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Qualitative methods

Qualitative methods. Examining approaches. Qualitative Methods. Rely on researcher as instrument Introduces certain issues Inherent subjectivity and bias Consistency in data collection and interpretation Impact of researcher on environment (esp. when studying people)

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Qualitative methods

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  1. Qualitative methods Examining approaches

  2. Qualitative Methods • Rely on researcher as instrument • Introduces certain issues • Inherent subjectivity and bias • Consistency in data collection and interpretation • Impact of researcher on environment (esp. when studying people) • How do we control for reliability and validity?

  3. Qualitative Methods

  4. Interacting with people/environments Qualitative Methods

  5. Case Study • In-depth review of a single situation: program, process, phenomenon • Might be descriptive or explanatory in approach • Might also form the basis of theory development, or modification of existing theories • Case studies are usually built on one or more of the following methods.

  6. Qualitative Study: Observation • Attempt to understand activities/ behaviors • Role of the observer: • Complete participant • Effects on the environment/process • Genuine or not? • “Going native” • Present self as participant not researcher • Ethical implications? • Observer and participant • Effects on process?

  7. Observation • Complete observer • Lessen effect on environment (perhaps) • Less likely to fully appreciate situations/contexts • Other choices • How much time/frequency on-site • Focus- comprehensive or narrow • Issues • Relations to subjects

  8. Qualitative Study: Interviews • Attempt to gain in-depth knowledge on a topic • In a less structured format, interviewer may act more as facilitator, asking open ended questions and drawing the participant out. • Structured, semi-structured, or unstructured? • Format- in person, telephone, email?

  9. Interviews • Types of questions: • Experience/ behavior • Feeling • Opinion/ value • Knowledge • Sensory • Demographic

  10. Interviews • Issues • Logistics • Building trust • Delicate questions/ situations- ensuring honesty • Accuracy of transcripts • Advantages and disadvantages? • Appropriate uses?

  11. Qualitative Study: Focus Groups • Attempt to learn about the attitudes/ beliefs/ feelings of groups and how those influence behavior • Why groups? One individual’s comments can trigger important responses from others. • Can explore large ranges of topics

  12. Focus Groups • Issues • How structured? • Importance of facilitator’s role- how well trained? • Building trust • Finding reliable representative volunteers • Ensuring accuracy of transcription- audio/ video tape? Outside observation? • Facilities

  13. Qualitative Study: Think-Aloud • Asks respondent to verbalize their thoughts while performing an assigned activity or task • Attempt to gain more insight into thought processes • Correct for mistakes/ assumptions of observer

  14. Think Aloud • Requires participants that are highly verbal in nature • Adding this layer of feedback may affect their cognitive processes and behaviors- more “self-concious.” • How to transcribe while observing? Accuracy? • Appropriate use of clarifying questions? • Appropriate uses?

  15. Qualitative Study: Ethnographic • Tools developed in the field of cultural anthropology • Attempt to better understand people/ behavior by observing it within natural setting • Can study observable material items, individual behaviors and performances, or ideas • Requires careful attention to detail within cultural context

  16. Ethnographic • Possible Tools: • Observation in context • Key informant interviewing • Drawing pictures • Taking photos • Using maps to track activities • Videotaping

  17. Ethnographic: Examples • Susan Gibbons and Nancy Fried Foster of University of Rochester: Understanding Users to Develop Better Library Services (ACRL/NEC 2006) • User-centered studies of library use… • Mapping Diaries • Photo Elicitation Interviews

  18. Photo Elicitation

  19. Mapping Diaries

  20. Qualitative Study: Delphi Method • A “systematic interactive forecasting method.” • Involves interviewing/ surveying of experts within a field- generally 9 to 99 • Experts are provided with hypotheses, trigger statements, scenarios, etc. and asked to respond. • First round responses are shared with the group anonymously, so participants can revise earlier statements, react to responses.

  21. Delphi Method • After several rounds, hypotheses may be refined, group may reach “consensus” • Facilitator reviews responses to each round- can filter out irrelevant content, choose presentation of information, ask questions. • Advantages and disadvantages?

  22. Interacting with Artifacts Qualitative Studies

  23. Types of Documents? • Policy Manuals • Digital reference transcripts • Comment/ complaint cards • Job ads • Published Literature • Blogs, listserv postings, etc. • Open-ended responses

  24. Published Books Journal articles Conference proceedings Theses/dissertations Web ALA. ACRL. CIP Notes CLIR. www.clir.org/pubs/pubs.html ARL Other Peer Review Unpublished Internal reports Local use only reports Evaluation Research

  25. Qualitative Analysis: Examining Documents • Focus on: • Word choice • Word frequency • Word sequence • Intensity of feeling/ expression (how to measure?) • Key word in context • Typology of concepts/ categories?

  26. Qualitative: Examining Documents • Systematic review of text/ images: content analysis • Classifies textual or visual material • Uses analytical constructs or rules to draw inferences about recurring aspects of text.

  27. Qualitative Study: Diaries • Participants record activities, thoughts, reactions, etc. daily (weekly, etc.) over a set period of time. • Blogs- equivalent? • When to use? • Issues • How faithful are participants? How can you help ensure full participation? • How much guidance to give? • Too much/ too little detail. • Advantages and disadvantages?

  28. Examples • Nicole Henning/ Photo Diary Study (MIT) • 16 students tracked their information seeking behavior for one week. • Used diaries and screen shots to record their thoughts and actions • Hernon et. al. • Track library directors to identify leadership and management behaviors • Used diaries to record activities for two months

  29. Grounded Theory • The attempt to derive theories from an analysis of patterns, themes, and common categories discovered in observational data. • Relies on a systematic set of procedures (i.e. systematic coding, reliability and validity)

  30. Qualitative Study: Citation Analysis • Systematic review of bibliographies/ references within published literature. • Focus on • Authorship • Form of publication (periodical, monograph, etc.) • Class of material (primary, secondary, etc.) • Language • Subject • Currency

  31. Citation Analysis • What can citations tell us? • How scholarly is the cited literature? • How current are the citations? • How research-oriented is it? • How interdisciplinary is it? • How writes the literature? How collaborative? • Where does the literature appear?

  32. Citation Analysis • Growth of literature on a subject • Dispersion of writings on a subject across form and journals • Obsolescence of literature • Scholarly networks: who cites whom? • Publishing productivity

  33. Advantages Shows what is cited Does not involve interaction with subjects Profiles a literature Shows changes in a field over time? Disadvantages How complete is the work from which citations are drawn? How accurate are citations? Are all materials cited? Choosing easy to find/ retrieve items over better quality? How easily retrievable are works? Citation Analysis

  34. Citation Analysis: Issues • From where are citations drawn? How far can you generalize findings? • Does citation reflect use? • Self-citations and/ or gratuitous citations • Half-life • Impact factor (to what extent are recent articles in journals cited?) • Calculated annually: divide the number of current citations a journal receives to articles published in the previous two years by the number of articles published in those same years

  35. Web Citations • How “prestigious” are different online sources- ejournals, open access, etc. • References to and from a Web site • Retrievability

  36. Sweeping Studies • A type of spatial data analysis • Useful for mapping out the physical spaces of a library and investigating how people use those spaces

  37. Qualitative Study: Concept Mapping • “Any process that represents ideas in pictures of maps.” • A method of organizing the ideas and thoughts of a group to form a common framework • Can be used to integrate ideas from less structured activities such as brainstorming

  38. Concept Mapping • Typical steps: • Focus: determine desired outcomes/ questions to be addressed • Generating ideas: Brainstorm, use trigger statements, ask questions • Analysis: Sort ideas into large sets • Unstructured idea sorting: ask individuals to sort ideas into groups and label • Sorting by stakeholders: organize ideas by group that generated those ideas • Ratings: assign values to ideas (importance, feasibility, etc.)

  39. Concept Mapping • Map analysis: generate map based on idea sorting (could use statistical software, or do by hand) • Interpret map: Share with other groups to obtain understanding

  40. Example: IR and IL

  41. Collection and Analysis Qualitative Data

  42. Qualitative Data • Systematic collection of data is important • Recording observations • Separating “fact” from feelings and impressions • Empirical observations and interpretation • Deep, thick description • Don’t rely on memory- record as much as possible • Take notes in stages

  43. Qualitative Data • Validity • Field research tends to be more valid than experimental or survey measures. Why? • Reliability • Researcher is the tool- biases and assumptions can influence analysis • Helps to identify and acknowledge those biases and assumptions beforehand, be aware of them throughout

  44. Qualitative Data Analysis • Interplay of theory and analysis- rechecking data against existing theories/modes of thinking • Discovering patterns: • Frequencies • Magnitudes • Structures/Types • Processes • Causes • Consequences

  45. Qualitative Data Analysis • Grounded theory- generating theory solely from examination of data • Usually progresses in four stages (constant comparative method): • Comparing incidents applicable to each category • Integrating categories and their properties • Delimiting the theory • Writing the theory

  46. Qualitative Data Coding • Coding- classifying or categorizing individual pieces of data • Choosing a concepts to code • Physically coding- by hand or with software • Creating codes • Open coding- naming and categorizing phenomena through close analysis of the data. Categories arise from the data

  47. Qualitative Data Coding • Memoing- writing notes to yourself as you code data • Code notes- identify code meanings and labels • Theoretical notes-reflections on meanings, relationships among concepts, theoretical propositions, etc. • Operational notes- notes on methodological issues, data-collection circumstances, etc. • Sorting memo- attempt to discover or create meaning in the data • Integrating memo- ties it all together

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