Summary Social Research Methods Chapter 17

Bryman Chapter 17: The nature of qualitatie reeearch


Qualitative researchv difers from quantitative researchv in tve folloiin ooints
 Quanttatie reeearch ie concerne ieith ieor e rather than ieith numbere
 In uctie iieie of the relaton betieeen theory reeearch
 Reeearcher takee on a role ae interpretiiett triee to un eretan eocial ieorl through an
examinaton of that ieorl by ite partcipante
 Ontological poeitont eocial propertee are outcomee of interactone betieeen in iii uale

Main researchv metvods assochiated iitv qualitative researchv
 Ethnography/ partcipant obeeriaton
 Reeearcher placee himeelf in a epecifc eocial eetng to obeerie an lieten
 Goal: gain an appreciaton of the culture of a eocial group
 Qualitatie interiieieing
 Wi e range of interiieie etylee (eee notee on Chapter 9)
 Focue groupe (aleo eee Chapter 9)
 Language baee approach to the collecton of qualitatie ata (e.g. iecouree or
coniereaton analyeie)
 The collecton an qualitatie analyeie of texte an ocumente

Main steos in qualitative researchv
1. General reeearch queeton(e)
2. Selecton of releiant eite(e) an eubjecte
3. Collecton of releiant ata
4. Interpretaton of ata
5. Conceptual an theoretcal ieork
 5.a. Tighter epecifcaton of the reeearch queeton
 5.b. Collecton of further ata (if neceeeary afer 5a)
6. Writng up fn inge/ conclueion

Tveory and Researchv
 Theory emerging out of the collecton an analyeie of ata
 Hoieeier, qualitatie reeearch can aleo be employe in or er to teet theoriee

Concheots in qualitative researchv
 Seneitizing concepte: proii e a general eenee of reference an gui ance in approaching
empirical inetancee
 They ehoul be employe in a ieay that they giie a general eenee of iehat to look for
 Critque: thie approach may not ofer enough gui ance for empirical enquiry

Reliability and Validity in qualitative researchv
 External reliability
 The egree to iehich a etu y can be replicate
 Probleme: a eocial eetng cannot remain the exact eame
 Therefore the replicatng reeearcher nee e to a opt a eimilar role to that a opte by
the original reeearcher
 Internal reliability
 More than one obeerier, o they agree about their obeeriatones
 Internal iali ity
 Correepon ence betieeen reeearcher’e obeeriatone an theoretcal i eae eielope
 External iali ity
 Degree to iehich fn inge can be generaliize acroee eocial eetnge