1. GETTING TO RESEARCH DESIGN Lecture 3 HEM 4211 Mari Elken

2. Working with theories  What is a theory?  Grand theories, mid-range theories (Merton)  Theories from different traditions  Deductive vs inductive approach

3. Deductivism  Common in social research  Theory -> hypothesis -> data collection -> findings -> hypothesis confirmed or rejected -> revision of theory  Concerns with testing of theory  From general to specific

4. Inductivism  Francis Bacon (beginning of 17th century)  Theory is the output of research  First collect data and then develop theory  More open-ended and exploratory  But also - iterative process

5. Research strategies  The distinction between qualitative and quantitative methods  Differene of methods only, or a substantial difference as distinct strategies?  What is the link to epistemology and ontology?

6. Is quantitative research positivist? Why?

7. Quantitative (Bryman)  Deductive approach, tests hypothesis and theories  Covers a wide number  Natural science ideals and a positivist attitude  Objective external reality  Focus on: measurement validity, reliability, causality, generalisation

8. Critique of quantitative  Fail to take into account the nature of human behaviour  Measurement is artificial, inaccurate concepts  Too much reliance on instruments  The analysis of variables creates a static view of social life  Too much focus on measurement, too little on inferences

9. Qualitative (Bryman)  Inductive approach, theory generation  In-depth into the phenomenon  Natural science model rejected – interpretivism  Social construtivism – social reality in constant construction, shifting, dynamics  Focus on: understanding participants, description and context, process, flexibility.

10. Four traditions in qualitative research Gubrium and Holstein in Bryman (p31, 267):  Naturalism – as reality really is (all objects of study part of one natural realm; or being true to the phenomenon studied; or as style of research)  Ethnomethodology – how social life created through interaction  Emotionalism – focus on insider perspective and understanding  Postmodernism – sensitivism towards how social life is constructed

11. Critique of qualitative research  Too subjective  Difficult to replicate  No generalisation  No transparency  Anecdotalism  Little focus on theory – story-telling

12. Main steps: Quantitative  Theory  Hypothesis  Research design  Measures of concepts  Select site  Select sample  Collect data  Process data  Analyse data  Findings  Write up Qualitative  General question  Selecting site and subjects  Collection of data  Interpretation of data  Conceptual and theoretical work  Write up findings RQ specif. More data.

13. Differences QuantitativeQualitative numbersWords Researcher point of viewParticipant point of view Researcher is distantResearcher is close Theory testingTheory development staticProcess structuredUnstructured generalisationContextual understanding Hard and reliable dataRich and deep data macroMicro behaviourMeaning Artificial settingNatural setting

14. Fundamental differences? (Bryman) QuantitativeQualitative Role of theoryDeductive, theory testing Inductive, theory generation EpistemologyPositivism, natural science Intepretivism ontologyObjectivismConstructivism

15. Breaking the divide (Bryman)  No absolute determinism  Both exhibit elements of the other – e.g.  Also – positivism to a great extent old news – postpositivism in many areas  Natural sciences do not have a solid and agreed upon epistemological basis  qualitative methods also sometimes obsessed with empiricism  Qualitative research does also do theory testing

16. Mixed method research (Bryman) The arguments against The arguments for Increased use in social sciences – Methods more thought without their ”baggage” – Adoption of quantitative methods by earlier critical researchers (e.g. feminists)

17. Mixed methods – Hammersley  Triangulation you verify parts of your data by using different types of methods, increase your data confidence.  Facitating - Qualitative -> quantitative, Quantitative -> qualitative  Complementary - Some types of questions or problems require both types of data – need to complement

18.  What about when triangulation yields two different sets of data? What will you do?  Which data will you trust more?

19. But… There are epistemological and ontological differences –the connection is not perfect, but should be taken into account Rigurous design needed! More data is not always better data – rationale for why you are doing mixed methods? Necessary skills to do both?

20.  What is good research? How do you evaluate articles when you read them?

21. Some criteria Reliability  Concerned with consistency of measure  Can the results be repeated?  Quantitative focus, since measurement property Replication  Means that the research should be possible to repeat  Closely linked to reliability  Thus – important to be clear abuot our research process and choices

22. Cook and Campbell 1979  Came up with a system for validity Statistical validity Internal Validity Construct validity External validity Is there a relationship? Is the relationship causal? Are we measuring what we think we are measuring? Can we generalise the results?

23. Operationalisation of concepts THEORIES (concepts) EMPIRICAL WORLD (indicators) OPERATIONALISATION X1 y2y1 X2 Source: Kleven

24. Validity for qualitative research Controversy  Are the same criteria possible for qualitative and quantitative?

25. Alternative suggestion (Lincoln and Guba in Bryman) (1) Trustworthiness  Credibility – how believable are the findings, good practice (internal validity)  Transferability – can it be applied in other contexts – need to provide thick description (external validity)  Dependeability – can the same results take place in other times (reliability)

26. Alternative suggestion (Lincoln and Guba in Bryman) (cont.)  Confirmability – has the researcher been objective enough? (objectivity)  Authencity – political impact  Fairness – all voices represented in text  Ontological and educative validity – criteria for raising awareness  Catalytic and tactical authencities – promt action by the participants and second the involvement of the researcher in providing training etc. Hammresley also proposes ”relevance” as a criterion

27. Combining perspectives (Kleven)  Kleven, T.A. (2008). ”Validity and validation in qualitative and quantitative research”, Nordic Studies in Education (available at idunn.no)  Validity is a property of inferences, not data collection  Quantitative research is not positivist, but postpositivist and critical realist – often not included in the textbooks (incl. Bryman)

28. Combining perspectives (Kleven cont.)  Legitimisation crisis in methods:  successor validity, catalytic validity, interrogated validity, transgressive validity, imperial validity, simulacra/ironic validity, situated validity, voluptuous validity, reflexive validity, neopragmatic validity, rhizomatic validity, communicative validity, concurrent validity, pragmatic validity, descriptive validity, interpretive validity, theoretical validity, evaluative validity; in addition to Guba and Lincoln’s well-known concepts trustworthiness, transferability, dependability and confirmability

29. Combining perspectives (Kleven, cont)  Construct validity:  validity of inferences from indicators to constructs (from what we have seen to what we call what we have seen)  Statistical validity:  validity of inferences about covariation between variables (trivial or worthy of a substantial interpretation?)  Internal validity:  validity of inferences from an observed covariation to a causal interpretation (to the interpretation that something is influenced by another thing)  External validity:  validity of inferences from the context of the study to a wider context or to other contexts

30. Combining perspectives (Kleven cont.)  inferences from observed indicators to abstract constructs – construct validity  Inferences about what has influenced human actions - internal validity is relevant  Inferences about other persons or situations than those studied - external validity is relevant  Is the tendency trivial? – statistical validity.

31. Research questions  Research area  Aspect of research area  RQs  Select RQs  Design study

32. Experimental and quasiexperimental designs Assumed to have particular trustwortiness, strong internal validity Classic experimental design: – Randomly assign people to control group and experimental group. – Assign ”treatment” – Measure before and after Quasi-experiments – Some characteristics, but not all – large variety Allows comparisons

33. Cross-sectional design  Also called survey design – but more than questionnaires only  More than one case; at a single point of time – quantifiable or quantitative data collected to identify patterns of association Obs1Obs2Obs3…Obs-N Case1 Case2 Case3 Case4 … Case N

34. Longitudinal design  Study phenomenon over time  Little used due to costs