Campus Session 2 BAPP WBS38353rd March 2010

Peter Bryant

Rosemary McGuinness

Paula Nottingham

Adesola Akinleye

BAPP WBS3835

1.00pm Introduction P/P/R

1.10 Link between methodology and topic/questions Peter

1.35 Quantitative and Qualitative Peter

2:00 Validity and Reliability Peter

2:20 BREAK

2.35 Qualitative Research – Social World Paula

3:05 Examples of how research process is constructedPeter

3.25 Glossary Rosemary

3.50 Plenary Q & A P/P/R

4.00 END

 

4 – 5 Investigating the BAPP curriculum Adesola

Assessment Submission List1. Learning Diary and Critical Commentary (Blog)

2. Research and Development Materials: Activity 1: Glossary 3rd March, Activity 2: Influences of the worker-researcher, Activity 7: Designing an instrument for data collection 16th March Campus Session

3. Project Proposal (project plan) discuss draft writing 30th March, student draft to AA approx 9th April

4. Ethical Issues commentary & Ethics Release Form 30th March

5. Rationale for Award Title & Learning Agreement Cover Sheer, Completing the Project Proposal 20th April

Submission by 6th May 2010 – posted to Avni

Qualitative ResearchSocial World Research

Paula Nottingham

BAPP WBS38353rd March 2010

Looking at Literature and Research

Recall the types of research have you looked at so far?

• One of your jobs is to identify the types of critical research literature you access – while you may not use ‘social world’ research, you will probably see it when you read about your topic area.

• Because there are so many different kinds of research, this can be confusing! However, choose sources that you can follow the academic arguments – whether fore or against - and use them to inform your thinking.

From Bell’s Chapter 1Research which could be done using a qualitative approach.

Action Research Case Study • Survey• Experimental and quasi-experiment Ethnography and Ethnographic Style Grounded (or in traditions of qualitative approaches) Narrative

Insider research Practitioner research

Bell’s Case Study: an example

“Researchers identify and ‘instance’ which could be the introduction of a new way of working, the way an organization adopts to a new role, or any innovation or stage of development in an institution. Evidence has to be collected systematically, the relationship between variable studied (a variable being a characteristic or attitude) and the investigation methodically planned through observation and interviews are most frequently used, no method is excluded” (Bell 2005, p. 10).

• From Bell’s description – a case study could have qualitative aspects and quantitative aspects. You could decide to do the case study using qualitative research methodology – a few may decide to consider the ‘social world viewpoint.

General use of the qualitative approach

• Qualitative research does not have to be based on a ‘social world’ outlook – for some it can be combined with quantitative methods in ‘mixed research’ before or after a larger quantitative project

• In some disciplines at university OR in some work situations, ‘good’ research is assumed to be ‘scientific’ AND ‘social world’ qualitative research is not considered to be as valid as research developed within the scientific paradigm.

• In other disciplines AND workplaces, qualitative social world research is highly valued and seen as a way of getting to the heart of the issues.

Social World Qualitative Research: What is it?

• It is research that aims to develop a deeper understanding of social phenomena like events or people’s insights and experience – it is based on data that is ‘messy’ (Mason,2002) to collect and analyse. It concentrates on the human aspects of social inquiry

• A qualitative ‘social world’ inquiry is an option for research that is oriented toward more subjective and situated knowledge - a professional (creative) often uses this type of knowledge in the workplace.

• ‘Social world’ research is described in historical terms like phenomenological and hermeneutic. At this point – don’t worry too much about the historical terms, it is the approach that might be of interest to you when doing your project.

Qualitative Research – my experience

• My own first research book that was ‘assigned’ was Punch. Punch talks about quantitative as numbers and qualitative as words (he does explain that more) but it is not quite as simple as that…

• I identified with the social world qualitative research on my own because it related most to the art & design approach in which I had been trained. I had looked at Patton and then was signposted to Jennifer Mason’s Qualitative Research (2002). I enjoy working with people in this way.

• YOU may find one or two sources beyond Bell that will help you figure out how you want to do your project – something to think about in this module.

A simplified mapping of research positions

positivistic post-positivistic

Critical realism

constructivist

Social worldScientific

Guba and Lincoln in Denzin and Lincoln, 1994; Bryman, 2008

Objectivism Constructivism

critical

Social world research starting points – different than objective or scientific point of view

“ Interpretivism… respects the difference between people and the objects of the natural sciences and therefore requires the social scientist to grasp the subjective meaning of social action” (Bryman , 2008:16). “ … it is the job of the social scientist to gain access to people’s ‘common-sense thinking’ and hence to interpret their actions and their social world from their point of view” (Bryman, 2008:15).

Constructivism asserts that social phenomena and their meaning are continually being accomplished by social actors. Social phenomena are in a constant state of revision and the researcher presents a specific view of reality (Bryman, 2008).

Social World research starting points

1. offers an interpretation or version2. no neutral single truth – inquiry reflects researcher’s partial understanding and special interests (Wetherell et al. 2001)

Some social world researchers even discuss common research terms differently trustworthiness as a descriptive for judging research quality

Credibility parallels internal validity Transferability parallels external validityDependability parallels external reliability (Bryman, 2004) Transferability instead of generalisability

Trying to understand human actions…Interpreting the interpretations of others…

Social World research starting points

There are many new types of social world research that are now accepted as valid… the could be compared to the Bell text.

Critical ethnographyAuto ethnographyParticipatory Action ResearchNarrative Inquiry Art-based with political activism…

Again – only look into something more specific if you need to – you are busy and at work resourcing research is often based on specific needs that will deliver impact

Social World Qualitative Research

• Not just non-probability – positivistic/post positivistic (scientific research paradigm)

• Not just non-experimental (psychology) – it assumes problems need to be looked at in context

• Research questions are based on what you want to know - you are not testing things per say

• Social world methodology requires rigour to follow the rules when developing research, carrying out the research, analysing data, and publishing the results under peer review (so that it is deemed academically sound).

Suggestions for planning

• Exploring issues - try to to define the ‘problem’ using research questions. Mason’s suggests your ‘intellectual puzzles’ might focus on developmental, operational, comparative, causal ‘puzzles’ (2002).

• Sampling is purposive – you choose people places and things because they can answer your research question

• Choices that are set out in a sample framework to match criteria that you need to for your interviews and/or observations and/or documents to explore the phenomenon.

• The process is inductive and iterative – you can make changes during the process based on what you find.

Patton’s rationale (with additions)

Qualitative research facilitates study issues in depth and detail – without constrained by predetermined categories of analysis, while quantitative approaches requires standardisation and predetermined response categories.

Purposes of inquiry p.13Research –contribution to knowledge (ADD professional purpose)

Evaluation – programme improvement and decision making

University work – demonstrate level required in degree

Primary audiencesScholars, researchers, academicians (ADD employers, colleagues)

Programme funders

Administrative staff, participants

Doctoral committee

Oneself, friends, family, lovers (Patton is a bit of a joker).

Research Design (Mason,2002)

Research problem, question or hypothesis

Background of research - theory, purpose etc.

Methodology (Mason would say qualitative)

Methods - techniques or tools (interview, docs, observations)

Sampling - purposive

Data handling and analysis - thematic

Pilot study

Ethics

Timetable

Resources

Identify a direction for working.

• What is your topic area - based on your professional practice? What evidence do you need to prove your argument? It is anticipated that some of your evidence will come from your learning diaries and from your workplace.

• What kinds of knowledge or research have you seen being used? Both qualitative and quantitative? Scientific and social world?

• What research do you need to carry out for your project?

• How do you personally see the world as a stance from which you plan your research?

Basics

Back to basics – the building blocks of inquiry• For your research - you are reading literature and source

materials that relate to abstract ideas that help you see what is going on in your workplace. Inquiry and research is about investigating ideas.

• Concept – an idea “a unit of thought or element of knowledge that allows us to organize experience” (Janet Gail Donald (2001)

• Theory –a rationale or justification based on ideas or evidence… “a system of ideas intended to explain a phenomenon especially a system based on general principles and therefore independent of the target phenomenon” (Brewerton and Millward 2001).

Example of a concept and theory– the building blocks of inquiry

• As with many behavioural and personality models, interesting correlations exist between Kolb's theory and other concepts.

• For example, Kolb says that his experiential learning theory, and therefore the learning styles model within it, builds on Carl Jung's assertion that learning styles result from people's preferred ways of adapting in the world. (business balls, 2010)

• This was sourced from the web so I wanted to look and see if it was okay….

Example of a concept and theory - sourced from Kolb on the web to check the original source

Experiential Learning Theory: Previous Research and New Directions

Experiential Learning Theory (ELT) provides a holistic model of the learning process and a multilinear model of adult development, both of which are consistent with what we know about how people learn, grow, and develop… Another reason the theory is called “experiential” is its intellectual origins in the experiential works of Dewey, Lewin, and Piaget. Taken together, Dewey’s philosophical pragmatism, Lewin’s social psychology, and Piaget’s cognitive-developmental genetic epistemology form a unique perspective on learning and development. (Kolb, 1984). (Kolb, et al. 1999).