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E 43Johan Brink, IIE1 December

Qualitative research Lecture 8

23-04-18

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Agenda

• Chapter 11, Structured Observation• Chapter 17, Ethnography• Chapter 19, Focus Groups

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Structured observation

Systematically observe behaviorCaptures actual rather than stated behavior• No interpretation of questions• No omission• No memory effectRecords according to pre-set rules & check list • Aggregation• Well defined categories – Scheduled meetings– Unscheduled meetings– Desk work– …

Grocery cupboard

Water

Rinsing & cleaning place

Processing site

Baking site

Fermentation siteStove

Food store

Grocery

Arrangement

Place

Arrangement

Place 2

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Structured observation

SamplingContinuousIncident/event triggeredTimeslots

Individual – ShadowingPlace

Unit of analysisPhysical conditionsBehavioralLinguistic

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Structured observation

Pros• More reliable information on

events• Greater precision and accuracy

on time, duration & frequency• Not dependent on verbal

communication and linguistic analysis

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Structured observation

Cons• Time consuming!• Intrusive – ethical?• Do researchers follow the pre-set

rules?– Are the pre-set rules the right

ones?– Do not capture the ‘big picture’• Do the presence of a researcher

change the behavior?– Good impression?– The Hawthorn effect

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Experiments

Testing theories• Select variables • Select treatment• Control the environment • Control the situation: Blind

& double bind test

Ethics?Real life situations?

Quasi experimentsNaturally occurring events

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Ethnography

Observe– Events– ContextFocus on– Patterns of behavior – Norms and values– Stories– Compare and contrastActivities– Probe with questions– Additional documents– Spend time –hang around– Field notes & diary

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Ethnography - problems

Access– Opportunistic– Gatekeepers – Give something back– Retro perspective -

‘memoirs’Key informants– Bias in information?Never ending story– Drown in information

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Ethnography

Overt vs. Covert– Access and researcher

interference! – Ability to take notes & ask

questions?– Ethical?– Safety?Going native & the Inability

to cope with dual identities– Debriefing– Reflections

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Focus Groups

Group discussions around a theme

• Help each other to jointly recollect a story- sense making

• Challenge each others• More extensively cover a theme

Moderator / FacilitatorSeries of questionsGentle guiding

– People skills- Knowledgeable

Low level of control once started

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Focus groups – How to do it

RecruitmentNeutral roomSimple self explained

questions or scenariosFormat6-12 individuals10-15 groups1-3 hoursOne or several occasionsTape/video-recordingExtensive material

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The big problem

Group dynamicsInteractionsPersonal traitsPower Limited Creativity!

Other problemsSatisfying the researcherNon-natural settings

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Thank you!

Monday’s lecture will be about Qualitative analysis