QUALITATIVE SOCIAL RESEARCH

What is qualitative research?

Research studies that investigate the quality of relationships, activities, situations, or materials are frequently referred to as qualitative research
(Fraenkel and Wallen 1993:380).

Qualitative research
is a situated activity that locates the observer in the world. It consists of a set of interpretive, material practices that make the world visible Qualitative researchers study things in their natural settings, attempting to make sense of, or to interpret, phenomena in terms of meanings people bring to them (Denzin
& Lincoln 2005:3).

Major features of qualitative social research

Ethnography as the prototype of qualitative social research

Ethno (culture/people) + graphy (description/study of)

Anthropology and colonization of nonEuropean world Cultural differences: the colonizer vs the colonized (the OTHER) Need to develop qualitative methodologies, e.g., participant observation & various techniques using symbol-meaning systems Ethnography = prototype of qualitative social research

So, what is culture?

(what we study influences how we study it, & why we study it in specific ways) Focus on concept of culture, which serves to explain wide variability in human behavior despite common features; capture cultural nuances

Holistic approach: whole is more than sum of its parts. Culture as a system, consisting of parts:

Ideology beliefs, religion, knowledge, worldview Social relations individual and group interactions, social structure Techno-economy production, consumption & distribution of goods & services Environment symbolic & behavioral surroundings

Culture is learned symbolic behavior.

Dynamic; socialization important Symbols-meanings, esp language Balance between community & its environment

Culture is an adaptive mechanism

Uses of qualitative social research methods

Single or primary method

To gain familiarity with a phenomenon or to achieve new insights into it To portray accurately the characteristics of a particular individual, situation, or group

In combination with quantitative methods

Triangulation seeking convergence Complementary overlapping & different facets of a phenomenon emerge Developmentally, 1st method is used sequentially to inform 2nd method Initiation- contradictions & fresh views Expansion add scope & breadth