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Qualitative Methods

11. Glossary

Accounts on the OBSSR e-Learning site enable you to save notes as you read the contents of the site. Notes are a way for you to save a spot on the site with your own comments and title applied to it. Think of it as putting a sticky note paper in a book to remember a place and leave a thought or two of your own for later reference.

GLOSSARY

Analytic Induction [AI]

Constructionism

Deviant-Case Analysis

Emotionalism

Ethnography

Focus Groups

Grounded Theory

Low-Inference Descriptors

Models

Naturally-Occurring Data

Triangulation

Analytic Induction [AI]

Analytic Induction [AI] is the equivalent to the statistical testing of quantitative associations to see if they are greater than might be expected at random (random error). Using AI, the researcher examines a case, and, where appropriate, redefines the phenomenon and reformulates a hypothesis until a universal relationship is shown (Fielding: 1988,7-8).

Constructionism

Constructionism is a model which encourages researchers to focus upon how phenomena come to be what they are through the close study of interaction in different contexts. It is opposed to Emotionalism.

Deviant-Case Analysis

Deviant-Case Analysis in qualitative research involves testing provisional hypotheses by "negative" or "discrepant" cases until all the data can be incorporated in one’s explanation (see Analytic Induction).

Emotionalism*

Emotionalism is a model of social research in which the primary aim is to generate deeply authentic insights into people's experiences. Emotionalists draw from Romantic perspectives and favor open-ended interviews (see Gubrium and Holstein,1997).

Ethnography

Ethnography puts together two different words: ethno- means folk or people, while graph derives from writing. Ethnography refers, then, to highly descriptive writing about particular groups of people.

Focus Groups

Focus Groups group discussions usually based on visual or verbal stimuli provided by a researcher.

Grounded Theory

Grounded Theory involves three stages:an initial attempt to develop categories which illuminate the data; an attempt to 'saturate' these categories with many appropriate cases in order to demonstrate their relevance; and trying to develop these categories into more general analytic frameworks with relevance outside the setting.

Low-Inference Descriptors*

Low-Inference Descriptors seek to record observations “in terms that are as concrete as possible, including verbatim accounts of what people say, for example, rather than researchers' reconstructions of the general sense of what a person said, which would allow researchers' personal perspectives to influence the reporting.” (Seale:1999,148) (see Reliability).

Models

Models provide an overall framework for how we look at reality. They tell us what reality is like and the basic elements it contains ('ontology') and what is the nature and status of knowledge ('epistemology').

Naturally-Occurring Data

Naturally-Occurring Data derive from situations which exist independently of the researcher's intervention (e.g. everyday conversations but not interviews).

Triangulation

Triangulation involves comparing different kinds of data (e.g. quantitative and qualitative) and/or different methods (e.g. observation and interviews) to see whether they corroborate one another.

Close Move

Seale, C. (1999) The quality of qualitative research. Introducing Qualitative Methods Series, London: Sage.

Close Move

Fielding, N.G. (ed) (1988) Actions and structure, London:Sage.

Close Move

Holstein, J. and Gubrium, J. (1997). Active interviewing. In D. Silverman (Ed.) Qualitative research (1st Ed.), London: Sage: 113-29.

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Page 19 of 22

Setting the Scene

Describing How

Explaining Why

What Works

Emerging Issues

Qualitative Methods

11. Glossary