Qualitative

Research
Methods
Ethics in Research

Three Ethical Principles:

1. Beneficence: Maximizing good outcomes for science, humanity, and
the individual research participants and minimizing or avoiding
unnecessary 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.
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 anyone
and 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 must
respect 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
compensated.

Moving Toward Doing Research


A Model for Qualitative Research Design Chapter 1, Maxwell
Purposes: 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!!!!!
Quantitative Paradigm
Qualitative Paradigm
Contextual
Factors
Purposes
Conceptual
Context
Research
Questions
Methods Validity
Your Research Question?
PURPOSES:
WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS STUDY?
Personal Practical
Research
REASONS
MOTIVES
DESIRES
GOALS
WHAT YOU HOPE TO ACCOMPLISH
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
PRACTICAL PURPOSES
these are reasons that are public and are
about accomplishing something;
learning different techniques
completing this course successfully
making social change based on what you
believe is political action
RESEARCH PURPOSES
these reasons are about understanding
phenomena;
gaining insight
developing theory
interpreting the actions of individuals and
situations
modeling interactions
STRENGTHS OF QUALITATIVE
RESEARCH
Interpretative
Approach
to understand meaning
and reality from the
participants
perspective
STRENGTHS OF QUALITATIVE
RESEARCH
Context within which
participants act
small number of
individuals or
situations
preserve the
individuality of each
STRENGTHS OF QUALITATIVE
RESEARCH
Identifying
Unanticipated
Phenomena and
Influences
generating new
grounded theory
exploratory role
(especially for
developing surveys,
questionnaires, and
variables for
experimental
investigation
STRENGTHS OF QUALITATIVE
RESEARCH
Understanding Process how events and
actions take place
interest in process
rather than outcomes
STRENGTHS OF QUALITATIVE
RESEARCH
Causal Explanations local causality; what
actual events and
processes led to
specific outcomes
process theory rather
than variance theory
CONCEPTUAL CONTEXT
conceptual OR theoretical framework: system of concepts, assumptions,
expectations, beliefs, and theories that supports and informs your research=
A KEY PART OF YOUR DESIGN

it is CONSTRUCTED not 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
A SIMPLE THEORY
CONCEPT A
CONCEPT B
THEORY PROVIDES A MAP OF
WHY
THE WORLD
IS THE WAY IT IS. IT IS A SIMPLIFICATION OF THE
WORLD, BUT A SIMPLIFICATION AIMED AT CLARIFYING
AND
EXPLAINING
SOME ASPECT OF HOW IT WORKS
DESCRIPTION : SIMPLY A FACTUAL NARRATIVE OF WHAT
HAPPENED
INTERPRETATION : MEANING GIVEN TO A SITUATION OR EVENT
BY THE PEOPLE STUDIED
in Maxwell, 1996, pp. 32
a tool for illustrating your
conceptual framework:
concept mapping
picture of the TERRITORY you 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 theory
2. to develop theory

two different approaches:
1. variance maps (variables, concepts, interactions among these)
2. process maps (chronological story, beginning and end)
different KINDS of concept maps:
-- Abstract framework mapping the
relationships among concepts (Variance Map);
-- Flowchart account of events and how you
think these are connected (Process Map);
-- Causal network of variables or influences
(Process Map);
-- Treelike diagram of the meanings of words
(Process Map);
-- Venn diagram representing concepts as
overlapping circles (Variance Map).
Conceptual Models
Modeling your thinking is critical to
theorizing about human behavior
Research Questions: What do you want to
understand? Think with an open mind.
Methods: What will you actually do? What
tools will you use? Remember the hammer
and nail story...
Linking what you want to
understand with how you are going
to go about understanding it!
Genres of Qualitative Research
from Learning in the Field, G. Rossman and S. Rallis, 1998. p. 68
Genre Goal Mode and
Methods
Ethnographies Seek to understand
the culture of
people or places
Long-term,
sustained
engagement;
multiple, flexible
techniques
Case Studies Seek to understand
a larger
phenomenon
through intensive
study of one
specific instance
Descriptive,
heuristic and
inductive;multiple
techniques
Phenomenological
Studies
Seek to understand
the lived experience
of a small number
of people
In-depth,
exploratory, and
prolonged
engagement,
iterative interviews
Genre Traditional Critical or
Postmodern
Ethnographies How do peoples
beliefs and values
guide their actions and
understanding of those
actions?
How do the actions of
one group affect the
beliefs and actions of
other, often oppressed
groups?
Case Studies What is going on in
this case? What are the
key actors doing? Why
are they doing it?
How do pattersn of
action in this case
affect power
relationships? Do they
perpetuate a
dominating status quo?
Phenomenological
Studies
What has this person
experienced? How
does this person
understand his or her
experiences?
What do the stories
people construct about
their lives mean? How
does their articulation
of those stories
empower them?
Genres of Qualitative Research
from Learning in the Field, G. Rossman and S. Rallis, 1998. p. 68
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 your
study
State what you want to learn
Specific questions are
generally the result of an
interactive design process,
rather than being the
starting point for that
process
Help you focus the study
Give you guidance on how
to conduct it
Test grounded theory
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
memos
memos
Research Question(s)
Observations
Participants