PS2001: Practical 3

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PS2001: Practical 3

Qualitative research: Using grounded theory to examine attitudes towards computers and books

The aim of this practical is to enable you to learn and practice the skills necessary to carry out and write up a piece of research using a qualitative methodology. More specifically you will learn how to design and carry out interviews, following which you will analyse the qualitative data you collect using a technique called grounded theory. While you must carry out a sound literature review the emphasis in this report is on a) your ability to carry out a sound grounded theory analysis and b) your ability to write up your findings appropriately (it is no good putting a lot of effort into your interviews and the analysis of them if you do not then write your findings up correctly). This report must be typed up. No handwritten work will be accepted (including the evidence of your coding that you submit in your appendix). A random sample of students will be required to submit their interview recordings to the GO so you must make sure you save this. Report deadline: noon Tuesday 2nd March 2010 (paper copy), midnight Tuesday 2nd March 2010 (electronic copy via Turnitin). Report word limit: 2250 words (this reflects the different nature of the analysis section. The following aspects of the report will not count towards your word count: quotes in the analysis section – within reason, reference section, appendices. Your stated word count should therefore not include these sections of the report). To submit your practical via Turnitin: 1. Go to blackboard (www.blackboard.le.ac.uk) and log in with your CFS account. 2. Under the PS2001 practical, go to ‘Assignments’ and then ‘Practical 3 report’. 4. Click on ‘view/complete’ for the webpage to upload your practical. 5. Upload your practical without references.

TOPIC: BACKGROUND Students need to use both books and computers during the course of their studies. Their attitudes towards these media can influence their motivation to use and engage with each of them, which in turn could affect their learning performance. Research comparing students’ views on what they like and dislike about computers and books has identified four main areas that influence their attitude to each: usability in general terms and their usability as a learning tool; previous experience of using them; and finally the general aesthetic appeal of them. One issue with previous research (especially with regards to computer attitudes) is that the nature of questions in some scales are inadequate in that they don’t capture the range of experience

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that go towards forming students’ attitudes. This is especially true because research is barely able to keep up with new technologies that come on to the market with regards to computer equipment. This suggests that questionnaire response studies may simplify any relationship that exists between computer attitudes and their subsequent use. In addition, much previous research is questionnaire based and relies on a set of forced choice responses. This tends to focus data collection on objective measures of behaviour (e.g. extent of computer use at home, or at university). To ensure a well rounded investigation of attitudes towards computers and books it is essential that we take note of students’ subjective experiences. Practical 1 should have given you a basic familiarity with research on students’ attitudes towards computers and books. Essentially we will be investigating the same area in more detail by conducting interviews and analysing the data using qualitative methods rather than measuring attitudes via a questionnaire and quantitative methods.

METHODOLOGY: BACKGROUND

Grounded theory is a method of analysing qualitative data that was originally developed by sociologists, Glaser and Strauss (1967), and has become increasingly popular in psychology. Grounded theory researchers keep an open mind about their hypotheses and try to develop theories from the data. Instead of having pre-existing hypotheses they set out to test, there is a constant interplay between the theory and the data. In other words as s/he begins to develop theoretical

ideas, the researcher goes back to sample and collect more data on which to test out those ideas. In order to do this properly, it is important to look for both positive examples (which support your ideas) and negative ones (which lead you to either develop your theory further in order to explain them, or come up with new theory).

WHAT YOU NEED TO DO 1. Collaborate as a year group to create a set of interview questions and ‘prompts’ to

elicit extra information. This will involve using the forums on the PS2001 Blackboard site (not an optional extra – you must participate).

2. Get into groups of four. You will work together to produce a set of four interview transcripts. You will take it in turns to take on one of four roles: Interviewer, participant, recorder, observer.

3. Carry out and record interviews in your group of four using the interview questions. Your interviews should last no longer than 10 minutes.

4. Create a transcription of the interview of which you were the observer. This should be typed up in MS Word. Share your transcript with your group members. At the end of this process you will therefore have four interview transcripts (one of which you will have transcribed yourself).

5. Carry out a grounded theory analysis of your interview data. 6. Create a tree diagram to illustrate the relationship between the categories you have

created in your grounded theory analysis. 7. Formulate a theory that could be examined in further research in this area. 8. Write up your report in the correct format.

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CRUCIAL VITAL IMPORTANT POINTS

1. This practical involves working as a group. I expect you to treat each other with respect and work together responsibly.

2. This practical involves collecting data from participants. You MUST adhere to ethical guidelines. Crucially it means you must also obtain the consent of your participants, and prove this by including your participant consent forms in your appendix. You must also follow best practice and submit the ethical approval form as an appendix item in your report (Blank consent forms and the ethical approval form are available via Blackboard). Failure to adhere to ethical guidelines will result in a mark of ZERO. If a member of your group has opted not to participate in the interviews please follow the procedure outlined on Blackboard (See ‘Course Documents’, spare_participant.docx).

3. You MUST keep your interview recordings safe. A proportion of you will be asked to

submit these with your write up. These will be checked against your transcripts. Failure to produce a recording that matches your interview transcript will result in a mark of ZERO. For this reason it is VITAL you do not lose your recordings.

4. This practical involves a lot of work. It is therefore strongly recommended that you

follow the timetable set out for you in this document to make sure you don’t fall behind.

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TIMETABLE

Week W/B Monday lecture content

3.00-5.00 Bennett LT1

Start of the week / Mid-Week Thursday 3.00-4.00

MSB Labs

End of the week / Weekend

15 1st Feb

Recap of Qualitative Research

methods. Discussion of questionnaire data

collected in Practical 1 The interview methodology

Log on to Blackboard to contribute to the ‘Interview

Questions’ discussion

Attend Help Session e.g. Question writing tips Guidance on steps in the

practical Clarification of qualitative

research methods

Start your write up by ‘attacking’ the Introduction section

16 8th Feb

Final vote on interview questions.

Interviewing basics Grounded theory basics: How to

analyse your data

Carry out interview/transcribe the interview

Continue writing up report (now is a good time to tackle the

method section)

Attend Help Session e.g. Transcribing tips

Data analysis tips/using ‘comment’ function in Word

Carry out interviews Transcribe your interview.

Share your transcript with group members.

17 15th Feb Grounded Theory: Continued.

How to: write up a qualitative practical report

Finalise interview/transcriptions. Share transcripts with group.

Begin to analyse and code data.

Attend Help Session e.g. Data analysis/tree diagram/

results section tips Writing up format tips

Finalise data analysis. Create tree diagram

Organise transcripts / coding etc. in Appendix

18 22nd Feb

(Practical 4 lecture)

Begin to write up results and discussion sections

Attend Help Session

e.g. Writing up format tips

Finalise results + discussion sections.

Write Abstract + reference sections.

19 1st Mar

(Practical 4 lecture)

Remember to proofread your practical before handing it in.

DEADLINE: NOON TUESDAY 2nd MARCH (Hard copy)

MIDNIGHT (e-copy)

Celebrate handing in your practical assignment

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CONSTRUCTING AN INTERVIEW SCHEDULE

We will work together using the Blackboard discussion forum to refine a set of issues to explore and then to refine a set of possible questions. This will also include a set of suitable prompts you might use. identify potential issues to include To help you and phrase your questions correctly you should also consult reference materials provided in relation to PS2001 Practical 1 and your research methods text books (Hayes and McBurney & White) which contain advice on how to phrase questions. Based on the sort of answers people gave to the open ended question in practical 1

think about the range of questions/themes you could follow up with in the interview. Ask yourself: What do you need more detail on? Are there any common themes across the answers that could be expanded upon? What issues weren’t covered that you think might be important?

Think about sensible probes and prompts which could follow from the answers people might give to your questions (e.g. ‘can you say a bit more about that...?’, ‘how do you feel about that?’). These will help you obtain even more data. Remember, you don’t want to affect the interviewees responses, but it can help build up rapport if you demonstrate that you have understood what they just said.

Potential issues: ease of use, hazards, social impact, information sharing/retrieval, entertainment, convenience, social aspects, validity of information, aesthetic aspects, communication

Question writing tips: Questions should be value free and not loaded (e.g. ‘what do you think about eating

fruit and vegetables?’ is a better question than ‘Do you think eating fried food is unhealthy?’)

Questions shouldn’t be too complex or contain jargon. Check they make sense. Questions should be open-ended; close-ended questions often lead to one word

answers which would inhibit the collection of rich meaningful data. Don’t use double negatives (e.g. ‘Do you not like playing sport?’) as they confuse

people. Think about using the funnelling technique – starting with general questions (to get

people talking), and then ask about more specific concerns. For example, start with ‘what do you think about exercise?’, followed by ‘what kinds of exercise are suitable for people in retirement age?’

STEPS IN CARRING OUT AN INTERVIEW Give some consideration to how you want to record your interview in good time.

Thinking about this issue on the day is not helpful! Remember that if all group members use the same device, this may slow up the transcription process. If you borrow cassette decks from the department it would make sense to have a separate tape for each interview. Bear in mind that if you don’t own a tape player you will need to borrow one from the department to make your transcription.

Remember to take with you your participant consent forms as these should be completed on the day.

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Ensure all group members are present at the start. Set out a schedule for the order in which the interviews will take place, and the roles (interviewer, participant, recorder, observer) that each group member will play during each one.

Test the recording devices you intend to use to make sure they can pick up sound clearly. You may need to play around with the best location for the interviewer and interviewee to sit in, and the location of the recording device.

You will also need some kind of timing device to make sure you don’t go over time. It’s a good idea to start each interview with a verbal tag so that it can be identified

later (but remember to keep participant details anonymous!). For example: ‘Interview with participant SA, 27th January 2010’.

Interviewing is a skilled activity and you should make sure you have read e.g. Chapter 7 of Hayes so you are aware of the effect your own behaviour can have on your interviewee. You will need to consider your verbal (e.g. voice intonation) and non verbal behaviour (e.g. facial expression).

Essentially you want to create an interview atmosphere that encourages your interviewee to be relaxed so that they can speak freely. You need to ensure your own behaviour does not bias or change your participant’s responses in anyway.

Good interviewing skills come over time, so don’t expect to get things perfect this time around! However, don’t be daunted be the process and try to give it your best shot.

At the end of the interviews it would be a good idea to check each recording once more to ensure everything has gone OK and your interview footage has been picked up.

HOW TO TRANSCRIBE AN INTERVIEW

Ideally, you should transcribe as much information as possible, including non-verbal material, as this informs the sense that is made of the interview. You could use some or all of the following conventions (you do not need to use more than this!):

Convention Notes Transcription example

( ) Pause – there will be no need to time the pauses in this piece of research. Longer pauses will have 3 ‘dots’ and shorter ones only one.

(.) or (…)

CAPS words in capitals are uttered louder

A: That’s what I SAID

Underlined words uttered with added emphasis

A: It simply isn’t on

= at the end of speaker’s utterance and at start of next speaker’s utterance; indicates the absence of a gap

A: Anyway Brian = B: = Okay, okay

(text) material in brackets inaudible or there is doubt about accuracy

A: I (couldn’t tell you) that

[text] additional information

A: Brian *the speaker’s brother+ said

[ ] material deliberately omitted A: I’m not sure about * + to be honest

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STEPS IN A GROUNDED THEORY ANALYSIS Before you start your analysis read at least one of the references on grounded

theory provided at the end of this handout.

Next, read one of the papers that has used grounded theory as its method of analysis to familiarise yourself with ‘the finished product’.

Prepare your data for coding by numbering the lines and ensuring you are familiar with the reference ID for each transcript (e.g. Participant SA, Line 4 or SA, L4 – a long hand or shorthand code is fine, just make sure you are consistent throughout your report).

Begin the analysis by reading the interview transcripts. Try to make any notes on the computer as the codes you submit in your appendix

must be typed up (handwritten work is not permitted). You may find it useful to use the ‘comment’ function in Word which allows you to

highlight and comment upon segments of text. Go to ‘Review’. Highlight the text you want to add a code to. Click ‘New comment’. Now you can write a code or a memo for this piece of text.

You may also find it useful to highlight the text in different colours as well as using the ‘comment’ feature. This might be useful to group quotes for different themes or ideas, so you can easily identify them. Highlight the text you want to appear in a different colour, in the home menu select the ‘Text highlight colour’ box (in the bottom right hand area of the ‘Font’ section). If you do not have a colour printer be sure that your highlighting colours are not too dark, or they will obscure your text when you print out in black and white. It might be better to replace your computer highlighting with highlighter pens when you actually print out your work.

You may want to use the ‘highlighting’ and ‘comment’ features for different elements of your coding process. ‘Commenting’ might be useful throughout, ‘highlighting’ might be useful when you progress to axial coding.

Stage one of analysis: Open coding. This is the part of the analysis concerned with identifying, naming, categorizing and describing phenomena found in the text. Essentially, each line, sentence, paragraph etc. is read in search of the answer to the repeated question "what is this about? What is being referenced here?"

Good questions to ask yourself include: ‘What is going on?’ ‘What are people doing?’ ‘What is the person saying?’ ‘What do these actions and statements take for granted?’ ‘How to structure and context serve to support, maintain, impede or change these actions and statements?’

These labels might refer to things like free time, convenience, learning, etc. They are the nouns and verbs of a conceptual world. Part of the analytic process is to identify the more general categories that these things are instances of, such as, work activities, social relations, social outcomes, etc.

Codes should be short and specific. As these are ‘line by line’ you will find your codes run into each other, as meaning may run over several lines, i.e. you should not expect to find that each line represents a discrete unit of meaning.

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We also seek out the adjectives and adverbs --- the properties of these categories. For example, about an activity we might ask about its duration, and its intensity, and acknowledgement of its importance. Whether these properties or dimensions come from the data itself, from respondents, or from the mind of the researcher depends on the goals of the research.

It is important to have fairly abstract categories in addition to very concrete ones, as the abstract ones help to generate general theory.

Example:

Text Fragment 1 (not from this topic area)

Pain relief is a major problem when you have arthritis. Sometimes, the pain is worse than other times, but when it gets really bad, whew! It hurts so bad, you don't want to get out of bed. You don't feel like doing anything. Any relief you get from drugs that you take is only temporary or partial.

One thing that is being discussed here is PAIN. Implied in the text is that the speaker views pain as having certain properties, one of which is INTENSITY: it varies from a little to a lot. (When is it a lot and when is it little?) When it hurts a lot, there are consequences: don't want to get out of bed, don't feel like doing things (what are other things you don't do when in pain?). In order to solve this problem, you need PAIN RELIEF. One AGENT OF PAIN RELIEF is drugs (what are other members of this category?). Pain relief has a certain DURATION (could be temporary), and EFFECTIVENESS (could be partial).

Start deriving categories from the data. This is easiest if you ask yourself questions about the data such as ‘what is going on here?’, ‘what is the meaning behind what they are saying, or the bigger picture behind the actual words they are using?’ You must be critical of the data, and ask questions about it throughout. Does data support/go against your category? If data goes against your category does it make sense to rename/rethink your category or start a new one? Is it possible for you to incorporate positive and negative instances within the same category?

Keep going back to your data. The categories should become more focused as you progress. Do not worry that you are changing and refining your initial ideas as you do this, this is normal and is a good sign that you are being led by the available data.

Coding is the crucial phase between data collection and the formulation of a sound theory. Through the coding, and questioning the fit of your codes to the data you may start to consider new categories. Coding must be line by line. This means that for each code you create you should be able to relate it to one or more specific locations in your samples. This is very important as it stops you from putting in ideas for which there is no support in the data.

Write memos about the codes you have developed – short notes saying anything you think is relevant, or which strikes you about the material. These memos will form a paper trail that will show how your thinking developed during the analysis, and you will need to submit this as part of your appendix. These memos are also crucial for helping you to write a definition of your categories.

You may need to revise or alter your categories and memos as the analysis progresses. This is fine – it is an advantage of the grounded theory approach as it

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makes it very flexible. You should now have some ideas of which of your categories are the most important.

Try to refine your categories as much as possible. If you have too many little categories, this will be very difficult to write up, as you won’t be able to explain how they all relate to one another.

Stage two: Axial coding. This is the process of relating codes (categories and properties) to each other, via a combination of inductive and deductive thinking. You need to do this in order to help yourself see how different categories are related to each other so you can a) formulate a cohesive theory in the discussion and b) help you work out your tree diagram. To simplify this process, rather than looking for any and all kind of relations, grounded theorists emphasize causal relationships, and fit things into a basic frame of generic relationships. The frame consists of the following elements:

o Phenomenon: This is the concept that holds the bits together. In grounded theory it is sometimes the outcome of interest, or it can be the subject.

o Causal conditions: These are the events or variables that lead to the occurrence or development of the phenomenon. It is a set of causes and their properties.

o Context: Hard to distinguish from the causal conditions. It is the specific locations (values) of background variables. A set of conditions influencing the action/strategy. Researchers often make a distinction between active variables (causes) and background variables (context). It has more to do with what the researcher finds interesting (causes) and less interesting (context) than with distinctions out in nature.

o Intervening conditions: Similar to context. If we like, we can identify context with moderating variables and intervening conditions with mediating variables.

o Action strategies: The purposeful, goal-oriented activities that agents perform in response to the phenomenon and intervening conditions.

o Consequences: These are the consequences of the action strategies, intended and unintended.

Example

If we apply ‘axial coding principles to the text segment above, the phenomenon of interest is pain, the causal conditions are arthritis, the action strategy is taking drugs, and the consequence is pain relief.

Note that grounded theorists don't show much interest in the consequences of the phenomenon itself. Remember that you don’t have to take the interviewees opinion as the truth; a myth of some grounded theory work is that researchers take the respondent's understanding of what causes what as truth. That is, you shouldn’t see the interviewee as an insider expert. Just because they think something is convenient or easy to use, you can apply objective knowledge to this and still acknowledge that books are organised in structured ways to ease use (with contents pages and indexes etc.). What is interesting is that they think that books are no longer easy to use.

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Stage three: Selective coding. This is the process of choosing one category to be the core category, and relating all other categories to that category. The essential idea is to develop a single storyline around which all everything else is draped. There is a belief that such a core concept always exists. The advice for building theory parallels advice for writing a story. Selective coding is about finding the driver that impels the story forward.

When you have finished this process you should be able to draw a diagram (e.g. a tree diagram) to help you structure your results. Which of your findings are the most important? You can do this in Word or PowerPoint. See the instructions towards the end of this document for help creating a diagram in Word.

In the suggested reading you will find a paper by Larsson, Sahlsten, Sjöstörm, Lindencrona & Plos (2007). They give a very neat outline of the main category in their data and how other elements relate to this. Read this paper to help you understand how to think about linking your concepts and categories together.

Now it’s time to write up your results.

Before you begin this stage make sure you read at least one paper that has used the grounded theory methodological approach to give you an idea of how such research is written up. The Larsson et al. (2007) will help you write up your analysis section. It is very clear. It describes how categories are related to one another and gives a definition of each. Remember, you will also need to illustrate your categories with quotes from your transcripts.

Next, you must read the section of the style guide on writing qualitative reports. You cannot simply follow the format you are used to. If you do your report mark will suffer. You will miss out key sections and also include other information that is not only superfluous but also inappropriate in a qualitative report (e.g. a hypothesis at the end of the introduction, or generalisations to the ‘world’ in your discussion).

Only now can you put fingers to keyboard and start writing up your report.

Your assignment: You must use the RELEVANT sections of the reporting style guidelines to ensure your report follows the correct format. While the vast majority of the requirements for reports in the style guide apply to qualitative reports, some adjustments to the structure and content you are used to are needed. Therefore, in conjunction with the sections you are now familiar with in the style guide, before writing your report you must also refer to the separate section specifically covering qualitative research report. This is located towards the rear of the guide (pg 40 onwards).

Title

This should reflect the main focus of your study. Abstract As with most of the report there are some variations of the content of this section from what you are used to. Refer to your style guide pages 40-41 for details.

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Introduction

This part of the report must be appropriately written for a qualitative investigation of the data. You will have a rationale but you MUST NOT make any hypotheses (this is the central tenet behind qualitative methodologies). You will also summarise what you hope to discover (essentially, what your research questions, or specific topic areas are). Again – you must read page 42 of the style guide for specific details of content.

Method This section will be quite different from what you are used to, as there is much greater variation in reporting techniques for qualitative research. See pages 42-43 of your style guide for details on the sub-sections to use and brief descriptions of their content (there are more sub-sections than you are used to). You do not need to go into great detail to describe the process by which we came up with our question set in your method. You will simply state that a set of questions were derived based on previous answers to an open ended question from a questionnaire about attitudes towards computers and books. In the Ethics sub-section, you may be unclear about the debriefing of participants, as this has not been necessary owing to your groups’ knowledge of this topic. You may simply state that a debrief was not necessary due to the participants prior knowledge of the study.

Analysis

For ‘How to carry out’ advice: Use the step by step approach outlined above, in the lecture slides and in the background reading to help you use grounded theory to analyse the data. There is only one data set, but remember to get a feel for the ‘flip-flop’ of grounded theory you will need to flick between the data and your codes frequently in order to refine your categories and develop your theory. For ‘How to write up’ advice: When you write up your findings remember to a) give a definition of each category, b) explain how categories relate to one another, c) illustrate each category with a quote from the interviews and d) include a tree diagram (in the main body of the report NOT in the appendix). Remember that your final tree diagram should not be too complex (i.e. should not consist of more than 20+ categories and sub categories) – your markers need to be able to read it (the more categories you have the smaller your labels will get!). You should include both your coding systems as well as examples of your annotated text samples in your appendix. Remember these must be word processed, not hand written for the markers to be able to read them easily. These will provide a ‘paper trail’ that the markers can follow from your initial analysis to your final codes and categories that you actually write up in the main body of your report. You must put your coding sheets in the Appendices to pass this practical assignment. Discussion and reflexivity This section should be separate from the analysis section. See your style guide for details of appropriate content. The key thing you must include here is the theory that you have developed in relation to your research question.

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Example of ‘a theory’ If your research question was about how patients participate in nursing care, then you need to outline your theory that describes what you think is involved in this relationship. Your analysis may have found that this relationship is not just the result of internal patient factors but also the approach of nursing staff. Your theory should be written such that someone could formulate a hypothesis based upon it. In the example I have given, this could suggest that a friendly and sociable nurse will have a positive influence on participation in nursing care regardless of the patients own disposition.

Remember, you must include a paragraph covering personal reflexivity (the role that you as a researcher played in producing the findings, e.g. how your views and experiences influenced interpretation of the data). Remember to be specific in this section. Perhaps your relationship with your grandparents may have influenced your reading of the data? If so, how did it influence it? Did it make you more lenient? Are you a very health conscious person? Does this greater knowledge of a healthy lifestyle influence your interpretation? Appendix Remember this section should be organised into the order in which you refer to things in your report. For example, in your method section you might first refer to the questions in the interview, then the participant consent forms and finally the transcript of the interview. In your appendix these items should appear in that order (i.e. Item 1 = interview questions, Item 2 = consent forms, Item 3 = interview transcripts) CHECKLIST: Ethical approval A list of the candidate numbers of the other three students in your group Participant consent forms Interview transcripts Coding sheets (typed up) Category cards/memos (typed up)

Help with this practical The rest of these instructions consist of details of resources you should access to help you write this practical. They consist of separate instructions for different elements, as well as details of books and research papers you should read.

Departmental resources I am happy to take questions at any point during the lectures – just raise your hand.

If I don’t ask you for your question, just waive your hand a little more fiercely as I am no doubt being slightly blind and haven’t seen you. I will also be available directly after lectures to answer questions and queries.

Please make use of the timetabled help sessions in the MSB labs. These will be covered by GTAs who have been given training specific to this practical. I will also do my best to attend when possible. The sessions are designed for you to get on with your practical work on the computers while there is help at hand to go over grounded theory and also how to use applications to create notes on your interview

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transcripts or tree diagrams as part of your analysis and write-up. I’ve suggested you might want to use the help sessions for in the Practical Timetable earlier in this guide.

Log on to the PS2001 Blackboard site and take a look at the online discussion board for this practical. This is a place for you to discuss the practical with your fellow students and also to pose questions if you get stuck. The GTAs and I will be checking the forums regularly to answer any queries.

Visit the helpdesk for 1-2-1 advice from one of the GTAs. This is a good resource to use if your query is quite complicated and you don’t think you can communicate it clearly over Blackboard.

Creating a tree diagram (MS Word) You need to include a tree diagram in your analysis section to illustrate how your categories are related to one another and your core category. This can be created very easily in Word. Put your cursor in the point of your document where you want your diagram to appear. Go to ‘Insert’. Click on ‘SmartArt’. A small box will pop up. On the left hand side menu choose ‘hierarchy’. Several options of this type of chart are available, but either ‘organisation chart’ or ‘hierarchy’ are more suited to this purpose. Choose one of those two and click ‘ok’. A basic template of a chart will appear in your document. You need to edit the relevant fields to reflect your category names. By right clicking on the different boxes several options come up. To add in extra categories choose the ‘add shape’ option. Choose from ‘add shape below’, ‘add shape above’ or ‘add assistant’ to edit your tree diagram to the needs of your particular set of categories and the relationships between them. You can also move the location of the boxes in the diagram by clicking and dragging them to a different location. See Figure 1 for an illustration of a tree diagram.

Core category

Category 2

category 1

Sub category to #1

sub category to #1

category 3

Sub categor to #3

sub category to #3

Sub category to #3

Figure 1. Example of a tree diagram

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Background Reading This has four sections: References to help you get started with constructing and carrying out an interview, references to help you understand how to carry out a grounded theory analysis, references to help you understand how to write up your findings and finally references to help you with the topic. How to construct good interview questions: This is of relatively low importance for this report as we will collaborate together on this issue in the lecture and via Blackboard. However, if you are concerned about question construction then you might like to consult the following sections of your core text books. There are many other research methods text books in the library that will also help to get you started. McBurney, D. H. & White, T. L. (2007). Research methods. Belmont, CA: Thomson

Wadsworth. [Chapter 10 will be useful for information on how to devise good interview questions, although they are looked in relation to surveys rather than interviews].

Hayes, N. (2000). Doing psychological research. Buckingham: Open University Press [Chapter 7 contains information on devising and carrying out interviews.]

How to carry out a sound grounded theory analysis: Note: these references are just a small selection to get you started as there are many many more books that cover qualitative methods in the library, so a) please don’t panic if some of the below texts are out on loan and b) browse the ‘qualitative research methods’ shelves in the library to look for titles beyond those listed here. Charmaz, K. (1995). Grounded theory. In J. Smith, R. Harre and L. Van Langehove (Eds.)

Rethinking methods in psychology. London: Sage. (chapter 3) Henwood, K. & Pidgeon, N. (1992). Qualitative research and psychological theorising. British

Journal of Psychology, 83, 97-111. Pidgeon, N. & Henwood, L. (1997). Using grounded theory in psychological research. In N.

Hayes (Ed.) Doing qualitative analysis in psychology. Hove: Taylor & Francis. (pp. 245-273).

Strauss, A. L. & Corbin, J. (1998). Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory (2nd ed.) Thousand Oaks, Calif: Sage.

Strauss, A. L. & Corbin, J. (2005). Grounded theory methodology: an overview. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.) Handbook of qualitative research (2nd ed.) Thousand Oaks, Calif: Sage. (pp. 273-285). [Note: copies of 1st and 3rd edition also available, but page numbers will vary]

In addition, your set text book also contains relevant information: Hayes, N. (2000). Doing psychological research. Buckingham: Open University Press [Chapter

11 gives a brief overview of grounded theory.] How people ‘write up’ their findings when using grounded theory: The following references have used grounded theory as their methodological approach (all available via Leicester e-link from PsycINFO). These papers are from the Health Psychology field but should still be useful to show you how to write up your findings in the analysis

PS2001: Practical 3

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section. There are of course many other papers out there so feel free to explore the available literature to find them. Meticulous coding is important BUT this is worth nothing if you cannot then communicate what you have found in a clear concise way. Draucker, D. B., Martsolf, D. S., Ratchneewan, R. & Thomas, B. (2007). Theoretical sampling

and category development in grounded theory. Qualitative Health Research, 17, 1137-1148.

Hoyt, M. A. & Kennedy, C. L. (2008). Leadership and adolescent girls: A qualitative study of leadership development. American Journal of Community Psychology, 42, 203-219.

Larsson, I. E., Sahlsten, M. J. M., Sjöstörm, B., Lindencrona, C. S. C., & Plos, K. A. E. (2007). Patient participation in nursing care from a patient perspective: a grounded theory study. Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences, 21, 313-320.

Previous research on attitudes towards computers and books: These texts are all available via PsycINFO and Leicester E-Link. You should already be familiar with these texts from Practical 1, so your markers will expect to see evidence of wider reading. However, to ensure you are on the right track these suggested texts should be used as a basis for your work on this topic. De Jong & Bus (2002). Garland, K. J., & Noyes, J. M. (2004). Computer experience: A poor predictor of computer

attitudes. Computers in Human Behavior, 20(6), 823-840. Garland, K. J., & Noyes, J. M. (2004). Changes in learning expectations and confidence

toward computers: A study of five successive years of undergraduate. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 31, 273-279.

Garland, K. J., & Noyes, J. M. (2005). Attitudes and confidence towards computers and books as learning tools: A cross-sectional study of student cohorts. British Journal of Educational Technology. 36, 85-91.

Neuman (1996). Noyes, J. M., & Garland, K. J. (2005). Students’ attitudes towards books and computers.

Computers in Human Behavior, 21(2), 233-241. Noyes, J. M., & Garland, K. J. (2006). Explaining students’ attitudes towards books and

computers. Computers in Human Behavior, 22(3), 351-363.