Sociology 2155: Outline 15
I. Qualitative Data Analysis: "the raw data are texts rather than numbers" -- field notes and field reports, transcrips of interviews, focus groups, oral histories
the researcher's interpretation of a particular text (which could be field notes, cultural objects, art, photos, music....) is just one reading among many... what's more, the people who make up a particular scene may see and interpret it very differently (and no one perspective, including the researcher's, should be "privileged")
B. More common (and more useful for our purposes here)... qualitative researcher tries to understand a particular social scene/process from the perspective of participants... recognize there is more than one point of view in most social situations, but still committed to sorting out the most valid interpretations
1. Usually an emic focus (representing a setting with the participants terms and from their perspectives) rather than an etic focus (using the researchers terms and perspective)...
2. Goal not to separate out variables to but understand inter-relations and connections
3. Method of progressive focusing, interacting with your data in an effort to refine your focus and understanding.
4. A nice set of guidelines at the bottom of p. 195...
5. Three alternating aspects in your analysis of the text:
a. "Reading" it literally
b. Reading it reflexively (with a focus on how your own preconceptions and world view shape your interpretations)
c. Reading it interpretively (from the points of view of the participants)... meaning
6. Goal at least in the initial stages: "thick description" -- a rich and contextualized description that conveys the viewpoints of the various actors
C. Documentation
1. Field notes, tapes, photos... Importance of writing them up in more detail quickly and in a disciplined way, or else this kind of research becomes absolutely overwhelming... particular dilemma for a field researcher... may use a contact summary form (see p. 201 for an example)... what are the advantages?
2. Initial conceptualization and subsequent refinements... e.g., Howard Becker's 1950s research with medican students... noticed a term that was used frequently... "crock" -- a derogatory term, applied to patients with many subjective symptoms but no discernible physical pathology.... didn't initially understand why such patients were viewed so negatively, until they eventually realized it related to what the students saw as the purpose of their clinical rounds
D. Authenticating conclusions... how should the validity of qualitative researcher be judged? how do we decide they have credibly described and analyzed a particular organization, neighborhood, or experience?
1. How credible was the informant? Consider self-interest, centrality, and the like.
2. Statements in response to questions or spontaneous?... (remember, people will develop opinions if asked)
3. Reactive effects... trying to please or impress the researcher?
4. Tacit knowledge... largely unspoken understandings that are taken for granted... e.g., Whyte, "the code of the corner boy" and his obligation to come to the aid of his friends...
5. Comparison with others who have done similar research... e.g., gang studies
6. Reflexivity: how the researcher interacted with research subjects, what problems s/he encountered, what ways his/her background (race, religion, gender, age) created complications... remember Ruth Horowitz's account of trying not to become a focus of sexual interest.... or Elijah Anderson's account of his friendship with Herman ("the one person I could feel comfortable with")
E. Types of qualitative data analysis
1. Ethnography: study of the culture or subculture that a group of people share
2. Ethnomethodology: how a group of people construct a particular setting... e.g., Harold Garfinkel's early study of juries via tape-recorded data
3. Qualitative comparative analysis... Snow and Cress, comparative study of 15 homeless social movement organizations, chosen to representative the range of possibilities
4. Narrative analysis: reading and re-reading the stories the researcher has received from informants and classifying them into major types
5. Conversation analysis: sequence and detail
6. Grounded theory... see our previous discussion... a way of trying to establish cause and effect relationships using qualitative data
7. Participatory action research
a. William Foot Whyte: Social Theory for Action,
1.) "On the Relations Between Basic and Applied Research"
2.) Whyte's work with the Mondragon cooperatives (Jose Marie Arizmendiarrieta)