What is Knowledge? External objective truth? develop law of general understanding Testable and measurable External objective truth? uncover meaning Deepen understanding Constructed interpretation?

Positivist Interpretivist Objective Quantitative Subjective Qualitative ISSUE AND DEBATE: Psychology as a Science!

Qualitative Research Can you come up with some investigations a researcher might conduct that would need the use of qualitative data? Why are female students reluctant to study physics at university? How do teenage boys perceive STI’s? Why does a particular community support the BNP?

Qualitative Methods Semi-structured interviews (opened ended) Participant observation Focus group discussions Collecting written accounts/diary entries Case study (variety of methods)

Qualitative Sampling What do you think would be the main difference between a quantitative research project and a qualitative research project in terms of sampling techniques? Quantitative - Large to ensure generalisation can take place Random sampling Qualitative – Small/clearly defined Purposive sampling

Analysing Data Qualitative Quantitative INDUCTIVE APPROACH – specific to general. REFLEXIVITY – acknowledge subjectivity of researcher and participants Qualitative DEDUCTIVE APPROACH – general to specific. REFLEXIVITY – objective information obtained, researcher bias minimised. Quantitative

Analysing data 1) Organising Data – e.g. Transcription 2) Coding Data – depends on analysis - Thematic analysis – picking out themes and patterns in the data. - Grounded theory – generating theory from the data hence each line of text is coded. - Content analysis– categorising qualitative data and counting instances of categories.

Thematic Analysis Thematic analysis involves generating codes, which can come from theory, from how the researcher understands their data or from previous research. Steps: Familiarise oneself with data Generate codes Look for themes in the codes Review the themes Define and name the themes Produce a report

Thematic Analysis Strengths Maintains richness in data Allows insights that are not anticipated by the researcher Flexible way of analysing qualitative data – from theory or from data Weaknesses Subjectivity – researchers’ use their judgment to find themes.

Grounded Theory Looking at data first before arriving at theory Steps: Ask question Collect empirical data (usually rich and detailed) Code chunks of data Put codes into concepts and keep revising Build a model of how the concepts can be explained Keep checking the concepts fit the model

Grounded Theory Strengths Concepts measure what they claim to measure as they came from the participants thoughts and feelings More creative than thematic and content analysis Maintains richness in data Weaknesses Subjectivity – researchers’ use their judgment to find themes. Not appropriate to ignore previous research Impossible to code and categorise data into concepts without some theory in mind.

Evaluation Quantitative Qualitative High Reliability High Validity Quantitative High external validity and low internal validity and reliability Trustworthy – check of doc by external party. Transferability – can insights explain similar situations Qualitative

Internal Validity: Definition • Internal validity refers to the extent to which we can accurately state that the independent variable produced the observed effect. • If – effect on dependant variable only due to variation in the independent variable(s) • then – internal validity achieved

Example of the Issue • Investigating effects of tutoring on grades • Compare those who receive tutoring with those who do not receive tutoring • Tutored students do better – brighter – receive more nonspecific attention – don’t stay out late • Internal validity is questionable

External Validity • What is external validity? • Relates to generalizing your findings – to or across target populations – to or across tasks – to or across environments • Campbell and Stanely: “ the ability to generalize to or across exemplars of a particular to the entire class of a particular”

Exam questions Explain the use of grounded theory in clinical psychology (4 marks) Explain the use of grounded theory in child psychology (4 marks) Explain how a thematic analysis would be conducted in the context of clinical psychology (4 marks) Explain how a thematic analysis would be conducted in the context of child psychology (4 marks) Outline one advantage of analysing data qualitatively (3) Qutline one disadvantage of analysing data qualitatively (3)