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Research Methods and Statistics in Psychology Lecture 12a: Qualitative Methods I

2. Research Methods and Statistics in Psychology Lecture 12a: Qualitative Methods I. 1. IntroductionDespite the many differences between the statistical techniques that we have discussed in previous lectures, it's clear they all have one thing in common: the collection and manipulation of quantita

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Research Methods and Statistics in Psychology Lecture 12a: Qualitative Methods I

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    1. 1 Research Methods and Statistics in Psychology Lecture 12a: Qualitative Methods I Overview of lecture 1. Introduction 2. Critiques of quantitative approaches: (a) the standard critique (b) the radical critique 3. Methods of collecting qualitative data 4. Principles for handling qualitative data Reading for this lecture Chapter 12 in H&M.

    2. 2 Research Methods and Statistics in Psychology Lecture 12a: Qualitative Methods I 1. Introduction Despite the many differences between the statistical techniques that we have discussed in previous lectures, it’s clear they all have one thing in common: the collection and manipulation of quantitative data. This meant that when we thought about potential research questions (e.g., ‘Does absence make the heart grow fonder?’), answers were provided that relied upon numbers rather than words. Having collected data in this form, the methods for analysing it could also be understood in terms of a series of well-defined decisions that led to readily interpretable outcomes.

    3. 3 Research Methods and Statistics in Psychology Lecture 12a: Qualitative Methods I 1. Introduction This is all well and good. However, it possible to object to these practices on grounds that they misrepresent the underlying subject matter of psychology. Indeed, criticism of this form may have already occurred to you. For example, you might feel that circling a number on a scale can never come close to capturing what it means to be in love. In effect, you are asking for examination of these phenomena that is qualitative rather than (just) quantitative and which does a better job of understanding them: (a) as they are experienced by the people involved and (b) as they occur naturally ‘in the real world’.

    4. 4 Research Methods and Statistics in Psychology Lecture 12a: Qualitative Methods I 2. Critiques of quantitative approaches What are the main misgivings that (some) researchers have about quantitative methods? Answering this question helps us to understand the basic motivations that underpin various qualitative methods and to understand where those who use them are ‘coming from’. It also raises a number of issues that all researchers need to consider carefully in thinking about qualitative research.

    5. 5 Research Methods and Statistics in Psychology Lecture 12a: Qualitative Methods I 2. Critiques of quantitative approaches This is important as researchers often advocate the exclusive use of quantitative methods and dismiss altogether the potential for qualitative approaches to contribute to psychological knowledge (usually on grounds that they are non-cumulative, non-generalizable, subjective and unscientific). This response is misguided because an appreciation of the issues raised by qualitative studies has the potential to enrich all psychological research — including that which is exclusively quantitative.

    6. 6 Research Methods and Statistics in Psychology Lecture 12a: Qualitative Methods I 2. Critiques of quantitative approaches (a) The standard critique This is based on the view that there is ‘more’ to psychological phenomena than can be conveyed by mere numbers and by crude attempts to manipulate discrete aspects of the environment one at a time. If one thinks, for example, about our separation and attraction study we can see that it is possible to object to this at a number of levels: (a) feelings are transposed into numbers when, in reality, their positive and negative aspects encompass emotions as varied (and with distinctions as subtle) as fondness, pleasure, affection, love, and lust as opposed to hate, dissatisfaction, distrust, pique, jealousy, and boredom. If a person circles a ‘6’ on a scale, which of these does it mean?

    7. 7 Research Methods and Statistics in Psychology Lecture 12a: Qualitative Methods I 2. Critiques of quantitative approaches (a) The standard critique (b) the same experimental manipulation can mean different things to different people. So one person may find repeated interaction with a stranger increasingly stimulating while another finds it increasingly bizarre. Faced with these problems, one key recommendation of qualitative researchers is to adopt research practices that (a) focus on the meaning that particular behaviours have for participants themselves (this is commonly referred to as a hermeneutic approach) and (b) actively involve participants in the research process (a principle referred to as participant involvement or user involvement).

    8. 8 Research Methods and Statistics in Psychology Lecture 12a: Qualitative Methods I 2. Critiques of quantitative approaches (a) The standard critique As a result, where quantitative approaches involve the cold, bare statistical analysis of numerical data, qualitative research focuses on words or other ways of capturing the warmer, richer elaboration of experience. Having said that, many of the actual methods to which these ideas lead sit quite happily alongside the quantitative methods we have already discussed in previous lectures and they can be used for very similar purposes.

    9. 9 Research Methods and Statistics in Psychology Lecture 12a: Qualitative Methods I 2. Critiques of quantitative approaches (b) The radical critique This suggests that qualitative research needs to be doing something altogether incompatible with quantitative goals and practices. There are different components of this radical critique that not all researchers subscribe to, but three are most prominent (a) An objection to the philosophies of realism or positivism that underpin most quantitative research. Realism and positivism reflect the view, that there are a set of objective psychological facts ‘out there’ awaiting ‘discovery’ by suitably trained researchers (e.g., ‘fondness’, ‘memory’).

    10. 10 Research Methods and Statistics in Psychology Lecture 12a: Qualitative Methods I 2. Critiques of quantitative approaches (b) The radical critique Radical critics argue that features of the world only exist as a result of a set of meanings which are actively constructed by communities within it (e.g., scientists, students, Westerners, etc). From this perspective, what ‘counts’ as ‘fondness’, ‘memory’, ‘absence’ or attention’ can be seen to depend on who you are and where you fit into the social structure. These objections are consistent with philosophies of idealism, constructionism, constructivism, relativism, or (more loosely) post-modernism. Broadly speaking, these argue that no uniquely valid interpretation of the world is possible, because multiple interpretations of the world exist and each appears equally valid when looked at from the perspective of the interpreter.

    11. 11 Research Methods and Statistics in Psychology Lecture 12a: Qualitative Methods I 2. Critiques of quantitative approaches (b) The radical critique (b) a rejection of researchers’ goal of developing universal laws of cause and effect (what is sometimes called a nomothetic approach). As an alternative researchers argue for an approach which attempts to understand behaviour in the contexts where it occurs without seeking to elevate any such understanding to the status of a law (an idiographic approach). In answer to the question ‘If my partner goes overseas will she love me more or less when she returns?’, a qualitative researcher may start by asking ‘Well, what exactly do you mean by ‘love’?’. They may also want to stop thinking about love as a variable and instead look at how the idea of ‘love’ is used in everyday interaction.

    12. 12 Research Methods and Statistics in Psychology Lecture 12a: Qualitative Methods I 2. Critiques of quantitative approaches (b) The radical critique (c) recognition of researchers’ involvement in the research process and belief that the products of scientific enquiry only have subjective, not objective, validity. Such objections are most clearly expressed in an opposition to the standard practices for writing up research findings. Research reports tend to be written in a dispassionate and seemingly disinterested way so that ‘the facts’ appear to emerge as the result of a cold inhuman scientific process (e.g., the report in H&M pp. 469-475). Qualitative critics argue this is unrealistic as research outcomes are contingent upon researchers’ perspectives, values and objective. They argue these need to be visible and accounted for.

    13. 13 Research Methods and Statistics in Psychology Lecture 12a: Qualitative Methods I 2. Critiques of quantitative approaches (b) The radical critique As presented above, the differences between quantitative and qualitative research appear to be rather stark. However, it is important to note that, in practice, the distinction between the two is not this black and white. This is for at least three reasons: (a) not all qualitative researchers endorse a radical critique (or, if they do, they only embrace certain parts of it). (b) many quantitative researchers are sympathetic to the issues that this critique raises and try to display sensitivity to it in their research practice and theorizing. (c) although quantitative and qualitative methods are different, the methods and principles that guide data collection are often very similar.

    14. 14 Research Methods and Statistics in Psychology Lecture 12a: Qualitative Methods I 3. Methods of collecting qualitative data Most of the techniques that are used to collect quantitative data can also be used to collect qualitative data. This is particularly true of a number of the main methods of data collection that we have discussed in previous lectures — including interviews, case studies, archival studies and observational studies. In all these settings, rather than gathering numerical data a researcher can gather verbal data from interviews (structured or unstructured), group discussion (e.g., using focus groups or delphi groups), written communication (e.g., letters, memos, public documents), recorded material (e.g., radio programmes, television interviews), other sources (e.g., the Internet, transcripts of court or legislative proceedings).

    15. 15 Research Methods and Statistics in Psychology Lecture 12a: Qualitative Methods I 3. Methods of collecting qualitative data However, qualitative methods of data gathering vary in three key respects from those typically associated with quantitative methods: (a) the data can be structured or unstructured. (b) data can be gathered explicitly for research purposes or it can exist independently of research. (c) researchers themselves can either be internal or external to the data.

    16. 16 Research Methods and Statistics in Psychology Lecture 12a: Qualitative Methods I 4. Some general principles for collecting and analysing qualitative data In light of the radical critique discussed above, there are some dangers in attempting to identify general principles that guide the collection and analysis of qualitative data. Indeed, some radical qualitative researchers correspond to what psychologists traditionally think of as ‘method’. Nonetheless, Yin (1994) discusses five steps for carrying out qualitative case studies and, these are broadly appropriate to most qualitative work:

    17. 17 Research Methods and Statistics in Psychology Lecture 12a: Qualitative Methods I 4. Some general principles for collecting and analysing qualitative data Step 1 Develop appropriate research questions Qualitative research usually asks ‘How do?’ and ‘Why do?’ questions, (rather than ‘How much?’, ‘How often?’, i.e., quantitative ones). The rationale for this rests on two assumptions: (a) that research participants are in a position to comment verbally on issues pertaining to the research topic, and/or (b) that their comments are in some way relevant to understanding that topic.

    18. 18 Research Methods and Statistics in Psychology Lecture 12a: Qualitative Methods I 4. Some general principles for collecting and analysing qualitative data Step 2 Identify key propositions for the study As with quantitative work, much qualitative research is driven by a desire to test (or explore) a set of hypotheses that derive from a particular theory or approach to a topic. Stating in advance of any study what its purpose is an important means by which its success can ultimately be judged.

    19. 19 Research Methods and Statistics in Psychology Lecture 12a: Qualitative Methods I 4. Some general principles for collecting and analysing qualitative data Step 3 Specify the unit(s) and context(s) of interest. Qualitative research typically aims to make statements about classes of individuals (e.g., older daughters, scientists, chess players) or situations (e.g., organizational cultures, learning regimes, hospital wards). Specifying the unit(s) and context(s) of interest helps readers to understand the relationship between a particular piece of data (e.g., a response in an interview) and the research project as a whole.

    20. 20 Research Methods and Statistics in Psychology Lecture 12a: Qualitative Methods I 4. Some general principles for collecting and analysing qualitative data Step 4 Establish the logic linking the data to the propositions. Explaining how and why particular pieces of data help achieve particular research objectives allows consumers of the research to evaluate its success. The nature of these explanations will vary substantially as a function of the approach to research that is adopted (e.g., whether it is informed by a realist or constructionist philosophy).

    21. 21 Research Methods and Statistics in Psychology Lecture 12a: Qualitative Methods I 4. Some general principles for collecting and analysing qualitative data Step 5 Explain the criteria for interpreting the findings Even though no thing like an alpha level exists in qualitative research, it is still necessary for researchers to indicate why they favour particular interpretations of their data and why they draw particular conclusions. Usually (but not always) these claims will rely on the detection of regularities and patterning within the data, including similarities and differences (e.g., within and between individuals and situations). Researchers need to explain why any set of regularities and patterns has been singled out for attention. This helps to offset counter-claims and alternative interpretations of the data.

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