following up on libqual+: qualitative data analysis workshop canadian association of research...
TRANSCRIPT
Following up on LibQUAL+: Qualitative Data Analysis
Workshop
Canadian Association of Research Libraries
Association of Research Libraries
October 24, 2007
Colleen Cook, Dean of Libraries, Texas A&M University
What are the characteristics of qualitative methods?
• The observer/researcher inseparable from the study
• Consists of a set of interpretive practices that tries to make sense of a cultural context
• Data sources: field notes, interviews, conversations, photographs, recordings, and memos to the self
• Study a natural setting, attempting to make sense of, or to interpret, phenomena in terms of the meanings people bring to them
How did qualitative methods evolve?
• Beginnings in Sociology: 1920s and 30s in the “Chicago School;” in Anthropology: in the studies by Boas, Mead, Benedict, Bateson, Evans-Pritchard, Radcliffe-Browne, and Malinowski
• Through seven moments (Denzin & Lincoln, 2001)
• Today: influences of poststructuralism and postmodernism from textual studies
How do qualitative and quantitative methods differ?
• Multiple realities, not a single one “out there” to be discovered
• Value laden, subjective rather than objective• Seeks closeness with the investigated
through interviewing and observation rather than abstract relationships
• Inductive rather than deductive• Purposeful sampling chosen for diversity
rather than random sampling
• Thick descriptions rather than crisp and terse background information
• Comfort with contradictions, ambiguity• Representations include ethnographic
prose, historical narratives, first-person accounts, still photographs, life histories, biographical and graphs, third-person narratives autobiographical materials rather than mathematical models, statistical tables
What data are collected by the qualitative researcher
(researcher as bricoleur, montage maker)?
• Case studies, personal experience, introspection, life story, interview, artifacts, cultural texts and productions, observational, historical, interactional, and visual texts, statistics that describe routine and problematic moments and meanings in individuals’ lives.
• Inherently multimethod in focus: triangulation
What fields of study are included in qualitative methods?
• Ethnomethodology, phenomenology, hermeneutics, feminism, deconstructionism, ethnography, interviews, psychoanalysis, cultural studies, survey research, participant observation
Multiple Methodsof Listening to Customers
• Transactional surveys*
• Mystery shopping
• New, declining, and lost-customer surveys
• Focus group interviews
• Customer advisory panels
• Service reviews
• Customer complaint, comment, and inquiry capture
• Total market surveys*
• Employee field reporting
• Employee surveys
• Service operating data capture
Note. A. Parasuraman. The SERVQUAL Model: Its Evolution And Current Status. (2000).
Paper presented at ARL Symposium on Measuring Service Quality, Washington, D.C.
• Purposeful sampling• Unstructured interviews - “conversations with
a purpose”• Peer review• Immediate and continuous analysis informing
further exploration• Journal• Member checks• Audit review
Establishing Trustworthiness: A Comparisonof Conventional and Naturalistic Inquiry
Criterion ConventionalTerm
NaturalisticTerm
NaturalisticTechniques
Truth value Internal validity Credibility Prolonged engagementPersistent observationTriangulationReferential adequacyPeer debriefingMember checksReflexive journal
Applicability External validity Transferability Thick descriptionPurposive samplingReflexive journal
Consistency Reliability Dependability Dependability auditReflexive journal
Neutrality Objectivity Confirmability Confirmability auditReflexive journal
Adapted from Lincoln & Guba, 1985.
Randolph High School Stability Within Transition
IndexCard Photos
ArtifactsB: Base D:District
S: School C: Calendar A: Annuals
N:Newspaper
I. A Rich History (p.44)A. Location of the base/the TAJB. Base description/accessC. Base housing descriptionD. History of the baseE. Mission of the base/Education of personnelF. History of the school district/funding
II. The High School (p.47)A. Perimeter Road
1. Description2. Stadium3. Trees
B. Campus descriptionC. High school office description/secretariesD. Teachers/ lounge descriptionE. Patio area descriptionF. Main classroom building description/display cases
III. The Principal—”Do what’s best for the kid!” (p. 51)A. Physical description
1. “Conservative”2. “Clean-cut”3. “Honest”4. “Country Gentleman”5. “Western-cut clothes”6. “Never having a hair out of place”7. “Trim”
IA,IBIBIB,IC
IE(1-3)IF(1-2)
IIA8,98IIB(1-2)IIC(1-6)
IIEIIF
IIIA2(1-2)IIIA2(1)IIIA2(2),IIIA3IIIA4IIIA4IIIA2(1)IIIA6(1-2)
4,5,66
B1,D2
7
10,11,14,80,8165,6667,6815-18,24-2830-44,49
2,90
2,90
2,902,9090,92
B1B1
A(1,2),D2,P32N(34,35,41)
A(1-5,12)
A16
The Audit TrailThe Audit Trail
Excerpted from Skipper, 1989.
Affect of Service
“I want to be treated with respect. I want you to be courteous, to look like you know what you are doing and enjoy what you are doing. … Don’t get into personal conversations when I am at the desk.”
Faculty member
Affect of Service
“I want to be treated with respect. I want you to be courteous, to look like you know what you are doing and enjoy what you are doing. … Don’t get into personal conversations when I am at the desk.”
Faculty member
Library as Place
“One of the cherished rituals is going up the steps and through the gorgeous doors of the library and heading up to the fifth floor to my study. … I have my books and I have six million volumes downstairs that are readily available to me in an open stack library.”
Faculty member
Library as Place
“I guess you’d call them satisfiers. As long as they are not negatives, they won’t be much of a factor. If they are negatives, they are a big factor.”
Faculty member
Information Control
“By habit, I usually try to be self-sufficient. And I’ve found that I am actually fairly proficient. I usually find what I’m looking for eventually. So I personally tend to ask a librarian only as a last resort.”
Graduate student
Information Control
“…first of all, I would turn to the best search engines that are out there. That’s not a person so much as an entity. In this sense, librarians are search engines [ just ] with a different interface.”
Faculty member
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Dimensions ofLibrary Service Quality
Empathy
InformationControl
Responsiveness
Symbol
Utilitarian space
Assurance
Scope of Content
Ease of Navigation
Self-Reliance
Library as Place
LibraryServiceQuality
Model 3
Refuge
Affect of Service
Reliability
Convenience
Timeliness
Equipment
Total Circulation
Note. M. Kyrillidou and M. Young. (2005). ARL Statistics 2003-04. Washington, D.C.: ARL, p.6.