Transcript Variations in Qualitative Inquiry Instructor: Julian Hasford Teaching Assistant: Keith Adamson PS398 Qualitative Methods in Psychology January 15, 2009

Variations in Qualitative
Inquiry
Instructor: Julian Hasford
Teaching Assistant: Keith Adamson
PS398 Qualitative Methods in Psychology
January 15, 2009
Agenda
• Review
• Lecture: Variations in Qual Inquiry I
– Glossary: Ethnomethodology and Heuristic
Inquiry
• Group Exercise
• Course Check-in
Review
• The Main Ideas
– Scientific research is a way of creating knowledge through
systematic, empirical processes
– There are 3 main scientific paradigms that differ in their
assumptions about what knowledge is and how it should be
created
• Realist, Constructivist, Critical
• Ontological, Epistemological, Methodological, Axiological, Rhetorical
– Qualitative research is a methodology for creating knowledge
• Goal of deep understanding of subjectivity & social processes
• Through collection and analysis of non-numerical data
– There are various theoretical traditions within qualitative
research traditions that differ
• Foundational questions and Methodological approaches
Learning Objectives
• By the end of this session, students should
be able to
– Identify the disciplinary origins, foundational
questions, and methodological approaches of
various qualitative theoretical traditions
– Analyze the paradigmatic and philosophical
assumptions of various qualitative theoretical
orientations
Variation in Qualitative
• There is great diversity within qualitative
research
• Theoretical traditions vary in terms of
– Disciplinary origins
– Foundational questions (Goals)
– Methodological approaches
• Design, Data Collection, Analysis
– Paradigmatic influences and philosophical
assumptions
Variation in Qualitative
• Various methodological traditions
– Ethnography
– Autoethnography
– Ethnomethodology
– Heuristics
– Phenomenology
– Symbolic Interaction
Variation in Qualitative
• Various methodological traditions
– Hermeneutics
– Feminist
– Narratology
– Participatory (Collaborative)
– Grounded Theory
Disciplinary Variation
– Anthropology

Ethnography
– Literary Arts

Autoethnography
– Philosophy

Phenomenology
– Psychology

Heuristics
– Sociology

Ethnomethodology
– Social Psychology

Symbolic Interaction
Ethnography
• Foundational question
– What is the culture of this group of people?
• Culture: a collection of standards for beliefs and
behaviour
• Group: Community, Neighbourhood, Organization
• Disciplinary Origin
– Anthropology
• Earliest qualitative tradition
• First emerged as method for studying the other
Ethnography
• Methodological approaches
– Intensive fieldwork and participant
observation (immersion in the culture)
– Two major perspectives
• Etic (Outsider): Ethnographer strives for distance
or “higher” level of conceptual analysis
• Emic (Insider): Ethnographer strives to ‘capture’
and be true to the subjects of study
Autoethnography
• Foundational Question
– How does my own experience of this culture
offer insights about this culture?
• Disciplinary Origin
– Anthropology (Ethnography) and Humanities
• Emerged from post-modern critique of
ethnography
• Questioned etic notions of detachment and the
other, power imbalances between ethnographers
and groups studied
Autoethnography
• Methodological approaches
–
–
–
–
–
Introspections
Participant observation (Self-awareness)
Creative analytical practices
Evocative, artistic, narrative writing
Criteria for quality
•
•
•
•
•
Substantive contribution
Aesthetic merit
Reflexivity
Impact
Expression of a reality
Phenomenology
PS 398
What is Phenomenology
• A phenomenological study describes the
meaning for several individuals of their
lived experiences of a concept or a
phenomenon.
• The research describes what all
participants have in common as they
experience a phenomenon
Question
• If I do a phenomenological study on the
lived experience of being a gold medalist
athlete at the Olympics and I study five
athletes, and my study concludes with five
unique views of the lived experience, is my
study complete?
Background on
Phenomenology
• Draws heavily on the writings of German
philosopher Edmund Husserl ( 1859-1938)
• A return to the traditional task of
philosophy
• A philosophy without supposition
• The intentionality of consciousness
• The refusal of subject-object dichotomy
Two Broad descriptions are
sought in Phenomenological
research
• What is the nature of the phenomenon?
• What are its qualities?
• What have you experienced in terms of
the phenomenon?
Textural Description: The researcher
writes about “what” was experienced, a
description of the meaning individuals
have given to experience.
Two Broad descriptions are
sought in Phenomenological
research
• What appears at different times and under
varying conditions?
• How was it experienced?
• What context or situations have typically
influenced or affected your experiences of the
phenomenon?
Structural Description: The researcher writes a
description of “how” the phenomenon was
experienced by individuals in the study
Presenting the essence of a
phenomenon
• The essential invariant structure: This is
the essence of the phenomenon. It
combines the textural and structural
descriptions and pulls the common thread
through all the experiences. It means that
all experiences have an underlying
structure.
Glossary: Heuristic
Inquiry
Definition:
•
an extremely demanding process that involves self discipline, self
searching, and self reflection. It does not have a fixed time for
research and is a very rigorous process.
•
It is research that follows Clark Moustaka’s philosophy that “in every
learner, in every person, there are creative sources of energy and
meaning that are often tacit, hidden, or denied" (Moustakas, 2001).
•
Phases of heuristic Inquiry include initial engagement, immersion,
incubation, illumination, explication, creative synthesis, and validation.
•
The Text Indicates that Heuristic Inquiry is phenomenological inquiry
that brings to the fore the personal experience and insights of the
researcher. There are 2 elements,
•
first the researcher must have interest in the subject and
•
second, others who are part of the study must have the same
intensity of experience.
Methodological Significance
Example:
Rising above My Raisin’?
Using Heuristic Inquiry to Explore the Effects
of the Lumbee Dialect on Ethnic Identity
Development
Chris Scott and Kathleen Brown
American Indian Quarterly; v32 n4 p485-521 Fall 2008
Rising above my Raisin’?
•
Background:
•
Design:
Rising above my Raisin’?
•
Findings
References
•
Moustakas, C. (1990) Heuristic Research: Design, methodology and applications. Sage.
Statement. Available at:
HYPERLINK "http://unioninstitute.edu/Faculty/FacultyGrad/Moustakas.html"
http://unioninstitute.edu/Faculty/FacultyGrad/Moustakas.html
•
Patton, M.Q. (2002). Qualitative Research & Evaluation Methods (3rd Ed.). Thousand Oaks:
Sage Publications.
•
Scott, C. & Brown, K. (2008) Rising above My Raisin'?: Using Heuristic Inquiry to Explore the
Effects of the Lumbee Dialect on Ethnic Identity Development. American Indian Quarterly, 32,
p. 485-521.
•
West, W. (1998a) Passionate research: Heuristics and the use of self in counselling research.
Changes, 16, p. 60-66.
•
West, W. (1998b) Critical subjectivity: Use of self in counselling research. Counselling,
(August), p. 228-230.
Dana Pettus & Livia Dittmer
Ethonomethodology
 Definition
 A term invented by Harold Garfinkel (1967) while
analyzing jurors.
 "If we translated the 'ethno' part of the term as
'members' or 'folk' or 'people', then the term's meaning
can be stated as: members' methods of making sense of
their social world" (Wallace & Wolf, 1980, p.263).
 "...the ordinary methods that ordinary people use to
realize their ordinary actions" (Coulon, 1995)
Ethonomethodology
 Theoretical and Methodological Significance
Ethonomethodology
 Example
Ethonomethodology
 Design
 Findings
References
 Patton, M.Q. (2002). Qualitative Research & Evaluation




Methods (3rd Ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
West, C. Zimmerman, D.H. (1987). Doing Gender. Gender
and Society, 1(2), 125-151.
Wallace, R.A. & Wolf, A. (1980). Contemporary Sociological
Theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Coulon, A. (1995). Ethnomethodology. Qualitative Methods
Research Series, 36. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Garfinkel, H. (1967). Studies in Ethnomethodology.
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Group Exercise
Course Check-in