1. INFO 272. Qualitative Research Methods Components of the Research Process

2. Outline • The relationship between qualitative and quantitative research • Steps and sequencing in the research process – 2 versions • Discussion of Becker’s ‘The Epistemology of Qualitative Research’

3. Bridging Qualitative and Quantitative • Quantification also involves qualification • Statistical analysis requires interpretation • Interpretation is not the enemy of systematized procedures (see grounded theory) • Mixed-Method Approaches

4. Bridging Qualitative and Quantitative • Methodological pluralism? • Time ordering: • Qualitative to define concepts  Quantitative to refine, test • Quantitative to test  Qualitative to explain/interpret results • Another process for generating rigor is through iteration…

5. The Linear Model 1) theory/model 2) hypothesis 3) operationalization 4) sampling 5) data collection 6) interpretation 7) validation [Flick]

6. The Iterative Model 1) research topic/questions movement back and forth between these phases 2) ‘corpus construction’ 3) data gathering 4) analysis 5) write-up

7. The Iterative Model 1) research topic/questions movement back and forth between these phases 2) ‘corpus construction’ 3) data gathering Field work 4) analysis 4) more analysis Desk work 5) write-up

8. A Double Iteration 1) research topic/questions 2) ‘corpus construction’ 3) data gathering Field work 4) analysis 4) more analysis Desk work 5) write-up

9. 1) research topic/questions • academic setting: contextualized within the major debates in your discipline • ‘the boy with the hammer’ (law of instrument) = there should be a match between research questions and methods used to answer those questions • (does not mean that questions always precede choice of method, nor does it mean that you will not tend to favor certain methods)

10. 2) ‘corpus construction’ • recruiting people for interviews • selecting texts or images • fieldsite selection • Why not ‘sampling?’ • how to start, where to look, when to stop – meaning saturation • but more generally, the search for data richness and visibility of certain cultural processes

11. 3) data gathering • interviews (transcripts) • participant-observation (field notes) • collecting texts/images (from the field) • expediency • technique - how the communicative process between researcher and researched influences the data produced

12. 3) Analysis • Comments in your field notes, emerging themes • Established forms: • Discourse analysis • Rhetorical analysis • Content analysis • Semiotics • Grounded theory

13. 3) Final Report • Writing is committing (an extension of analysis) • Coping with heterogeneous data (tip: start with the most interesting bit) • Closeness to the data

14. A Double Iteration 1) research topic/questions 2) ‘corpus construction’ 3) data gathering Field work 4) analysis 4) more analysis Desk work 5) write-up