Qualitative Field Research
Babbie Chp 10
Chapter Outline
 Introduction
 Topics
Appropriate to Field Research
 Special Considerations in Qualitative Field
Research
 Some Qualitative Field Research
Paradigms
Chapter Outline
 Conducting
Qualitative Field Research
 Strengths and Weaknesses or Qualitative
Field Research
 Research Ethics in Qualitative Field
Research
 Strengths and Weaknesses of Qualitative
Field Research
Topics for Field Research
 Attitudes
and behaviors best understood in
a natural setting.
 Social processes over time.
Question

Why is field research appropriate to research
topics that defy simple quantification?
A.
B.
C.
D.
field researchers may recognize several nuances of
attitude that might escape researchers using other
methods.
field research is appropriate to the study of those attitudes
best understood within their natural setting.
field research is well suited to the study of social
processes over time.
all of these choices
Answer: D

Field research is appropriate to research topics
that defy simple quantification because field
researchers may recognize several nuances
of attitude that might escape researchers
using other methods, field research is
appropriate to the study of those attitudes
best understood within their natural setting,
and field research is well suited to the study
of social processes over time.
Elements of Social Life Appropriate to
Field Research
 Practices:
talking, reading a book
 Episodes: divorce, crime, illness
 Encounters: people meeting and
interacting
 Role: occupations, family roles
 Relationships: friendships, family
Elements of Social Life Appropriate to
Field Research
 Groups:
cliques, teams, work groups
 Organizations: hospitals, schools
 Settlements: neighborhoods, ghettoes
 Social worlds: "wall street", "the sports
world“
 Lifestyles (subcultures): urban, homeless
Field Research Paradigms
 Naturalism
 Ethnomethodology
 Grounded
theory
 Case studies and the extended case
method
 Institutional ethnography
 Participatory action research
Preparing for Field Work
 Fill
in your knowledge of the subject.
 Discuss the group you plan to research
with an informant.
 Develop an identity with the people to be
studied.
 Realize that your initial contact with the
group can influence your observations.
Question

When you use field research, you’re
confronted with:
A. decisions about the role you’ll play as an
observer
B. your relations with the people you’re observing
C. both a and b
D. none of these choices
Answer: C
 When
you use field research, you’re
confronted with decisions about the role
you’ll play as an observer, and your
relations with the people you’re
observing.
Reactivity
 The
problem that the subjects of social
research may react to the fact of being
studied, thus altering their behavior from
what it would have been normally.
Naturalism
 Approach
to field research based on the
assumption that an objective social reality
exists and can be observed and reported
accurately.
Ethnography
A
report on social life that focuses on
detailed and accurate description rather
than explanation.
Ethnomethodology
 An
approach to the study of social life that
focuses on the discovery of implicit,
usually unspoken assumptions and
agreements.
Grounded Theory
 An
inductive approach to the study of
social life that attempts to generate a
theory from the constant comparing of
unfolding observations.
Question

__________ is an old tradition in qualitative
research based on the assumption that an
objective social reality exists and can be
observed and reported accurately.
A.
B.
C.
D.
naturalism
ethnography
ethnomethodology
none of these choices
Answer: A
 Naturalism
is an old tradition in qualitative
research based on the assumption that an
objective social reality exists and can be
observed and reported accurately.
Guidelines for Grounded Theory
 Grounded
theory allows the researcher to
be scientific and creative at the same time,
as long as these guidelines are followed:





Think comparatively.
Obtain multiple viewpoints.
Periodically step back.
Maintain an attitude of skepticism.
Follow the research procedures.
Case Studies
 In-depth
examination of a single instance
of some social phenomenon, such as a
village, a family, or a juvenile gang.
 Extended case method

Technique in which case study observations
are used to discover flaws in and to improve
existing social theories.
Institutional Ethnography
 Research
technique in which the personal
experiences of individuals are used to
reveal power relationships and other
characteristics of the institutions within
which they operate.
Participatory Action Research
 Approach
to social research in which the
people being studied are given control
over the purpose and procedures of the
research.

Intended as a counter to the implicit view that
researchers are superior to those they study.
Seven Stages of Interviewing
1.
2.
3.
4.
Thematizing
Design
Interviewing
Transcribing
Seven Stages of Interviewing
5.
6.
7.
Analyzing
Verifying and checking facts
Reporting
Qualitative Interview
 An
interaction between an interviewer and
a respondent in which the interviewer has
a general plan of inquiry but not a specific
set of questions that must be asked with
particular words and in a particular order.
Focus Group
A
group of people are brought together in
a room to engage in guided discussion of
a topic.
Question

A ______________ is an interaction between
an interviewer and a respondent in which the
interviewer has a general plan of inquiry, but
not a set of questions that must be asked with
particular words in a particular order.
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
questionnaire project
field research project
quantitative interview
qualitative interview
none of these choices
Answer: D
A
qualitative interview is an interaction
between an interviewer and a respondent
in which the interviewer has a general plan
of inquiry, but not a set of questions that
must be asked with particular words in a
particular order.
Advantages of Focus Groups





Socially oriented research method
Flexible
High face validity
Speedy results
Low in cost
Disadvantages of Focus Groups
 Less
control than individual interviews.
 Data can be difficult to analyze.
 Moderators must be skilled.
Disadvantages of Focus Groups
 Difference
between groups can be
troublesome.
 Groups are difficult to assemble.
 Discussion must be conducted in a
conducive environment.
Guidelines - Taking Research
Notes
 Don’t
trust your memory. Take notes while
you observe.
 Take sketchy notes in the field and rewrite
them later, filling in the details.
Guidelines - Taking Research
Notes
 Record
•
everything.
Things that don't seem important may turn out
to be significant.
 Realize
that most of your field notes will
not be reflected in your final project.
Strengths of Field Research
 Permits
a great depth of understanding.
 Flexibility - research may be modified at
any time.
 Inexpensive
 Has more validity than surveys or
experiments.
Weaknesses of Field Research
 Qualitative
and not appropriate for
statistical descriptions of populations.
 Has potential problems with reliability
since field research methods are often
personal.
Is It Ethical?
 To
talk to people when they don't know
you will be recording their words?
 To get information for your own purposes
from people you hate?
 To see a severe need for help and not
respond to it directly?
Is It Ethical?
 To
be in a situation but not commit
yourself wholeheartedly to it?
 To be strategic in your relations with
others?
 To take sides or avoid taking sides in a
factionalized situation?
Is It Ethical?
 To
"pay" people with tradeoffs for access
to their lives and minds?
 To "use" people as allies or informants in
order to gain entrée to other people or to
elusive understandings?
Quick Quiz
1. _________________ describes when
the subjects of social research may react
to the fact of being studied, thus altering
their behavior from what it would have
been normally.
A.
B.
C.
D.
reactivity
sensitivity
hyperactivity
all of these choices
Answer: A

Reactivity describes when the subjects
of social research may react to the fact of
being studied, thus altering their behavior
from what it would have been normally.
2. The naturalist approach is based on
telling “their” stories the way they “really
are,” not the way the ethnographer
understands “them.”
A.
B.
True
False
Answer: True
• The naturalist approach is based on telling
“their” stories the way they “really are,” not
the way the ethnographer understands
“them.”
3. In a ____________, typically 12 to 15
people are brought together to engage
in a guided discussion of some topic.
A.
B.
C.
D.
classroom
focus group
micro study
none of these choices
Answer: B

In a focus group, typically 12 to 15
people are brought together to engage in
a guided discussion of some topic.