Strategic Themes in
Qualitative Inquiry
PS398 Qualitative Methods in Psychology
Lecturer: Julian Hasford
January 8, 2008
Agenda
• Glossary: Reflexivity
• What is Research? Qualitative Research?
• Comparing Goals and Strategies of
Qualitative and Quantitative Research
• Selecting a course research topic
• Questions?
• One-minute paper
• Next class…
Learning Objectives
• By the end of today’s session you should
be able to:
– Define qualitative research
– Compare and contrast the goals and
strategies of qualitative and quantitative
research
Reflexivity
• Definition
– Process by which researchers examine
and make visible the impact of their own
subjectivity and social location (e.g.,
social status) on the research and on
the relationship between researchers
and participants (Patton, 2002; Stein &
Mankowski, 2004).
Reflexivity
• Theoretical & Methodological Significance
– Researchers’ subjectivity and social location influence all
aspects of research process
– Standard of quality and ethics in qualitative research (Stein &
Mankowski, 2004)
– Researchers engage in reflexive self-awareness through
questioning assumptions about self, participants, audience
– Strategies include: bracketing, detailed accounts (thick
description), writing in first-person & active voice (Patton, 2002)
– Operationalized in various ways according to researchers’
theoretical perspective(s) (e.g., feminist, post-modernist,
symbolic interactionist)
– Often raises doubts, discomforts, challenges
Reflexivity
• Example (Langhout, 2006)
– Background:
• Paper based on collaborative action research project
between an undergraduate class and a group of poor AfricanAmerican women. Class instructor was European-American
graduate student. Project involved community gardening.
– Design:
• Authoethnographic study based on Langhout’s experiences
• Action research project involved participant observation in
community research project
• Data included personal journal, and student journals and
assignments
• Reflective analysis and narrative report
Reflexivity
• Example (Langhout, 2006)
– Findings
• Langhout initially felt sense of connection and collaboration
with women based on common gender and class
• Her views challenged when (African-American) student’s
assignment raises how issues of race created a divide
between researcher and participants
• Discovered her own privilege and discomfort and naïveté
about race
• Suggests scholars should exercise greater reflexivity
throughout the research (with particular attention to
privilege), and pay greater attention to process than
outcomes
Reflexivity
• References
Langhout, R. D. (2006). Where am I? Locating myself
and its implications for collaborative research.
American Journal of Community Psychology, 37, 267274.
Patton, M.Q. (2002). Qualitative Research & Evaluation
Methods (3rd Ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage
Publications.
Stein, C.H., & Mankowski, E.S. (2004). Asking,
witnessing, interpreting, knowing: Conducting
qualitative research in community psychology.
American Journal of Community Psychology, 33(1-2),
21-35.
What is Research?
• Write a definition in your own words
• Other ways of defining research
– Research is a systematic, formal rigorous and precise
process employed to gain solutions to problems
and/or to discover and interpret new facts and
relationships. (Waltz and Bausell, 1981, p.1).
– Research is the process of looking for a specific
answer to a specific question in an organised
objective reliable way (Payton, 1979, p.4)
– Research is systematic, controlled, empirical and
critical investigation of hypothetical propositions about
the presumed relations among natural phenomena
(Kerlinger, 1973, p.1).
What is Qualitative Research?
– “[An approach to inquiry that is]...
multimethod in focus, involving an
interpretive, naturalistic approach to its
subject matter...qualitative researchers study
things in their natural setting to make sense
of, or interpret phenomena in terms of the
meanings people bring to them.” (Denzin
and Lincoln, 1994:2)
What is Qualitative Research?
•
•
•
•
Art & Science
Mystery
Puzzle solving
Non-linear, Imperfect
Goals of Quantitative Research
•
•
•
•
•
Description (Measurement)
Test Theory
Explain (cause & effect)
Prediction
Control
Goals of Qualitative Research
•
•
•
•
•
•
Description (Detailed)
Themes
Patterns
Creating Concepts or Theories
Understandings
Insights
Goals of Qualitative Research
– “The goal of qualitative research is the
development of concepts which help us to
understand social phenomena in natural
(rather than experimental) settings, giving due
emphasis to the meanings, experiences, and
views of the participants” (Mays and Pope,
1997, p.4)
What does the Fruit of Qual-R
Look Like?
• Belenky et al. (1986) findings on women’s ways of
knowing
– Silence, Received Knowledge, Subjective Knowledge,
Procedural Knowledge, Constructed Knowledge
• Peters & Waterman’s (1982) eight attributes of excellent
companies
• Maslow’s theories of self-actualization and motivation
• Brown’s (1987) When Battered Women Kill
– Led to legal recognition of battered women syndrome
• Moustakas’ (1995) theory about relationships
– Being-In, Being-For, Being-With
What does the Fruit of Qual-R
Look Like?
• Covey’s (1990) 7 Habits of Highly Effective
People
– Theory of personal effectiveness based on case
studies of effective people
– Principle-Centered
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Be proactive
Put first things first
Begin with the end in mind
Think “Win-Win”
Seek first to understand, then to be understood
Synergize
Sharpen the saw
What does the Fruit of Qual-R
Look Like?
•
Hasford & Mitchell (in progress) study on
undergraduate students’ experiences of
learning qualitative methods
– Participants: 39 undergraduate students (30
females)
– Grounded theory analysis
– Findings: experiences involve processes of
•
•
•
•
Epistemological Indoctrination (Context)
Epistemological Crisis
Epistemological and Methodological Awakening
Methodological Transitioning and Expanding
What does the Fruit of Qual-R
Look Like?
• Hasford & Mitchell (in progress)
– Epistemological Indoctrination
• Um, I think because your given an extensive
background in quantitative research that um it
kinda it kinda biases you coming into this
[course]. You are told you know validity is
important and you know generalizablity is
important and its kind of that’s drilled into your
head that those are the standards and you know
and you need to have a p value of .05 you know
for anything to be significant and that’s kinda what
you come into this with-- that kind of mind set.
What does the Fruit of Qual-R
Look Like?
•
Hasford & Mitchell (in progress)
– Epistemological Crisis
•
At first I was like “What is happening?” Like, I did not
understand it at all and I was like- It’s really hard to grasp at
first because not only is it like, the idea of it’s really difficult,
but it’s also all these huge words so it makes it even
[laughs] more like, overwhelming. Especially because
you’ve been so trained in like, quantitative research, like up
until you take qualitative that it’s like everything that you’re
learning about qualitative research is totally against
what you were taught was right and was pounded into
your head.
Strategic Themes of Qual
(& Quant) Inquiry
• Design Strategies
–
–
–
Naturalistic
Emergent/flexible
Purposeful sampling
• Data Collection Strategies
–
–
Engagement
Empathic neutrality
• Analysis Strategies
–
–
–
–
Inductive
Holistic
Context
Reflexivity
Design Strategies of Qual
(& Quant) Inquiry
• Extent to which (1) scientist manipulates
phenomena, and (2) predetermined categories
are used (Guba, 1978)
• Quantitative
–
–
–
Experiment
Randomization
Probability Sampling
• Qualitative
–
–
–
Naturalistic: discovery-oriented, open-ended
Emergent/flexible: open, pragmatic, tolerance of
ambiguity and uncertainty, trust in outcome
Purposeful sampling: information-rich cases
Data Collection Strategies in
Qual (& Quant) Inquiry
• Quantitative
–
–
Quantitative Data
Distance & Objectivity
• Qualitative
–
–
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Qualitative Data: Interviews, Observations,
Documents, Other
Personal Engagement: Field work, Participation,
Relationships
Empathic neutrality: empathic stance toward
people, neutral stance toward their thoughts,
required for verstehen (understanding/insight)
Analysis Strategies of Qual
(& Quant) Inquiry
• Quantitative
–
–
–
–
Hypothetical-Deductive: begins with hypotheses
Statistical verification & Generalization
Reductionist & Mechanistic
Context-free (Control)
• Qualitative
–
–
–
–
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Unique Case Orientation: Begins with
describing/understanding cases in detail
Inductive & Creative Synthesis: begins with data,
Active/creative interpretation
Holistic: Desire to understand the whole complex system
(rather than parts)
Context Sensitivity: preserves natural context
Voice & Reflexivity: Explicit self-awareness, active, firstperson voice, self-questioning
Complimentarity of Qual & Quant
Research
• Both have advantages and disadvantages
• Studies often use strategies from both
• Potential mixed method applications
– Development of questionnaires and survey
instruments
– Generate hypotheses
– Triangulation
– Aid in the interpretation and reporting of
quantitative findings
Decision Making
• Pragmatism (No Rules)
• What are the purposes of the inquiry?
– Research, evaluation, thesis, personal
• Who is the primary audience of findings?
– Scholars, Practitioners, Policymakers, Oneself
• What questions guide the inquiry?
– Theory, applied
• What data will illuminate the inquiry?
– Qualitative, Quantitative, Mixed-methods
• What criteria will be used to judge the quality of findings?
– Positivist, Constructivist, Critical
Choosing a Class Research
Topic
• Group discuss the suggested topics and
come to consensus
– Money
– Work
– The Environment
– Health
– Celebrity
• Democratic vote to finalize decision
One-Minute Paper
• Take about one minute to answer the
following questions
– Is qualitative research research?
– What is one take home learning from today’s
session
• Discuss with someone next to you
Questions?
Next Class
• Philosophy of Science
– Readings: Patton (2002) Ch. 3 (pp.91-103),
Ponteretto (2005) Article (to be emailed or
posted)
– Review Patton (2002) Ch. 2 (pp. 68-71) on
paradigms
– Write theoretical memo reflecting on
connection between philosophy of science
and course research topic