Sw Research Final

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auditing

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A strategy for improving the trustworthiness of qualitative research findings in which the researcher leaves a paper trail of field notes, transcripts of interviews, journals, and memos documenting decisions made along the way, and so on. This enables an impartial and qualitatively adept investigator who is not part of the study to scrutinize what was done in order to determine if efforts to control for biases and reactivity were thorough, if the procedures used were justifiable, and if the interpretations fit the data that were collected.

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case study

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An idiographic examination of a single individual, family, group, organization, community, or society using a full variety of evidence regarding that case.

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client logs

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A qualitative or quantitative method that can be used as part of case studies or single-case evaluations in which clients keep journals of events that are relevant to their problems.

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deviant case sampling

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A type of nonprobability sampling in which cases selected for observation are those that are not thought to fit the regular pattern. For example, the deviant cases might exhibit a much greater or lesser extent of something.

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ethnography

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A qualitative research approach that focuses on providing a detailed and accurate description of a culture from the viewpoint of an insider rather than the way the researcher understands things.

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generalizability

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That quality of a research finding that justifies the inference that it represents something more than the specific observations on which it was based. Sometimes, this involves the generalization of findings from a sample to a population

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generalize

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To infer that the findings of a particular study represent causal processes or apply to settings or populations beyond the study conditions.

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going native

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A risk in qualitative field research that occurs when researchers over identify with their respondents and lose their objective, analytic stance or their own sense of identity.

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grounded theory

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A qualitative research approach that begins with observations and looks for patterns, themes, or common categories.

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grounded theory method (GTM)

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A qualitative methodology for building theory from data by beginning with observations and looking for patterns, themes, or common categories in those observations.

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member checking

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A strategy for improving the trustworthiness of qualitative research findings in which researchers ask the participants in their research to confirm or disconfirm the accuracy of the research observations and interpretations.

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naturalism

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A qualitative research paradigm that emphasizes observing people in their natural, everyday social settings and on reporting their stories the way they tell them.

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negative case analysis

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A strategy for improving the trustworthiness of qualitative research findings in which researchers show they have searched thoroughly for disconfirming evidence—looking for deviant cases that do not fit the researcher’s interpretations.

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nonprobability sample

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A sample selected in some fashion other than those suggested by probability theory.

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participatory action research (PAR)

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tests of statistical significance that assume that at least one variable being studied has an interval or ratio level of measurement, that the sample distribution of the relevant parameters of those variables is normal, and that the different groups being compared have been randomly selected and are independent of one another.

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peer debriefing and support

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A strategy for improving the trustworthiness of qualitative research findings in which teams of investigators meet regularly to give each other feedback, emotional support, alternative perspectives, and new ideas about how they are collecting data or about problems, and about meanings in the data already collected.

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prolonged engagement

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A strategy for improving the trustworthiness of qualitative research findings that attempts to reduce the impact of reactivity and respondent bias by forming a long and trusting relationship with respondents and by conducting lengthy interviews or a series of follow-up interviews with the same respondent. This improves the likelihood that the respondent ultimately will disclose socially undesirable truths, and improves the researcher’s ability to detect distortion.

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purposive sampling

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Selecting a sample of observations that the researcher believes will yield the most comprehensive understanding of the subject of study, based on the researcher’s intuitive feel for the subject that comes from extended observation and reflection.

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qualitative research methods

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Research methods that emphasize depth of understanding and the deeper meanings of human experience, and that aim to generate theoretically richer, albeit more tentative, observations.

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quota sampling

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A type of nonprobability sample in which units are selected into the sample on the basis of prespecified characteristics so that the total sample will have the same distribution of characteristics as are assumed to exist in the population being studied.

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snowball sample

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a nonprobability sample that is obtained by asking each person interviewed to suggest additional people for interviewing.

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triangulation

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The use of more than one imperfect data-collection alternative in which each option is vulnerable to different potential sources of error.

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emic perspective

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Trying to adopt the beliefs, attitudes, and other points of view shared by the members of the culture being studied.

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etic perspective

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Maintaining objectivity as an outsider and raising questions about the culture being observed that wouldn’t occur to members of that culture.

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focus groups

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An approach to needs assessment in which a small group of people are brought together to engage in a guided discussion of a specified topic.

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informal conversational interview

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An unplanned and unanticipated interaction between an interviewer and a respondent that occurs naturally during the course of fieldwork observation. It is the most open-ended form of interviewing, and the interviewee might not think of the interaction as an interview. Flexibility to pursue relevant information in whatever direction seems appropriate is emphasized, and questions should be generated naturally and spontaneously from what is observed at a particular point in a particular setting or from what individuals in that setting happen to say.

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informant

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Someone who is well versed in the social phenomenon that you wish to study and willing to tell you what he or she knows.

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interview

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A data-collection encounter in which one person (an interviewer) asks questions of another (a respondent). Interviews may be conducted face-to-face or by telephone.

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interview guide approach

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a semi-structured form of qualitative interviewing that lists in outline form the topics and issues that the interviewer should cover in the interview, but it allows the interviewer to adapt the sequencing and wording of questions to each particular interview.

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life history

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A qualitative research method in which researchers ask open-ended questions to discover how the participants in a study understand the significant events and meanings in their own lives.

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probe

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A technique employed in interviewing to solicit a more complete answer to a question, this nondirective phrase or question is used to encourage a respondent to elaborate on an answer.

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qualitative interview

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an interaction between an interviewer and a respondent in which the interviewer usually has a general plan of inquiry but not a specific set of questions that must be asked in particular words and in a particular order. Ideally, the respondent does most of the talking.

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qualitative research methods

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Research methods that emphasize depth of understanding and the deeper meanings of human experience, and that aim to generate theoretically richer, albeit more tentative, observations.

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respondent

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A person who provides data for analysis by responding to a survey questionnaire or to an interview.

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standardized open-ended interviews

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The most highly structured form of qualitative interviews, which are conducted in a consistent, thorough manner. Questions are written out in advance exactly the way they are to be asked in the interview, reducing the chances that variations in responses are being caused by changes in the way interviews are being conducted.