Book summary

• Empiricism is the belief that all knowledge originates in our experiences and is derived from our senses
• Positivism is the belief that the social world can be studied in terms of invariant laws
• Qualitative research is contextual: describing the nature of what exists
• Qualitative research is explanatory: examining the reasons for what exists
• Qualitative research is evaluative: appraising the effectiveness of what exists
• Qualitative research is generative: aiding the development of theories, strategies or actions
• A formative evaluation is designed to provide information about the effectiveness of a program or intervention
• Summative evaluation is the impact of an intervention or policy in terms of effectiveness
• The five key aspects of research design are: developing research questions, designing around research and population setting, time frame, choice of data collection and, negotiation of research relationships
• Probability sampling involves a known probability for the selection of a sample from the population
• Non probability samples samples are chosen non-randomly to fit the research
• Criterion/purposive sampling is when the researcher selects participants based on their ability to answer the research question
• Homogenous samples are samples with similar traits
• Heterogeneous samples are samples which differ in order to be able to identify central themes
• Intensity sampling is the sampling of extreme cases of specific phenomena of interest
• Stratified sampling is when the population is divided into groups and then the groups are split into subgroups
• Nesting of criteria is when two variables are interlocked
• A sample matrix shows the overlap between two sets of variables within the sample
• Unstructured interviews are more exploratory and probing
• Semi-structured interviews are evaluative and less probing
• Vignettes are short descriptions of the environment or interviewee that are used to help the interviewer understand the context of the interview
• Card-sorting is the practice having participants order a set of pre made cards
• Projective techniques can be used to stimulate the discussions and to access subconscious beliefs
• In-depth interviews can be regarded as conversations with a purpose
• An in-depth interview is interactive, included follow-up and probing questions, generative, generative data
• Ground mapping questions aim to open up a subject
• Dimension mapping questions aim to structure and direct the interview
• Amplificatory probes enable the interviewee to give a full description of a subject
• Exploratory probes explore impacts, effects and, consequences
• Explanatory probes aim to understand the reasoning of the interviewee
• Focus groups are all about the information exchange between participants
• The Delphi technique first collect responses separately from participants, then passes them around until and consensus is reached
• Ethnocentric research is regular and repeated observation
• Reliability is the degree to which a given observation is consistent with a general pattern and not random
• Validity is the measure of the degree to which and observation actually demonstrates what it appears to demonstrate
• A methodology of analytic induction aims to draw universal conclusions
• Ethnographic means to study a culture in its natural environment
• Objectivity/confirmability is the degree to which conclusions flow from the data gathered
• Reliability/dependability/audibility is the degree to which the research has been consistent over time
• Internal validity is the degree to which the conclusions of a study make sense