Qualitative Research Fundamentals

The Tuskegee Syphilis Study

• A study that observed the natural progression of untreated syphilis in African American men in Alabama
• Started in 1932 and continued until 1972
• The men were denied treatment, even after penicillin became widely available in 1947
• The men were told they were being treated
• The study ended after a journalist exposed the unethical practices.
• The study and other human rights violations committed during WWII led to the creation of the Belmont Report

Ethical Considerations in Research

• Beneficence: Research should benefit participants and society
• Autonomy: Participants must give informed consent to participate
• Justice: Participants should not be discriminated against based on gender, race, ethnicity, or other factors
• Informed consent must include:
  • A brief overview of the study
  • Description of procedures
  • Potential risks and inconveniences
  • Benefits to the participant and society
  • Costs and compensation
  • Confidentiality of data
  • Alternative treatments
  • Confirmation of voluntary participation
  • Instructions for asking questions and getting further information
  • A space for participant signature
• Other ethical considerations:
  • Fraud: Misrepresenting data or findings
  • Allocation of credit: Properly attributing contributions
  • Sharing of personal data: Protecting participants privacy

### Qualitative Research

• An umbrella term for methods used to study social phenomena
• Begins with assumptions, worldview, theoretical lens, and a research problem
• Characteristics:
  • Takes place in natural settings
  • Researcher is the key instrument in gathering data
  • Multiple sources of data (interviews, observations, documents, etc.)
  • Inductive data analysis (theories emerge from the data)
  • Focuses on participants' meaning of the issue researched
  • Flexible, emergent research design
  • Employ a theoretical lens
  • Interpretive inquiry (researchers interpret what they experience)
  • Provides a holistic account
• Five approaches:
  • Grounded theory: Deriving a new theory from data
  • Narrative study: Analyzing people's life stories
  • Case study: In-depth examination of one or a few cases
  • Ethnography: Observe, interact with, and study a group in their natural setting
  • Phenomenology: Explore how people experience their lives
• Use cases:
  • Explore new areas of study
  • Understand complex issues in detail
  • Share stories and perspectives
  • Write in an engaging literary style
  • Understand the context of participants' lives
  • Follow up on quantitative research
  • Develop theories for a particular phenomenon
  • Use when quantitative research is not suitable
• Considerations and challenges:
  • Requires a strong commitment to research
  • Extensive field time for collecting data
  • Time-consuming process of data analysis
  • Writing long passages and interpretations
  • Ensuring human research is ethical, following rigorous guidelines

###  Designing a Qualitative Study:

• Identify a research problem
• Read existing research on the topic
• Develop open-ended research questions
• Collect diverse forms of data
• Organize and analyze the data
• Present participants' views accurately
• Practice reflexivity, reflecting on researcher bias and influences
• Be mindful of ethical considerations
• Utilize peer review for quality assurance

A good Qualitative Study:

• Utilizes rigorous data collection methods
• Employs a recognized research approach
• Has a clearly defined research focus
• Presents writing that is persuasive and clear
• Adheres to ethical guidelines

###  Data Collection Methods

• Interviews:
  • Structured: Follows a set of questions
  • Unstructured: Allows for open-ended discussion with few questions
  • Semi-structured: A combination of structured and unstructured.
• Focus groups:
  • Group interviews
  • Guided by a moderator
  • Naturalistic, allowing for conversation
  • Flexible, allowing for dynamic discussion
• Disadvantages of Focus Groups:
  • Large amount of data
  • Time-consuming transcription
  • Scheduling challenges
  • Requires a skilled moderator to guide without dominating
• Diary Studies:
  • Clear aims are established
  • Written in intervals, when signaled, or during specific events
  • Offers insights into events as they happen
  • Provides insights into how events progress
  • Reduces memory bias
• Disadvantages of Diary Studies:
  • Diary keeping may alter routines and experiences
  • No guarantee that instructions are followed
  • Inconsistency in diary data may occur
  • High drop-out rates
• Web-based data:
  • Collects first-person accounts from individuals
  • Accounts are already posted, making it easily accessible
  • Often focused and rich in detail
  • Provides anonymity to participants
• Disadvantages of Web-based Data:
  • Potential for deception and unreliable accounts
  • Overabundance of data
  • Only reflects the views of internet users

Media and Text Sources:

• Reduces need to collect new primary data
• Prevents researcher influence
• Avoids participant recruitment
• Offers a wide range of media
• Disadvantages
  • May include irrelevant or inappropriate sources
  • Only very specific research questions can be addressed

###  Intelligence

• Different cultures have varying views on intelligence
• IQ tests and the concept of intelligence have been misused for political agendas
• A broad definition of intelligence:
  • Problem-solving
  • Understanding and learning complex information
  • Adapting to the environment
  • Mental quickness
• Therefore, intelligence encompasses acquiring knowledge, reasoning effectively, and adapting to the environment

Sir Francis Galton (1822-1911)

• Focused on genetics and eugenics
• Believed genius was hereditary
• Measured physical and sensory abilities of individuals from eminent families (reaction speed, hand strength, sensory acuity, skull size)
• Results had limited predictive power but sparked controversy
• Galton's work influenced the development of eugenics and racial categorization, particularly in South Africa

###  Alfred Binet (1857-1911):

• Tasked with developing an objective intelligence test for school children
• Created the first workable intelligence test in 1905
• His approach:
  • Tested large numbers of children across various age groups
  • Established average scores for each age group
  • Compared individual child's performance to the average
• Introduced the concept of mental age

Stanford-Binet Test

• Revised by Lewis Terman for use in the USA
• Primarily verbal items, generating a single IQ score
• Became a standard measure in: clinical psychology, psychiatry, and educational counseling
• Assumed intelligence was predominantly hereditary and stable

###  David Wechsler (1896-1981)

• Believed the Stanford-Binet Test relied excessively on verbal skills, yielded only one score, and was not suitable for adults
• Developed tests with items and timing that were more appropriate for children and adults
• WISC-IV, WAIS-R, WPPSI-R
• Measured both verbal and nonverbal abilities:
  • Verbal Scale IQ
  • Performance Scale IQ ( less affected by language and culture)
  • Full Scale IQ (overall intelligence measurement)
• He believed in a single intelligence factor, but comprised of specific interrelated elements

###  The WISC-IV:

• Measures four specific cognitive domains (indexes)
• Indexes contribute to the overall Full Scale IQ
• Four cognitive domains:
  • Verbal Comprehension: Similarities, Vocabulary, Comprehension
  • Perceptual Reasoning:
    • Matrix Reasoning
    • Picture Concepts
  • Working Memory: Digit Span
  • Processing Speed:
    • Coding

###  The WAIS-R, WISC-IV, WPPSI-R:

• These tests are used to assess cognitive abilities in different age groups.
• SA versions:
  • The Junior South African Individual Scale (JSAIS-R): 3-7 years
  • The Senior South African Individual Scale (SSAIS-R): 7-16 years
  • The South African Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (SAWAIS): 16-69 years

###  Psychometrics:

• The statistical study of psychological tests.
• Addresses questions such as: How many mental abilities underlie performance?

Defense Mechanisms:

• Unconscious psychological strategies that protect the ego from anxiety and threats.
• Repression: Blocking out threatening thoughts, memories or feelings from conscious awareness.
• Regression: Returning to an earlier, less mature stage of development
• Rationalization: Justifying one's behavior with logical reasons without acknowledging the true motives.
• Denial: Refusing to acknowledge reality, especially when it is painful or threatening.- Projection: Attributing one's own unacceptable thoughts, feelings, or motives to others.
• Displacement: Redirecting emotions from the original source to a safer target.
• Sublimation: Transforming negative impulses into positive or socially acceptable behaviors.

Psychodynamic Theories After Freud (Neo-Freudian Approach)

• Less emphasis on the drives of sex and aggression; more focus on social interaction
• Less emphasis on the unconscious and more on the Ego
• Karen Horney:
  • Challenged Freud's notion of "penis envy" in women, suggesting "womb envy" in men.
  • Focused on social interactions as the source of adult personality
• Horney believed people develop three coping strategies for anxieties:
  • Move toward (affiliation, connection)
  • Move against (assertion, dominance)
  • Move away (withdrawal, detachment)
• Children in toxic environments develop one of these styles:
  • Compliant
  • Aggressive
  • Detached
• Neo-Freudian theories focus on the role of social relationships in shaping personality.

###  Humanistic Theories:

• Carl Rogers:
  • Self-concept: Central to personality development, the congruence between real self and ideal self is vital
  • Unconditional positive regard: Acceptance and love without conditions; crucial for children to achieve full functioning
  • Fully functioning: Openness to experience, existential living, organismic trusting, experiential freedom, creativity
• Humanistic theories highlight the strive for meaning in life.

###  Criticisms of Humanistic Theories

• They don't offer a comprehensive theory of personality.
• Difficult to test scientifically.
• Lack of empirical research support.
• Seen as too idealistic.

###  Social Cognitive Perspective:

• Explains personality differences in terms of learned beliefs, interpretations of social situations, and self-efficacy.
• Can predict behavior like shyness
• Amygdala arousal is associated with shyness
• Personality is a product of nature and nurture.

###  Animal Personality:

• Evidence of five personality traits in animals:
  • Extraversion
  • Neuroticism
  • Agreeableness
  • Openness to experience
  • Conscientiousness (only chimps showed this trait)
• Studying animals reveals insights into the genetics and biology of personality.

###  Gender and Personality

• Biologically and socioculturally influenced: - Women have higher levels of social connectedness, empathy, nurturing, and neuroticism.
  • Men have higher levels of anger, aggression, individuality, and autonomy.
• Most personality theories are Eurocentric.

Cultural Influences on Personality:

• Collectivist cultures: Higher agreeableness and external locus of control
• Individualistic cultures: Higher extraversion, openness to experience, and internal locus of control

###  Career/Personality Tests & Criticisms:

• Holland's Theory: Eurocentric, assumes equal opportunities and freely available work.

Personality Assessment

• Idiographic approaches: Person-centered approaches (clinical interviews)
• Nomothetic approaches: Characteristic-centered approaches (questionnaires)
• Projective measures: Testing unconscious processes, questionable reliability and validity (inkblot tests, TAT)
• Objective measures: Structured and standardized assessments; easy to administer, allow for comparisons (16 PF, MMPI-2, NEO-PI-R/NEO-PI-3, SAPI)
• Criticisms of personality assessments:
  • Responses can be biased.
  • Tests can be biased.
  • There's no objective standard.
  • Dehumanising.

Music and Personality

• Reflective and Complex (classical, blues, jazz, folk):
  • Inventive
  • Imaginative
  • Intelligent
  • Tolerant
  • Politically Liberal
  • High Openness
• Intense and Rebellious (rock, alt, metal):
  • Intelligent
  • Curious
  • Physically active
  • Risk-takers
  • High Openness
• Upbeat and Conventional (country, pop, religious, soundtracks):
  • Cheerful
  • Socially outgoing
  • Reliable
  • Helpful
  • High Extraversion
  • High Agreeableness
  • High Conscientiousness
  • Low Openness
• Energetic and Rhythmic (rap, hip-hop, funk, soul, EDM):
  • Energetic
  • Talkative
• Physically attractive
• Forgiving - Politically Liberal - High Extraversion - High Agreeableness
• Accurate in most traits except for conscientiousness.

Motivation & Emotion:

• Motivation: Process that influences the direction and persistence of goal-directed behavior. It's the process by which activities are started, directed, or continued to meet physical or psychological needs and wants.
• Components of Motivation:
  • Biological: Homeostasis, drives
  • Psychological: Cognition, personality
  • Environmental: Instinct, behaviorism, cognitive revolution, affective neuroscience
• Motivated action:
  • Towards: Behavioral activation system (BAS), responding to potential rewards.
  • Away: Behavioral inhibition system (BIS), responding to fear or anticipation of pain.
• Types of conflict:
  • Avoidance-approach conflict: One option is appealing, the other is not.
  • Approach-approach conflict: Both options are equally appealing.
  • Avoidance-avoidance conflict: Both options are undesirable.

Approaches to Understanding Motivation:

• Psychodynamic:
  • Unconscious motives affect behavior.
  • Freud's emphasis on sexual and aggressive motives.
  • Modern theorists focus on motives like self-esteem and social belonging.
  • People are not always aware of what motivates them.

Extrinsic and Intrinsic Motivation:

• Extrinsic: Perform an action for external reward (e.g., money, grades).
• Intrinsic: Perform an action for internal satisfaction or enjoyment (e.g., pleasure, interest, challenge).

###  Basic Emotions: (Seeks to understand the nature, causes, and consequences of emotions)

• Happiness (Joy): Contentment, positive feelings.
• Sadness: Emotional distress, feelings of loss or disappointment.
• Anger: Hostile feelings caused by provocation or injustice.
• Fear: An unpleasant emotion caused by a danger or threat.
• Disgust: A strong aversion to something offensive or repulsive
• Surprise: A response to an unexpected or startling event.
• Contempt: A feeling of superiority and disgust.
• Shame: A painful emotion caused by the awareness of a mistake or wrongdoing.
• Guilt: A feeling of remorse or responsibility for an action or thought.
• Love: Strong affection and care for another person or entity

###  Theories of Emotion

• James-Lange Theory: Physiological arousal precedes the emotion.
• Cannon-Bard Theory: Physiological arousal and emotion occur simultaneously.
• Schachter-Singer Two-Factor Theory: Physiological arousal is interpreted based on the situation, leading to an emotion.

###  Cognitive Appraisal Theory:

• Focuses on the role of thoughts and interpretations in shaping emotions.
• Appraisal: Evaluation of an event and its significance.

###  Emotional Intelligence (EQ): (The ability to understand, manage, and utilize emotions)

• Self-awareness: Understanding your own emotions.
• Self-regulation: Controlling and managing your own emotions.
• Motivation: Staying focused and driven.
• Empathy: Understanding and recognizing the emotions of others.
• Social skills: Managing relationships effectively.

Types of Emotion Regulation:

• Behavioral: Taking action to change the situation.
• Cognitive: Changing how you think about the situation.
• Physiological: Changing your physical state.
• Psychological
• Social

Social Influences on Emotion:

• Culture: Shape emotional expression and understanding.
• Gender: Can influence expected emotions and behaviors.
• Social Norms: Guide emotional expression.
• Social Support: Improves emotional well-being.

This quiz assesses your understanding of the core principles and ethical considerations in qualitative research. Answer questions about research methods, ethical practices, and key characteristics unique to this approach. Perfect for students and professionals looking to enhance their knowledge of qualitative studies.