q research design

8/12/2019 Q Research Design

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QualitativeResearch

Methods


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Ethics in Research

Three Ethical Principles:

1. Beneficence: Maximizing good outcomes for science, humanity, and

the individual research participants and minimizing or avoidingunnecessary risk, harm, or wrong;

2. Respect: Treating people with respect and courtesy, including those

who are not autonomous (e.g. small children, people who have mental

retardation or senility);

3. Justice: Ensuring that those who bear the risk in the research are the

ones who benefit from it; ensuring that the procedures are reasonable,

nonexploitative, carefully considered, and fairly administered.


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Six Norms of Scientific Research

cited in D. Mertens, Research Methods in Education and Psychology, (1998)

1. Use of a valid research design: Faulty research is not useful to anyoneand is not only a waste of time and money but cannot be conceived of as

being ethical in that it does not contribute to the well-being of the

participants.

2. The researcher must be competent to conduct research.

3. Consequences of the research must be identified: Procedures mustrespect privacy, ensure confidentiality, maximize benefits, and minimize

risks.

4. The sample selection must be appropriate for the purposes of the study,

representative of the population to benefit from the study, and sufficient in

number.5. The participants must agree to participate in the study through voluntary

informed consent--that is, without threat or undue inducement (voluntary),

knowing what a reasonable person in the same situation would want to

know before giving consent (informed), and explicitly agreeing to

participate (consent).6. The researcher must inform the participants whether harm will be


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Moving Toward Doing Research

A Model for Qualitative Research Design Chapter 1, MaxwellPurposes: Why Are You Doing This Study? Chapter 2, Maxwell

Conceptual Framework: What Do You Think is Going On?, Chapter 3, Maxwell

Research Questions: What Do You Want to Understand? Chapter 4, Maxwell

Essential reading!!!!!


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Quantitative Paradigm


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Qualitative Paradigm


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Contextual

Factors


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PurposesConceptualContext

ResearchQuestions

Methods Validity

Your Research Question?


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PURPOSES:

WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS STUDY?

Personal PracticalResearch


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REASONS

MOTIVES

DESIRES

GOALS

WHAT YOU HOPE TO ACCOMPLISH


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PERSONAL PURPOSES

these are private reasons which are about

who you are as a person;

personal experience

comfort levels

what is familiar

habits of being

identity


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RESEARCH PURPOSES

these reasons are about understanding

phenomena;

gaining insight

developing theory

interpreting the actions of individuals and

situations

modeling interactions


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STRENGTHS OF QUALITATIVE

RESEARCH Interpretative

Approach

to understand meaning

and reality from the

participantsperspective


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RESEARCH Context within which

participants act

small number ofindividuals or

situations

preserve the

individuality of each


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RESEARCH Identifying

Unanticipated

Phenomena andInfluences

generating new

grounded theory

exploratory role(especially for

developing surveys,

questionnaires, and

variables forexperimental

investigation


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RESEARCH Understanding Process how events and

actions take place

interest in processrather than outcomes


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RESEARCH Causal Explanations local causality; what

actual events and

processes led tospecific outcomes

process theory rather

than variance theory


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CONCEPTUAL CONTEXTconceptualOR theoreticalframework: system of concepts, assumptions,expectations, beliefs, and theories that supports and informs your research=

A KEY PART OF YOUR DESIGN

it is CONSTRUCTEDnot found

You BUILD it out of:

1. your own experiential knowledge;

expectations, beliefs, assumptions

2. existing theory and research;

explanations, linking of concepts and categories by a proposed

relationship

coat closet, spotlight

3. pilot and exploratory research;

test design, clarify facets of design

4. thought experiments

what if questions, speculation

creative and explorative


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A SIMPLE THEORY

CONCEPT A CONCEPT B

THEORY PROVIDES A MAP OFWHYTHE WORLDIS THE WAY IT IS. IT IS A SIMPLIFICATION OF THEWORLD, BUT A SIMPLIFICATION AIMED AT CLARIFYING

ANDEXPLAININGSOME ASPECT OF HOW IT WORKS

DESCRIPTION: SIMPLY A FACTUAL NARRATIVE OF WHATHAPPENED

INTERPRETATION: MEANING GIVEN TO A SITUATION OR EVENTBY THE PEOPLE STUDIED

in Maxwell, 1996, pp. 32

l f ill i


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a toolfor illustrating your

conceptual framework:

concept mapping picture of the TERRITORYyou want to study, not of the study itself a visual display of your current working theory

a picture of what you think is going on with the phenomena you are studying

also called INTEGRATIVE DIAGRAM

a concept map consists of two things:

1. concepts

2. the relationships among them

two main reasons to make and use concept maps;

1. to pull together and make visible your implicit theory and/or clarify existing theory2. to develop theory

two different approaches:

1. variance maps (variables, concepts, interactions among these)

2. process maps (chronological story, beginning and end)


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different KIN DS of concept m aps:

-- Abstract framew ork map ping th erelationships among concepts (Variance Map);

-- Flowchart accoun t of events and how youth ink these are connected (Process Map);

-- Causal netw ork of variables or influences(Process Map);

-- Treelike diagram of the meanings of w ords(Process Map);

-- Venn d iagram rep resenting concepts asoverlapping circles (Variance Map).


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Conceptual Models

Modeling your thinking is critical to

theorizing about human behavior


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Research Questions: What do you want tounderstand? Think with an open mind.

Methods: What will you actually do? Whattools will you use? Remember the hammer

and nail story...

Linking what you wantto

understand with howyou are going

to go about understanding it!

G f Q lit ti R h


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Genres of Qualitative Researchfrom Learning in the Field, G. Rossman and S. Rallis, 1998. p. 68

Genre Goal Mode and

MethodsEthnographies Seek to understand

the culture ofpeople or places

Long-term,sustainedengagement;multiple, flexibletechniques

Case Studies Seek to understanda larger

phenomenonthrough intensivestudy of onespecific instance

Descriptive,heuristic andinductive;multipletechniques

PhenomenologicalStudies

Seek to understandthe lived experienceof a small numberof people

In-depth,exploratory, and

prolongedengagement,iterative interviews


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Genre Traditional Critical or

Postmodern

Ethnographies How do peoplesbeliefs and valuesguide their actions and

understanding of thoseactions?

How do the actions ofone group affect thebeliefs and actions of

other, often oppressedgroups?Case Studies What is going on in

this case? What are thekey actors doing? Whyare they doing it?

How do pattersn ofaction in this caseaffect powerrelationships? Do theyperpetuate adominating status quo?

PhenomenologicalStudies

What has this personexperienced? Howdoes this personunderstand his or herexperiences?

What do the storiespeople construct abouttheir lives mean? Howdoes their articulationof those stories

empower them?

Genres of Qualitative Researchfrom Learning in the Field, G. Rossman and S. Rallis, 1998. p. 68


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Research Questions

+ Are at the heart of your

research design

They are the one component

that directly links to all of

the other components of the

design

They should be responsive

to every other part of yourstudy

State what you want to learn

Specific questions are

generally the result of an

interactive design process,

rather than being thestarting point for that

process

Help you focus the study

Give you guidance on howto conduct it

Test grounded theory


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Research Questions

- IF TOO FOCUSED TUNNEL VISION

Leaving out things that are

important for the purposes

or context of the study

May overlook areas of

theory or prior experience

that are relevant

Smuggling unexamined

assumptions

Sham questions


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memos

memos


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Research Question(s)

Observations

Participants


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