Qualitative Methodology & Paradigms: Terms

Front 1

Constructivism

Back 1

A belief that knowledge of the world is not a simple reflection of what there is, but a set of social artifacts of what we MAKE of what is there.

Front 2

Epistemology

Back 2

Theory about the nature of knowledge; how what exists may be known

Front 3

Methodology

Back 3

A theoretical framework that guides how we come to know what we know

Front 4

Method

Back 4

A procedure, tool or technique used to generate or analyze data

Front 5

Ontology

Back 5

Theory about the nature of being, of reality, or what exists

Front 6

Postmodernism

Back 6

A philosophical paradigm that rejects universalized explanations of the world or people

Front 7

Poststructualism

Back 7

A philosophical paradigm that asserts meaning is 'unstable and never fixed', that everything is a text which can be "deconstructed"

Front 8

Subjective reflexivity

Back 8

Critical, systematic reflection by a qualitative researcher about how she, her setting, and the phenomenon of interest may interact and influence one another to affect interpretations and meaning

Front 9

Theoretical sampling

Back 9

A grounded theory technique in which the researcher refines concepts and theoretical constructs by finding gaps in data or holes in developing theories, then sampling specific causes that shed light on emerging theory

Front 10

Ethnography/ethnographic

Back 10

Literally, to describe a people or cultural group; an early qualitative method

Front 11

Armchair anthropology

Back 11

A practice of early anthropology, wherein researchers would compile data about faraway people largely through secondary (colonial) reports

Front 12

Biographical interpretive research

Back 12

When a qualitative researcher does a series of interviews to collect data so that she may create the narrative of the life of a person

Front 13

Testimonio

Back 13

A form of life history research, in which the researcher hopes her testimony will move others who hear it to concrete action

Front 14

Case study

Back 14

In qualitative research, a choice of what is to be studied...the subject(s) must be a bounded, integrated system with working parts

Front 15

Participant oriented research

Back 15

Research that uses a critical paradigm and centers the empowerment of those being studied

Front 16

Critical ethnography

Back 16

Qualitative research that begins with an explicit ideological framework to help "detect and unmask beliefs and practices that limit human freedom, justice and democracy".

Front 17

Feminist ethnography

Back 17

A form of qualitative research, that assumes women experience systematic oppression and exploitation, that this experience varies with person and place

Front 18

Formal theory (aka, general theory)

Back 18

A theory that tries to explain a entire class of phenomena, and so exists at a high level of abstraction

Front 19

Substantive theories

Back 19

Used by both quant and qual researchers, a theory that exists at a low level of abstraction, often consists of empirical generalizations from related studies

Front 20

Deviant case sampling

Back 20

A qualitative sampling method, it selects cases from the extreme within a population

Front 21

Typical case sampling

Back 21

In a qualitative study, a sampling method that Illustrates or highlights what is typical, or normal, among a population of interest

Front 22

Homogeneous group sampling

Back 22

In a qualitative study, a sampling method that selects all similar cases in order to describe some subgroup in depth

Front 23

Maximum variation sampling

Back 23

In a qualitative study, a sampling method that selects cases that cut across some range of variation, such as ethnicity

Front 24

Chain (or network) sampling

Back 24

In a qualitative study, a sampling method that utilizes knowledge of potential subjects from people who know them, and know that such subjects may meet research interests

Front 25

Convenience sampling

Back 25

Selects cases on the bases of convenience; has a low credibility threshold

Front 26

Lay summary

Back 26

Verbal or written presentations of your research that you give to research participants to help explain who you are and what you're doing

Front 27

Participant observation

Back 27

In qualitative research, a range of methods used by the researcher who desires to gather data by means of observation

Front 28

Chicago School

Back 28

The first major body of works emerging during the 1920s and 1930s specializing in urban sociology, and inquiry into human group life; it combined theory and ethnographic fieldwork

Front 29

(Logical) positivism

Back 29

A philosophical paradigmatic orientation. It holds that knowledge is limited to what could be logically deduced from theory, operationalized, measured and replicated

Front 30

Postpositivism

Back 30

A philosophical paradigmatic orientation. It holds that the world is not knowable with certainty and that knowledge is situated in historical and political contexts

Front 31

Critical research paradigm

Back 31

A philosophical approach to qualitative research that critiques historical and structural conditions of oppression and seeks transformation of those conditions

Front 32

Triangulation

Back 32

A term in qualitative research, it refers to the use of multiple methods by the researcher in her attempt to secure a more in depth understanding of the phenomenon

Front 33

Quasi-statistics

Back 33

The use of limited statistical methods in qualitative research due to practical or moral constraints of the discipline

Front 34

Thick descriptions

Back 34

A term in qualitative research, a systematic approach to making sense of a phenomenon through detailed description

Front 35

Representational crisis

Back 35

Refers to the difficulty in qualitative research of describing, or "representing" the meaning of subjects or phenomena accurately

Front 36

Credibility

Back 36

No definition yet

Front 37

Transferability

Back 37

No definition yet

Front 38

Dependability

Back 38

No definition yet

Front 39

Confirmability

Back 39

No definition yet

Front 40

Mindwork

Back 40

A term used to describe the qualitative researcher's disciplined state of mind as they prepare for, engage in, reflect on, and report about their data

Front 41

Iterative

Back 41

A process that is characterized by repetition, often in the pursuit of a specific outcome