EDER 603.01 - Introduction to Interpretive Inquiry
Assignment 3a Outline - Tenets of Good Qualitative Research
Introduction
  • Definition - Qualitative - Qualitative Research
  • Purpose of paper - describe tenets of good qualitative research and the theory that informs such tenets
"Qualitative" - The Acronym for the Tenets of Good Qualitative Research
Q Question 
  • has a question or questions to be answered
  • has clear goals in the design process
  • uses an emergent process
  • uses a systematic approach
  • has a methodological framework
  • has a theoretical framework
U Understanding
  • committed and involved in the study
  • rapport with participants does not necessarily distort data
    • humanistic approach
    • develop relationship with participant
    • get perspectiv of research participant
    • dramaturgical look at interviewing
      • getting in
      • analysis
  • use natural setting as a source for data
    • control of environment left to participants
  • collaborative (action research)
A Accuracy
  • research is a "human instrument" of data collection
  • transform, reduce, analyze raw data
  • objectivity (eliminate bias)
    • "inherently cannot be objective
  • subjectivity (recognize bias)
    • be transparent in process
    • "openess" - "data as a star"
  • bias is involved
  • practice of reflexivity
  • research can be reproduced
L Liberatory Process
  • towards a greater understanding not merely for research sake
  • commited to social change
  • transfer of skills and knowledge in both directions
  • greater consciousness of research participants of their everyday reality
I Idiosyncratic
  • discover meaning of those who experience them
  • interpretation of the meaning by the researcher
  • pay attention to the idiosyncratic (the less obvious) cues as well as the
  • "full" "thick" description to reproduce the "lived experience" of others
  • breadth of a study - find out something about every topic
  •  pervasive (more obvious) clues
T Triangulation
  • multiple methods of data gathering
  • ensure data validation via one or more research procedure
  • common patterns
A Abstract Details
  • all data is important no matter how abstract
  • "work that is based on careful, close-up observation of a wide variety of matters that bear on the question under investigation is better than work which relies on inference and more remote kinds of observations"
  • symbolic interactionist perspective
T Trustworthiness
  • empirical validated evidence in response to the question
  • objectivity versus confirmability
  • internal validity versus credibility
  • external validity versus transferability
  • unflinching honesty
  • results can be generated to other population external to the study population
I Inductive Analysis
  • bringing forward of facts and instances to prove general statement
  • "theoretical sensitivity" - find subtleties in the meaning of the data
  • grounded theory - mold theory to the data
  • generate the theory rather than just testing the theory or a mere description
  • data analysis - "pile building"
V Voice
  • linguistic clarity and simplicity especially with definitions
  • descriptive and expressive language used in reports
    • allow readers to re-live the experience
E Ethics
  • ethically defensible methodological framework
  • consent
    • informed
    • implied
    • active
    • passive
  • not always necessary because information will result in the research not being conducted as it should be
  • IRB's (Institutional Review Board) - ethics commitees
Discussion
  • not all qualitative research done the same way
    • must have systematic and theoretical framework
  • the all or none question - qualitative vs quantitative research paradigms
  • final statement of the tenets of good qualitative research
 References

Becker, Howard S. (1992). The Epistemology of Qualitative Research. "Qualitative" and "Quantitative". Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Retrieved October 11, 2002 from, http://www.soc.ucsb.edu/faculty/hbecker/qa.html

Berg, Bruce L. (2001). Qualitative Research Methods for the Social Sciences. Toronto: Allyn and Bacon.

Dodsworth, Dianne. (2002). Quoted from course correspondence: Posting # 124, End of Week 3 Message, September 30, 2002. EDER 603.01- L91, Fall 2002, WebCT discussion posting.

Hammar, Lawrence. (2002). Fundamentals of Qualitative Research. Retrieved October 11, 2002 from, http://fp.involved.com/methodsman/Fundamentals%20of%20Q.R.M..htm

Hoepfl, MarieC. (1997). Choosing Qualitative Research: A Primer for Technology Education Researchers, v9 no1, 1-11. Retrieved October 11, 2002, from http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/JTE/v9n1/hoepfl.html

Kleinsasser, Audrey M. (2000). Researchers, Reflexivity, and Good Data: Writing to Unlearn. Theory in Practice, v39 no3, 155-62.

McBride, Rob and Schostak, John. (n.d.). What is Qualitative Research? Retrieved October 11, 2002 from http://www.uea.ac.uk/care/elu/Issues/Research/Res1Cont.html

Olson, Hope. (1995). Quantitative versus Qualitative Research: The Wrong Question. CAIS/ACSI - Annual Conference for the Canadian Association of Information Science. Retrieved October 11, 2002, from http://www.ualberta.ca/dept/slis/cais/olson.htm

Qualitative Research List - Thread Discussion. (July 28/96 - Aug 4/96). Retrieved October 11, 2002, from http://kerlins.net/bobbi/research/qualresearch/research.html

Scott, David; Usher, Robin. (1996). Understanding Educational Research. New York: Routledge.

Wainwright, David. (1997). Can Sociological Research be Qualitative, Critical, and Valid? The Qualitative Report, v3 no2. Retrieved October 11, 2002, from http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/QR3-2/wain.html