Chapter SevenChapter Seven

Field Study Approaches

Field StudiesField Studies

• Natural Settings

• Direct observations, “real” behaviour

• Test is whether they “ring true” to the reader and the person observed

• Qualitative research, an emphasis often on an accurate description

Participant Observation Participant Observation StudiesStudies

• Intense, usually long term, examination of a social group--it might be a particular culture, community, or group

• Method used in ethnographic & ethnonursing studies

• The researcher is involved in the daily lives of the group studied

Participant ObservationParticipant Observation

• Holistic, qualitative, understand the whole group

• immersion in the setting

• everyday lives of participants

• conclusions emerge from the setting (try to avoid preconceptions, let the observations guide you)

Participant Observation: Steps

• Gaining entry

• Establishing rapport

• Recording field notes – descriptions & interpretations of individuals,

interactions, & events– exact time & location of observation should be recorded – emphasis should be placed on reflecting exactly what &

how people say things

Field Notes

• Use 2 columns to distinguish between description & interpretation

• A wide column for description of observations

• A narrow column for interpretation of them

• Two kinds of interpretation– the subjects’ interpretation of observations– the observer’s interpretation of the same event

Field Notes

• Analyzing the observations– master field file (original complete file of raw data)

– background, history file (subfile that contains info from the master file as well as from other sources)

– analytic files (subfile related to a specific topic or relationship explored in the study)

– key character files(Individual files on key players in the group studied)

• Writing the final report

In-Depth InterviewsIn-Depth Interviews

• Participant’s views are recorded and used to give them “voice” in the final report; liberal use of quotations in final report

• interviews tend to be flexible, go with the flow, probe in-depth

• Rose Weitz: Living with the stigma of AIDS

Ethnographic Interviews

• Three key elements are present:

• explicit purpose

• ethnographic explanations (those the researcher tries out on the respondent to see if they make sense)

• ethnographic questions (descriptive questions, structural questions, contrast questions)

Focus Group InterviewsFocus Group Interviews

• 6-12 people typically plus facilitator

• dates back to the 40s: assessing effectiveness of morale boosting radio shows

• 70s onward the market researchers use tool

• 80s onward the academics start doing focus groups again

Focus Groups

• Standard sampling techniques used to get group

• Recorded manually or may be taped and transcribed

• Useful to record names of participants so that discussion can be tracked during the analysis

• Analyzed using content analysis

Focus GroupsFocus Groups

• Transcript of discussion is the data

• strengths:– open-ended question posed to a group but no

particular probing for meaning– spontaneously deal with issues– usually reasonably cheap ($50 to participate)– Weaknesses:

Nursing Research Example of Focus Group

• Smoking Among Disadvantaged Women: Causes and Cessation (Stewart, M.., Gillis, A., & Brosky, G., et al. (1996).

Field ExperimentsField Experiments

• Researcher intervention occurs in a natural setting

• e.g.- greeting stranger as measure of reaction to a form of non-conformity

• proxemics

• behavior is observed in natural settings & hence not contaminated by the artificiality in lab experiments

Naturalistic Observational Naturalistic Observational StudiesStudies

• Naturalistic observations (a better term)

• no intervention, simply record behaviour

• seat belt use

• holding door behaviour

• elevator behaviour

Naturaliatic Observations Examples

• Dressing for winter• parking violations• gender & smoking• professor/student

participation: gender• seat belt compliance• speeding Antigonish• healthy food purchase

• ABM behavior• termination of

conversations• drinking patterns• smoking behavior

teens• stop sign• tipping

Steps in Doing Study

• restricting observations

• review of literature

• developing hypotheses

• defining terms

• tally sheet/master table/individual tables

• writing report

Analyzing Qualitative Data

• Researcher must immerse self in the data

• Read & re-read the transcripts

• Computer can perform manual cutting, pasting, & sorting of data

• NUD*IST and Ethnograph are two popular software program

Field Studies

• weak on generalizations

• strong on validity (real behavior)

• causal inferencing a challenge

• multivariate a problem

• probing strong with participant observation, in-depth interviews, and focus groups

• probing weak with covert observational

Disadvantages of Computer Analysis

• Analysis must be done a certain way because the software dictates it

• Inappropriate use & unnecessary coding of data simply because the computer is available to do it

• Cost & maintenance of hard & software

• Researcher must still develop initial organizing system

Advantages of Computer Analysis of Qualitative Data

• Multiple copies of files, cut & paste, move data & edit

• Can file data in one location • Locate & sort data by cases promptly• Can locate a piece of text related to certain

data without reading through transcripts• Forces researcher to read each line of text to

consider possible codes & nodes for coding

Content Analysis

• Analytical technique associated with qualitative studies

• One is attempting to assess the “content” of the message

• Makes inferences by systematically analyzing written or verbal communication

Basic Decisions in Content Analysis

• Decide on the unit of analysis

• Coefficient of reliability (measure of agreement between coders)

• Coef of R = # of units in identical category total # of units coded

• Develop a tally sheet

Advantages of Field Studies

• Provide a holistic understanding of the phenomenon

• Provides in-depth descriptions, can probe deeply, flexiblity in data collection

• High validity in measures because you are recording actual observations

• Direct costs inexpensive but time commitment is high

Limitations of Field Studies

• Inability to tell if emerging patterns are representative or peculiar to the group studied

• impossible to replicate

• making verifiable causal inferences is difficult because only 1 case is examined