Transcript Nonreactive Research

Nonreactive Research
Neuman and Robson Ch. 10
Reactive vs. nonreactive research
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Reactive: people being studied are aware of
being studied
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Experiments
Surveys
Nonreactive: Subjects are unaware they are
being studied
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Unobtrusive measures
Often use naturalistic settings
Varieties of nonreactive observation
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Erosion measures
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– selective wear
Accretion measures
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– deposits of something left behind.
Strengths and Weaknesses
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Strengths and advantages
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No subject “confounds”
Can assess actual behavior rather than self-report
Safety
Reliability
Inexpensive
Good for longitudinal data
Weaknesses and disadvantages
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No control
Often don’t know anything about the subjects
Sample may not be representative
Secondary information may have bias
Need triangulation – looking at material from several
different perspectives gives a more accurate view of it.
Types of nonreactive research
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Some field experiments could be termed
nonreactive
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Naturalistic observation
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Content analysis – quantitative or qualitative
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Archival research
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Written and audio/visual records
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Secondary analysis
Content analysis
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A technique used to study written material by
breaking it into meaningful units, using
carefully applied rules.
Use objective and systematic coding to
produce a quantitative description of the
observed material.
Can analyze common myths
Can also be used in a qualitative way
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Employ semiotic techniques
Example: Erving Goffman’s Gender
Advertisements (1979, 1988)
Goffman combined content and
semiotic analysis to look at how
gender was (and still is!)
portrayed in advertising. In his
analysis, Goffman examined a
selection of advertising images
and found that that women are
consistently shown in
subordinated positions compared
to men in a variety of social
situations. He also concluded that
advertising both reflects and
helps shape our concept of what
it means to be masculine or
feminine in our culture.
Erving Goffman’s Gender
Advertisements
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Goffman asked the question: How is gender
represented in advertising?
His underlying premise is that ads are takenfor-granted pictures or displays of codified
(culturally accepted) gender behaviour – the
ads display ritualized behaviours.
Goffman (cont.)
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If we explore these codes, we can learn what it is to
be “male” or “female” in our culture.
Goffman believed that these codes originated in how
families are structured in our society; based on the
dominant – subordinate relationship between parent
and child.
Essentially, men treat women as they would treat
subordinate males – in turn both are treated as
“children”, which repeats the dominant parent –
subordinate child relationship within the family.
Goffman (cont.)
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Note re: Goffman’s research….
Goffman showed that a fairly simple, but very
cost-effective methodology like content
analysis can illuminate an important theory
about gender and the social world.
Most theorists (ie. Leiss Kline Jhally, Waters
and Ellis) believe that Goffman’s findings and
the categories that he uses for his study are
equally relevant today.
Example 1:
The Family
Example 2:
Relative Size
3. Function
Ranking
4. Ritualization
of Subordination
Content Analysis
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What can be studied
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Any written material
Audio/visual information
Useful for 3 types of research
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Problems involving a large volume of text
Research from afar or in the past
Revealing themes difficult to see with casual
observation.
Steps in content analysis
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1. Define problem / identify the issue to be
studied
2. Select the media that will be used
3. Derive coding categories
4. Sampling strategy – which sources will you
use?
5. Train the coders if using
6. Code material by hand or with software
7. Analyze the data
Human vs. computer coders
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Can often utilize computers
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Internet searches
Automated text search
Great for extremely large sets of data
Personal judgment not part of the process
Cheaper and faster than humans
Humans
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Useful for coding complex concepts
More flexibility
Costs more time and money
Coding in a content analysis
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What gets counted?
What is important for understanding themes?
Structured observation – systematic observation
based on careful rules
Coding systems
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Before you decide specifically on coding categories, you
must specify what you are going to measure
A set of rules on how to systematically observe and record
content from text or images.
What is the unit of analysis?
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One word
One paragraph
One theme
One image
Characteristics of text content
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1. Frequency
2. Direction
3. Intensity
4. Space
Other things that could be counted:
 Characters
 Specific individuals
Can also consider semantics – the meaning of the text
 Requires interpretation
 Must make judgment calls
Or concepts
 Crime, mental illness
Themes
Manifest and Latent Content
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Manifest
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Latent
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Overt or visible material – can count
Symbolic content uncovered by semantic analysis – needs
to be coded first (inductive process) and then counted
Can use both deductive and inductive approaches
to find categories (codes) for content analysis
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Divide sample in sections
Use grounded theory on a smaller portion to develop
categories
Use those categories on the rest of the sample.
Deductive and Inductive Category
Formation
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Deductive
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Reasoning from the general to the specific
Forming categories to score based on theoretical
ideas.
Inductive category formation
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Reason from the specific to the general
Come up with categories from data
Can obtain categories by using grounded theory
Grounded theory
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Theories are empirically grounded into the data.
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3 stages of analysis in grounded theory
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Data collection and analysis are combined.
Cycle – observe data, modify theory, observe data based on
theory
1. Open coding: Find conceptual categories in the data
2. Axial coding: Look at relationship between the categories
3. Selective coding: To account for relationships, find core
categories.
In grounded theory, meaning derived from the data
For content analysis, grounded theory can help find
the appropriate codes to use.
Quantitative analysis after that.
Sampling Strategy In Content
Analysis
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Which sources will be used?
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Which dates will be used?
What will be analyzed?
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Depends on purpose of study, theory, etc.
All of article, every 2 pages, etc.
Representative sample is important
Can use various sampling procedures to obtain
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Random sampling
Stratified sampling
Purposive sampling – picking a sample for a particular
reason.
Data Analysis in Content
Analysis
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Quantitative:
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Largely depends on procedure
Correlation analysis
Percentages
Inferential analysis
Qualitative
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Use semiotic analysis (developed in humanities)
Analysis of Existing Statistics and
Secondary Analysis of Survey Data
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Also nonreactive
Many sources of statistical data available
Government statistics (i.e. Stats Canada, Canadian
Census Data)
International agencies (i.e. World Health
Organization, the UN)
Also many private sources
Secondary analysis can be done when obtain “raw
data” and do statistical analysis for your own
research question
Raw census data available to academic institutions
2006 and 2011 Canadian Census
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2006 Census
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http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census06/release/index.cfm
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Population and dwelling counts
Age and sex
Marital status, families and households, housing
Language, mobility and migration, immigration and citizenship
Aboriginal peoples
Labour, place of work and commuting to work, education and
language
Ethnic origin and visible minorities
Income and earnings and shelter costs
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2011 Census
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http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/index-eng.cfm