Main Criticisms of Qualitative Research

1. Subjectivity leads to procedural problems • Replicability is very difficult • Unreliable • Researcher bias is built in and unavoidable • In-depth, comprehensive approach to data gathering limits scope • Labor intensive • Time consuming • Expensive • Very unreliable • (See Haralambos Methodology Chapter) Main Criticisms of Qualitative Research

2. Changes in the Socio-Political System (GLOBAL) • Marketization and global capitalism • Problems of Gender identities • Unjust social relations - class • Problems of National identities • Imposed knowledge • The oppression of minorities • organized violence • The hegemonic ranslational institutions and the control of nation states and social actors • Global surveillance, issues of privacy and the manipulation of identities and social practices through global information and communication technologies • Incivility

3. Changes in the Socio-Political System (GLOBAL)/Intellectual and Academic • 1980s Postmodernism • Representations – it was understood that researchers/people created reality through their representational, textual and interpretive practices – the emergence of the discourse turn (text, action, sounds, images) associated with Foucault and Derrida • How to (Re)present information The merging of social science and the humanities • Politics of doing research • Ethics and doing funded research • Purpose – What is the purpose of the social sciences?

4. Changes in the Socio-Political System (GLOBAL) • Need for deeper and rich understanding of social and political life • Need for in-depth Examination of Phenomena (greater insights and depth) - Provide thick descriptions of a phenomena • Extracts meaning from data • Examine and answer complex questions that can be impossible with quantitative methods • Need for a tool which explore new areas of social and political life • Need for a holistic approach understanding/interpreting and explaining social life build new theories – new association between variables and deconstruct existing ones.

5. Changes/Revolutions in the nature of Qualitative Research • The emergence of new theories • Hermeneutics • Critical Inquiry • Feminism • Postmodernism

6. Changes/Revolutions in the nature of Qualitative Research • The emergence of new methodologies • Grounded theory • Heuristic inquiry • Action research • Discourse analysis/Critical Discourse Analysis • Feminist/Critical/Postcolonial and Postmodern Ethnography

7. Changes in the nature of Qualitative Research • The emergence of new data collection and data analysis tools – to verify and make possible the reproduction of a research project – trustworthiness • Trustworthiness includes elements such as credibility, confirmability, transferability/Replicability (Lincoln and Guba, 1985). • Reflexivity

8. Trustworthiness

9. Credibility • Prolonged Engagement • Persistent Observation • Conduct peer consultations with colleagues – get their • interpretations of the data • Discuss issues such as the theoretical and accessible population, sampling frame and the actual sample, methodology, methods, the theoretical framework and the framing of the study • Use data (methods) triangulation • use of multiple methods • Use different data sources to study a phenomena • Member Checks

10. Transferability and DependabilityCan the research be replicated else where (is it reliable)? • Transferability or replicability is concerned with the readiness of both researchers and users of research findings to optimize the utilization of research elsewhere. • Such an undertaking is dependent on "solid descriptive data," or "thick description" (See Gertz Photocopy - docuspot) which the interview procedure for this study provided. • This was also facilitated through the use of the Audit Trail where the researcher thus establishes a trackable and documentable process (Lincoln and Guba, 1985). • Replicability was enhanced through the use of a Case Study Protocol and the Case Study Database (Refer to docuspot photocopy).

11. Confirmability Are the findings a product of the focus of the inquiry and not the biases of the researcher? • Track data to their sources • Audit Trail