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Department of Sociology An Introduction To Qualitative Research Prepared by Christina Hughes University of Warwick
Department of Sociology An Introduction To Qualitative Research Prepared by Christina Hughes University of Warwick
PREPARED BY
CHRISTINA HUGHES
UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK
AN INTRODUCTION
•
Qualitative research is empirical research where the data are
not in the form of numbers. (Punch, 1998: 4)
•
· The traditional (1900-195): associated with the positivist
paradigm where qualitative research aims to reflect the
principles of (natural) scientific enquiry;
· As Denzin and Lincoln (1994) point out the nature of the field
of qualitative research changes over time. Different perspectives
and concerns arise at different points.
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
KEY CHARACTERISTICS
Further Work
SOFT HARD
SUBJECTIVE OBJECTIVE
IDIOGRAPHIC GENERALIZABLE
JOURNALISM SCIENCE
OPINION TRUTH
Ideas of `second' best also rest on the stereotypes that arise when
quantitative and qualitative approaches are compared in this
way. In practice, researchers use a variety of methods or
techniques of data collection under the umbrella terms of
`qualitative' and `quantitative' to enhance the generalizability of
the account (Bryman, 1988). In addition, as Hammersley (1989)
indicates there is much greater variety of theories of social
reality within and between the labels `quantitative' and
`qualitative' than we might at first imagine.
In some ways the concerns that arise about a
qualitative/quantitative divide can be resolved by giving greater
attention to how these approaches can be combined. For Bryman
(1998: 126) this would produce `more complete accounts of
social reality'. However, it is perhaps important to remember
that the values conveyed by descriptions such as soft/hard,
idiosyncratic/generalizable, art/science, small scale/large scale
have political import. There is a politics in the choice and use of
methods, particularly if you hope that your research will impact
on policy or create change in some way. Jayaratne (1993)
encourages feminists to use both methods because she believes
this is more likely to achieve feminist goals. Thus: `My
approach to this issue [of choice of method] is political: that is, I
believe the appropriate use of both quantitative and qualitative
methods in the social sciences can help the feminist community
in achieving its goals more effectively than the use of either
qualitative or quantitative methods alone' (p 109, emphasis in
original).
Strengths
•
The researcher has several methods for collecting empirical
materials, ranging from the interview to direct observation, to
the analysis of artifacts, documents, and cultural records, to the
use of visual materials or personal experience. The researcher
may also use a variety of different methods of reading and
analyzing interviews or cultural texts, including content,
narrative, and semiotic strategies. Faced with large amounts of
qualitative materials, the investigator seeks ways of managing
and interpreting these documents, and here data management
methods and computer-assisted models of analysis may be of
use. (Denzin and Lincoln, 1994: 14).
•
...attention to the complex relationship between processes of
knowledge production and the various contexts of such
processes as well as the involvement of the knowledge producer.
This involves operating on at least two levels in research work
and paying much attention to how one thinks about thinking ...
[this means] that serious attention is paid to the way different
kinds of linquistic, social, political and theoretical elements are
woven together in the process of knowledge development,
during which empirical material is constructed, interpreted and
written. Empirical research in a reflective mode starts from a
sceptical approach to what appear at a superficial glance as
unproblematic replicas of the way reality functions, while at the
same time maintaining the belief that the study of suitable (well
thought-out) excerpts from this reality can provide an important
basis for a generation of knowledge that opens up rather than
closes, and furnishes opportunities for understanding rather
than establishes `truths'.
The key point here is that the reflexive social researcher has to
recognise their own place and role in generating the knowledge
that is in the research report. For example, Scheurich (1997)
suggests that the researcher is an imperialist who can marshall
the data according to her will. What does this mean, then, for the
validity of the research?
The hints set out above have arisen from my own research and
teaching experiences. They are aimed at students who are
undertaking research for the first time. I hope that the following
exercise will generate some more hints and tips that are useful in
your research.
· This is the first time you have undertaken field research and
you are very nervous and anxious. What will help?
Observational Notes
These record events experienced principally through watching
and listening. They contain as little interpretation as possible
and are as reliable as the observer can construct them.
Methodological Notes
Theoretical Notes
Analytical Notes
statement.
UNDERTAKING AN OBSERVATION
· Are there any situations to which you cannot get access but
where observation may be important? How can you get
`backstage'?
•
The terms `power' and `empowerment' crop up a great deal in
research related to social justice. This is not surprising.
Improvements in justice are related to power: who has it, how it
is exercised and where it manifests itself. It sounds as if
researchers for social justice would find a lot to agree about
here. But this is not the case. ... the very differences invite
greater reflexivity and clarity about what researchers think they
are doing, and whether it is worthwhile. (Griffiths, 1998: 117)
•
... the issue of institutional authority raises the contradictions of
trying to achieve a democratic and collective ideal in a
hierarchical institution, but it also raises the question of the
meaning of authority for feminist teachers, whose right to speak
or to hold power is itself under attack in a patriarchal, (and
racist, homophobic, classist, and so on) society.
Further Work
BIBLIOGRAPHY