) data gathering

Comments in your field notes, emerging themes

Established forms:Discourse analysisRhetorical analysisContent analysisSemiotics

Grounded theory

3) Analysis

Writing is committing (an extension of analysis)

Coping with heterogeneous data (tip: start with the most interesting bit)

Closeness to the data

3) Final Report

A Double Iteration1) research topic/questions

2) ‘corpus construction’

3) data gathering

4) analysis

5) write-up

4) more analysis

Field work

Qual/Quant Differences, in Summary

Qualitative Quantitative

Iterative Linear

Produces Vast Quantities of Heterogeneous Data

Produces Specific, Focused data (no surplus)

Close Observation Remote Indicators

Inductive Deductive

Rigor and Refinement through Iteration Timeline Approach from Qual to Quant

(broad to narrow) is not a simple fix Genuine and generalized curiosity (open-

minded approach) means distributing attention evenly, logging data on everything concievable (see Becker)

Conclusions (from the map)