University:
Central Arizona College
Course:
PSY200 | Social Psychology
Academic year:

2023
Views:

159

Pages:

3
Author:

Lucas H.

Qualitative Research A qualitative paradigm will contradict what has already been taught, constitutes 'good' research practice, i.e., controlled, rigorous, reliable, objective, etc... Quantitative approaches have dominated Psychology - Behaviourism, Cognitive Revolution - should seek to understand, determine an objective reality. The work of Wundt, Bartlett, Piaget, Freud - Qualitative approaches developed and flourished in the 1970s. Why Qualitative Research? Abt words not numbers Numbers = good for establishing cause/effect, testing differences/relationships, etc. Not good for complexity Words (images) are great for capturing complexity Experiences/views/understanding, sense-making, etc. Capturing, organizing, interpreting 'the messiness' Possibilities Textual: Surveys, articles, transcripts, social media, news, documents, diaries, etc. Non-textual: Photographs, videos, theatre, drawings Differences Quantitative Qualitative Numbers used as data Words (images) as data Seeks to measure, explain, predict Exploratory - to understand/interpret Large number of participants - aim of generalising findings Small number of participants - rich data, thick descriptions Poses hypotheses Poses research questions Researcher is objective Researcher is subjective/reflexive Controls for confounding variables Interested in the context Reflexivity - critically reflecting on the influence that we (producers) have in producing knowledge Experiential or Critical? Experiential: "Give voice to a topic/group of people we know little about. Participants' accounts accepted & prioritized & focused upon" Ex: What is it like to experience depression? Critical: "Deeper understanding, beneath the surface" - how/why particular accounts were generated in the way they have been. Ex: How do young women talk about food? Ontological & Epistemological Standpoint Different underpinnings to quantitative methodology Where roots of characteristics/assumptions of research Ontology - What is real? What exists? Epistemology - What can we know? How do we know it? Epistemological Standpoint Positive Social Constructionist Naive Realism: Radical Relativism: A reality exists that - Multiple constructed realities; we can never get beyond these can be accessed constructions We can get closer to - Reality is socially constructed an objective truth - Knowledge is socially-mediated through research Knowledge that can - Knowledge that can be accessed be accessed Qualitative Questions Avoid words like relate, influence, impact, effect, hypothesis, cause A comparison/testing differences Relating variables Making predictions/hypotheses Proving hypotheses Measuring variables