Barbara J. Risman
Professor and Head
Dept. of Sociology, University of Illinois at Chicago
President of the Board of Directors, Council on Contemporary
Families
Vice-President Elect, American Sociological Association
President-Elect, Southern Sociological Society
Co-Editor: Gender Lens Series, Rowman & Littlefied
Past Editor, Contemporary Sociology
Nov 2014
University of Trento

Data Collection



Data Analysis

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
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Writing

Friday
 Introductions
 Defining

Method
Versus Design, Epistemology, Methodology
 Types
of Qualitative Research
 Constructing Interview Schedules
 Interview Techniques


Theory
Practice Exercise
 Something
about me
 Something
about you


Why do you want to do research?
Your current Project

Epistemology


Method


Data Collection
Methodology


Theory of Knowledge
Application of Epistemology to Method
Research Design requires:





Theory/Question
Sampling Strategy
Method
Methodology
Epistemology

Methodology





Data Collection
Data Management
Data Analysis
Writing Results
Beyond our Scope


Epistemology
Research Design


Theory/Question
Sampling

Interviews



Ethnography



Open ended
Structured
Participant Observation
Observation
Archival Research- another course!




Historical documents
Literary Documents
Websites
Others?
 Constructing
an Interview Guide
Two hours maximum
 Topical <----------------> Structured
 From General to Specific/difficult/personal

 Pilot
Interviews- 4 or 5
Questions make sense
 Interesting data?

 Key
Point: Not a Survey
Interview guide is a GUIDE
 Focus on Respondent’s Story


Let it wander if necessary
 Team
Projects Vs. Individual Research
 Establish
good partnership
 Record




Verbatim vivid speech
Nuances and complexities of speech
Relax and focus on interviewee
Drawbacks: transcription time
Pay Attention to body cues
 Withhold judgment

 Avoid
Leading Questions
 Probe, Probe, Probe, Probe – Details, concrete
 Fieldnotes necessary TOO

Transcriptions



Verbatim or Selective
Interviewer or Paid Help
Fieldnotes


Body language notes inserted into text
Reflexivity statement for each interview
interview emotions and thoughts
 Role

Playing Volunteers
Interviewer/Interviewee
 Dyadic
 Role
Practice
Playing Volunteers

Tell me a little bit about your family: how many family members
you have, and their relationship to you. You may include anyone
whom you consider to be a family member, whether related by
blood or marriage or not related.

Did your family change over time, that is, who you lived with? If
so, how?

Where were your parents born? What country or countries are
they citizens of?

Were you raised in a religion? If so, what one?

(If self and/or parents born outside the US) When did you/your
parents move to the United States? What were the circumstances
that brought you here?

(Ask for each parent/guardian) What is the highest level of
education your (mom/dad/other) completed?

Is your (mom/dad/other) working now? (If so) What does s/he
do?
 What other jobs have they had in the past?

Data Collection
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
Data Analysis

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
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Writing

Friday


Ethics of Research
Fieldnotes


How and Why
Practice Exercise
 Covert/Overt


Status
When to disclose project?
Is deception ever ethical?
 Considerations




Likelihood of Harm
Prospect of Benefit
Theoretical Important
Legal Requirements
 Confidentiality


Guarantee anonymity
Confidentiality unnecessary when public behavior
 Ethnography



Insider vs. outsider
Are researchers ever really insiders?
Immersion
 Participant
Observation
 Grasp what others experience as meaningful
 Key informants and/or participants
 Time in field over when “saturation” occurs
 Adopt a Learner Role- “help me understand”
 Analysis goes beyond beliefs of participants

Go beyond giving “voice”
 Use
body as video-recorder
 Perception and Interpretation Involved
 Transform events into words


Involves choosing what to write about
How to frame
 Inseparability

of Methods and Findings
What ethnographer finds inherently connected
with how
 Jot
notes to help memory (if unobtrusive)
 Record as close to occurrence as possible
 Jotting


notes
Pro: Can prod memory
Con: Can distract from staying in the moment
 Notes
must document own activities
 Record as close to Occurrence as possible

Memories fade fast
 To



produce vivid fieldnotes
Avoid generalizations- give details
Jot down sensory details
Maintain detached observational attitude
 Ethnography



Withhold judgement
Stay detached emotionally
Provide analysis
 Participatory



Working with community
Change-oriented
Research is secondary



Action Research
Interviews/observations: targeted
Fieldnotes have different function: activism
Must Choose Epistemology /Stay the Course
4
person teams
 Go to sites that I have identified
 Spend 15 minutes observing social world

Data Collection



Data Analysis

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
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Writing

Friday
Coding Techniques
 Definitions
 Cycles
 Atlas Ti- getting started
 Open it up- Exercises
 Open Coding

 Organization
 Perseverance
 Deal
well with ambiguity
 Flexibility
 Creativity
 Rigorously Ethical
 Extensive Vocabulary
 Differences
from a Quantitative Research?
 Definition


Word/short phrase summarizes attribute of data
Heuristic= to discover
 Method


matters
Grounded Theory - Open coding
Theoretically Driven - Use code sheet
 Cycles

of a code
of coding
Iterative from specific to categorical

Theory to discovery to theory again...
 Individual
Versus Collaborative Projects
What do you take into account when choosing a doctor?
Raw Data
Someone I really trust…
Pleasant disposition and friendly
Usually I ask my friends if…
they have anyone doctor that
they like and if they could
recommend
The doctor better have a legit
degree!
Board certification is impt, esp
if I’m looking for a specialist
Focused
Coding
Theoretical
Coding
Internal
Validation
External
Validation subjective
External
Validation objective
Search Process for
health care
provider involves
internal and
external
validation.
Involves subjective
and objective
aspects
 First



Cycle Coding
Attribute
Exploratory
Descriptive
 Second






Cycle Coding
Conceptual focus
From specific to general categories
Emotive/Values
Hypothesis /Theoretical Coding
Iterative
and start all over again..

Theming the Data
Download free version www.atlasti.com/download
or open it on your classroom computer.
 Hermeneutic Units (HU) – Main Atlas work file;
acts like a “basket”
 Objects – items you put in the basket, such as:


Primary Documents (P-Docs or PD’s)




Text, image, audio, or video
Quotations
Codes (& Code Families)
Memos

Download the transcript files (exercise 1) to your
desktop. Put them all in one folder.
Creating an HU
 Open Atlas, select ProjectNew Hermeneutic Unit
 Importing P-Docs
 Many ways, but easiest is ProjectAdd
Document(s)Add Documents
 Find them on desktop, select all, and hit OPEN
 Will get message files “successfully converted”
 Hit “OK”
 Double check by hitting Pdoc manager button

 Applying


Existing Codes
Highlight selection in P-Doc
Select third code button on left toolbar and choose
from existing code list
 Managing


Codes
Open Code Manager by double-clicking the word
“codes” next to drop-down code list
Codes are listed with two numbers {#-#} that
represent their groundedness and density


Groundedness – How frequently a code occurs in data
Density – How interconnected a code is with other codes
[no. of codes a chosen code is linked to; think network]
 These measures gain importance when revising
codes/doing focused coding
 Codes
are denoted by yellow diamond symbol
 Creating New Codes

Your own label




Highlight selection in P-Doc
Select the first code button on left toolbar (looks like
yellow diamond in middle of text)
Type in the code label(s) you want to apply to selection
“In Vivo” codes (name comes from quote itself)


Highlight selection in P-Doc
Select second code button on left toolbar
 Coded
selections become “quotations”
 Codes appear to the immediate right of the
quotation
 Writing
Memos
Use memos to jot analytical ideas and/or to document
decision-making process
 Select “Memos” “Create Free Memo” from toolbar
atop HU screen
 Name the Memo something intuitive and include the
date somewhere

 Generating
Output
Output documents can organize quotes in readable
and intuitive format for use in revising or writing-up
 We will explain this more as we go along


Download the 5 transcript files (exercise 1) to your
desktop. Put them all in one folder.
Creating an HU
 Open Atlas, select ProjectNew Hermeneutic Unit
 Importing P-Docs
 Many ways, but easiest is ProjectAdd
Document(s)Add Documents
 Left hand column, hit desktop, select exercise 1 folder,
select all, and hit OPEN
 Will get message files “successfully converted”
 Hit “OK”
 Double check by hitting Pdoc manager button

1.
2.
Looking at the Cindy Lauper transcript, use
the “Edit””Search” function to search for
the word “gender” (line 348)
Highlight this paragraph, then use the
“create a new code” icon to apply the
following codes: “gender,” “friendship,” &
“school”
[Be sure to hit “add another code” so they stay
distinct codes]
Then click ok
3.
4.
5.
Use the P-Doc drop-down menu to select
the Eugene Martin transcript
Repeat the Editsearch for the word
gender
Find the THIRD occurrence, then highlight
the paragraph and code it as “gender,”
“patriarchy,” & “religion” (HINT: You will
have to add the new codes with one icon but
use the “apply existing codes” icon for
gender)
6.
7.
8.
Use the P-Doc drop-down menu to select
the Ramona Connell transcript
Repeat the Editsearch for the word
gender
Find the first occurrence, then highlight the
paragraph and code it as “gender,”
“career,” & “kids” (HINT: You will have to
add the new codes with one icon but use the
“apply existing codes” icon for gender)
9.
10.
11.
12.
Open the Codes on the top tool bar, then open
code manager window
You should see that the code “gender” has the
values {3-0} beside it, meaning it has a
frequency of 3 and therefore the highest
groundedness of our codes so far
Highlight the gender code and select
“Output”“Quotations for Selected Code(s)”
from the toolbar above; click “Okay”
Reviewing the quotes associated with “gender,”
we see that we might be conflating different
aspects of gender. Let’s recode those items to be
more specific… [you may close the code
manager ]
13.
14.
15.
First, let’s note our thoughts in a memo. Select
“Memos”“Create Free Memo” from the
toolbar at the top of the HU interface.
Name the Memo “Gender Coding (date)” with
today’s date. We may use it later.
In the memo editor, type “after reviewing the
gender quotes, I have decided to recode these to
reflect more specific operations” [close memo
manager window]
16.
17.
18.
19.
Go to code manager again (codes -> code
manager). In the code manager, double click on
the “gender” code. A small window should pop
up with the applicable quotations.
Click on the first quote. The P-Doc viewer should
now show the quote in context (should be from the
Cindy Lauper doc).
In code manager, click the “create new item” icon
in the upper left of toolbar (looks like card with
spark behind it) and name a new code “Gender vs.
Sex”
Click on the “Gender vs. Sex” code in the code list
and drag it to where the “gender” code appears to
the right of the quote in the P-Doc viewer. The
new code should have replaced the old one.
20.
21.
22.
23.
Create 2 more new codes the same way
 “Gender Ideology” & “Gender Identities”
Find the next quote already associated with
“gender” (from Eugene Martin) and drag and
drop the “Gender Ideology” code to replace
“gender”
Find the final quote associated with “gender” (by
double clicking on the “gender” code) and drag
and drop the “Gender Identities” code to replace
“Gender”
We have now recoded the gender quotes to be
more specific, and we’ve retained the gender code
in case new gender-related quotations arise
WELL DONE!
 Open
 Read
the file for “Salem Bee”
the transcript and create codes that
“emerge” from the data
Tuesday

Data Collection



Data Analysis



Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Writing

Friday

Review of Data Collection

Theoretically Driven Coding

From Coding to Analysis

Analytic memos
Theoretical
Coding
 Attribute Coding
 Sex
 Race
 Immigrant Status
Creating Families
Intersectionality (if time permits)
 Download
all 10 transcripts under “exercise
3” onto desktop. Keep them in 1 folder
 Repeat the same steps in exercise 1
Creating an HU
 Open Atlas, select ProjectNew Hermeneutic Unit
 Importing P-Docs
 ProjectAdd Document(s)Add Documents





Find them on desktop, select all, and hit OPEN
Will get message files “successfully converted”
Hit “OK”
Double check by hitting Pdoc manager button
 Structured
Coding Exercise
 Gendered
Beliefs
liberal
 Conservative
 Unclear/Neutral


Code all 10 interviews
 Create these 3 “new” codes
 Use them over and over again
These are the attributes for demographic data on
the sample you have downloaded
 You will use these attributes to create “Families”
for Analysis

Respondent Names
Race
Sex
Immigrant Status
Benny Goodman
asian
man
2nd gen
Jonathan Poem
asian
man
2nd gen
Bill Cornell
asian
man
2nd gen
Nancy Anderson
asian
woman
1st gen
Amy Lahey
asian
woman
2nd gen
Mark Rose
white
man
Native-born
Peter Steele
white
man
Native-born
Martha Brodowski
white
woman
1st gen
Brook Mullen
Ramona Connell
white
white
woman
woman
Native-born
2nd gen
 Family

Think of it as grouping your p-docs into
meaningful categories
 Just




Codes
follow me here
Click “p-docs” button
Go to Documents
Go to “Families”
Click “Open Families
Manager”
 Just



follow me here
Click icon (spark card) to create new family
Name new family “women”
In the field “primary documents not in family”,
choose pdocs that are women and click the left
arrow
 Step




1
Click “p-docs” button
Go to Documents
Go to “Families”
Click “Open Families
Manager”
 Step



2
Click icon (spark card) to create new family
Name new family “white”
In the field “primary documents not in family”,
choose pdocs that are white and click the left
arrow
 Step


3
Double check by clicking once on “white” family
in pdoc manager
The right column will show you all the pdocs
associated with being white
Now
you try
 Create an “asian” family
 Create a “male” family
 Create a “female” family
If you have time, create the
families for immigrant status
 Now
we will use families to help with our
analysis

women vs. men
Step 1:
 On your main HU, click “Analysis”, followed
by “query tools”
 Step

2
Click scope
 Step



3
Under primary doc families, click “male”
In “candidate quotations in query”, you are able
to preview of the quotations and primary
documents and codes
Then ok
 Step





4
Choose the codes that you are interested in
In this example, I choose “beliefs_liberal”
Click “beliefs_liberal”
Click the printer icon and click “full content”
And choose “editor” and click ok
 Now
you will see an output with all the
quotations by men about their liberal gender
beliefs
 Now
you’ll try to generate an output with all
the quotations by women about their liberal
gender beliefs
 Discussion:
compare and contrast how men
and women differ about their liberal gender
beliefs
 Super


Families Code
E.g. Race + Gender
Think of it as families code that are intersecting

Are there racial differences between and among the
sexes?
 Step
1
P-Doc Manager
 Click Documents
 Click “Families” then click
“Open Family Manager”
 Click Families then click
“Open Super Family Tool”

 Step



2
Choose Asian and Men to create your superfamily
Double Click on each category and they will appear
in “Query Field”
Note: The manual cautions against using more than
2 families to create super families

Step 3
There are 4 symbols (they are called operators) on the left
(hovering your mouse cursor over them will reveal what they
are); click the 3rd operator
 In your query, you will see that you have you have asked Atlas
Ti to combine both Asian and Men families
 Click “Create Super Family” and name “Asian Men”

 You
will see a new super family called Asian
Men created and it will be in red
 In the field below “create super family
button”, you can double check if there are 3
asian men pdocs
 Close all the windows
 You will use super families as “filters” next
 On
your main HU, click “Analysis”, followed
by “query tools”
 Click
scope on the bottom of the “query tool
page”
 By
selecting Asian Men, you are asking Atlas
Ti to limit the subsequent analysis to only this
superfamily
 You can even double-check your work here
 Click ok  brings you back to query tool page
 Now,
I want to see all the quotations by Asian
Men about their liberal gender beliefs
 Under codes, I clicked “beliefs_liberal” and
then click the printer icon
 Choose “full “content” and select “editor”
 Compare






across identity groups
White men versus asian men
Black women versus white women
Or Dutch women versus American women
Or Indonesian college educated versus Dutch
college educated
Etc...allow complicated intersectional analyses
On to more discussion of analysis
 Researcher’s


Conversation with yourself (and advisor?)
Any time idea strikes, write a memo
 From






journal entry
Coding to Analysis
Document/reflect on codes
Emergent themes
Testing or formulating theory
Reflexivity important
Draw diagrams if useful
Reiterative - invent new codes
 Talk
shop regularly with other “experts”
 Join
a Writing Group

As you do the analysis....
 From




concrete to conceptual
The Touch Test
Codes to Themes
Excavate the Top Three Themes
Excavate top Three (or four) themes



Write about ONE at a time
Create an outline of major points/evidence
If hard to start- begin with the conclusion
 Talk
shop regularly - with other “experts”
 Join a writing group

Data Collection



Data Analysis



Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Writing

Friday
Getting Started
 Ritual and Magic
 (What are you afraid of?)
 To Accountability and Routine
 The Spew Draft
 For your eyes only
 From Spew to Manuscript


Content to Structure
Infrastructure – Plan and Execute
 Writing Matters

 Sharing

our Rituals
Magic or Function?
 Procrastination?
 Fear?
 Satisfaction?
 CREATE

ROUTINE
Accountability


To Self
To Others- Writing Groups
 What’s

Your Question
Why Worth Studying
 Major

Contribution
The analysis/findings
Answer
the “What” and “Why”
questions (write for 5 min)
Spew
 Ideas
Draft
for your current research
(5 min)
 I.

Introduction/Frame
Roadmap
 II.


Signficance
Literature Review/Theory
Transition to YOUR work
 III.

Methodology/Epistemology
Standpoint Reflexivity
 Findings-
Evidence
 Discussion
 Limitations
 Conclusions

The architecture of your paper

The roadmap
 Literature
Schema





Review: Impose an Organizational
Intellectual Debate
Development Over Time
Inconsistency in Findings
Include literature from country where journal is
published
International comparative review often useful
 Theoretical/Conceptual


Frame of the Article
Transition Smoothly from Literature Review
Provide Justification for Analysis to Follow
 Sample/Data
 Measurement
 Standpoint
 Analytic
and epistemology
Issues
Technique
 Reflexivity
 Hypotheses
( unusual for qualitative)
 Present


Evidence
Technical Presentation
Qualitative Data


show don’t tell
Provide evidence- quotes but also counts
 Don’t be afraid to give percentages
 Acknowledge, analyze outliers
 Interpret



that Evidence
What Does it Mean
Relate Back to Literature Review
Focus on One Major “story” line
 Key
Findings Summary
 Theoretical/Conceptual
 Admit


Contribution
Weaknesses in your project
Do not stress them
Never end with them
 Summary
 Implications


Why important?
Policy?
 Future
Work Necessary
 Substance

Know your argument
 Infra-structure



Roadmap: Reader must be able to follow you
Evidence
NOW Elegance or WRITING matters...



Paragraph structure
Word choice
Grammar
 WHAT/HOW/WHY
STRATEGY

PARAGRAPH
Every sentence has a function
 What’s
the Main Point?
 How
Do you support it?
 Why
is it Important?

Be passionate about your topic

Prefer simple words



Restrict usage of complicated terminology and jargon.
Use words to express ideas, not to impress
Sentences:
Every word should be justifiable
 Avoid long and complicated sentences!


Always provide concrete examples.


Abstract concepts difficult to understand without examples.
Avoid the Passive Voice

Papers can not “do” anything. People can.
 Active/Passive
Voice
The entrance exam was failed by over one-third of the
applicants
 Over one-third of the applicants failed the entrance exam
OR:
 The brakes were slammed on by her as the car sped downhill.
 She slammed on the brakes as the car sped downhill.


Sexist or Biased Language
Mankind
 Humanity, people, human beings
 The common man
 Ordinary people
 Recast in the plural
 Use one, your or (sparingly) he or she


Concise: words and phrases to avoid