Chys 2p51 Midterm Review PDF

**[Chys 2p51 Midterm Review]** **Qualitative Research:** Can be described as big, complicated, and contradictory - Seeks out knowledge - Gathers information on a topic - Art of investigating - Deepings our understanding of the world - Concerned with asking "How" and "Why" questions...

**[Chys 2p51 Midterm Review]** **Qualitative Research:** Can be described as big, complicated, and contradictory - Seeks out knowledge - Gathers information on a topic - Art of investigating - Deepings our understanding of the world - Concerned with asking "How" and "Why" questions - Gathers the stories, perspectives and experiences of participants - Data collection comes primarily from **observations,** **focus groups, and interviews** - 'Truth' is relative - Something may look a certain way for one person than another - There are multiple realities - Views are not static - Views may change due to one's environment, places, and surrounding people - Theory development - Rich descriptions, descriptive - Seeing the world from the eyes of the participants - Exploration of meaning - Holistic emphasis- studying the person, group, and culture in a natural setting - Lack of objectivity - Generalizability - Access can be difficult - Time-consuming - **Qualitative:** - Explores individual **experiences, beliefs, and perspectives** (**Small)** - Relies on words and descriptions as data. - **Quantitative:** - Generates **large-scale numerical data** to predict and generalize trends **(Large)** - Relies on numbers as data - Describes a researcher's **worldview and standpoint** when conducting research - Where one is located in relation to their various social identities (Ex. Race, gender, class) - The combination of these identities and their intersections shape how we understand and engage with the world. - Under the umbrella of epistemology - Acknowledging your role in research and how it will influence the research process - The examination of **one's own beliefs, judgements and practices** during the research process and how these may have influenced the research (Ex. A sociologist studying poverty in their own community) - As well, the questions they ask - How they interpret data - We cannot be unhuman during our research - A researcher's personal experiences can impact how they approach the research, ask the questions they ask, and how they interpret data. - **Informal:** - Not well-defined or organized - Use non-scientific methods to conduct their data - Information gathered can be useful for rough judgment or decision-making. - Ex. Asking your family, friends, or acquaintances about anything. - **Formal:** - Involves systematic careful inquiry - Takes more time and effort - Gathering information that is true. - The framework of your research - What theories and practices you will use to create the research plan - This framework will guide all aspects of the process - RQ, aim of the study etc. - **Methodology:** - Justification for using a particular research method - Specific procedures or techniques used to select, identify, process, and analyze information about a topic. - It is the study of the tools for knowing, an examination of the methods. - **Ontology:** - The philosophical study of being - Refers to your view of reality - Nature of reality and what it means to exist - The study of how we determine if things exist or not, as well as the classification of existence - It attempts to take things that are abstract and establish if they are, in fact, real. - Ex. Does God exist? - **Epistemology:** - The theory of knowledge - The study of knowing - How do we know what we know? - The world is independent and unaffected by the researcher - Researchers can conduct an objective inquiry about the world - **Ontology-** Realism - **Epistemology-** Detached, objective researcher - **Methodology-** Generally quantitative, sometimes can be qualitative - **Methods-** Experiment, survey - Proceeding through a research process without being influenced by bias or personal opinions **Subjectivity:** - The understanding that everyone has their own perspective and beliefs. Researchers must reflect on themselves and how their thoughts and beliefs reflect the study - Gives them a voice - Adopt a deeper understanding on their thoughts, values, and perspectives - Creates studies that will be impacting their lives - Focus groups, observations etc. in their environments - Anything to make them feel comfortable - Based on funding or fundability (ex. Funding towards indigenous projects) - What is interesting and most likely to make the news. - How power and inequality shape the world - Activist component to research - Includes: - Feminist theories - Poststructuralism - Critical Race Theory - Indigenous approaches - Uses techniques and methods deeply rooted in history through traditional knowledge systems - Storytelling - Dancing - Sharing circles - Personal stories **Ethics:** - Govern the standards of conduct for scientific researchers. It is important to adhere to ethical principles in order to protect the dignity, rights and welfare of research participants - Stands for human rights **Nuremberg Code:** - States that human consent is essential - Informed consent; absence of coercion - The Nuremberg Code is a set of ethical guidelines for human experimentation developed after World War II, in response to the unethical medical experiments conducted by Nazi doctors. - Established in 1947 during the Nuremberg Trials, it outlines key principles to ensure that research involving human subjects is conducted ethically. The code emphasizes:  - **Voluntary consent:** Participants must willingly agree to be part of the experiment without coercion.  - **Informed consent:** Participants must be fully informed about the experiment's nature, purpose, risks, and benefits.  - **Beneficence:** The experiment should aim to benefit society and avoid unnecessary suffering.  - **Risk minimization:** Risks should be minimized, and the potential benefits must outweigh the risks.  - **Right to withdraw:** Participants should be free to withdraw from the study at any time without consequence.  - The Nuremberg Code has been foundational in shaping modern ethical standards for medical and scientific research involving human subjects. **The Bellmont Report:** - National Commission for the protection of human research subjects - **3 Core Ethical Principles:** Autonomy/Respect for persons, Beneficence, and Justice - The standard declaration of ethical principles in research **4 Categories of Ethics:** - **Procedural:** - The requirement of researchers to articulate the purpose and significance of the project, the ways they will minimize harm to their participants, and their data management practices. - **Situational:** - We cannot predict what is going to happen in the field of research, so situational ethics accounts for the unexpected or unforeseen ethical issues that arise in the context of doing research. - **Relational:** - Linked to the above key ethical principles around treating others with respect and considering the relationships we build in the field and their effects (this can also include attention to power differentials) - The researcher's awareness of the impact of their own actions on others. - **Exiting:** - Connected to relational and procedural but focused on the research situation after data collection is over e.g. Around how the research relationship is ended and how data is shared **How do we understand children's status?** - Human rights treaty that outlines civil, political, economic, health, social, and cultural rights of children under 18 - Legal status and protection - Developmental capacities - Power differentials **Key Ethical Principles** - **Benefits must outweigh risks!** - Addressing participants welfare - What are the benefits of the study, do they outweigh potential harms? - **Protection and Participation** - Ethical principles concern participants' participation but ensure protection - **Respect and Justice** - Ethical principles include the promotion of respect and justice for participants **Ethical Considerations:** - **Informed consent-** The participant knows what is to come during the research. They are told what is going to happen - They are able to leave at any time! - **Privacy-** Anonymity and confidentiality - **Power** - **Payment & gifts** - **Ethical dilemmas-** When an ethical concern pops up in the research and available choices do not allow for an ethical outcome **Consent:** - Informed consent at the **age of 18** - Participants and parents must know what they are getting into **Assent:** - An age agreement by an individual not competent to give legally valid informed consent (**under 18**) - Parents must be notified **Ethical Issues with Compensation:** - It may make people want to be a part of research for the gifts - The participant may not be 100% honest **ETHICS IS AN ONGOING PROCESS!** **Observations:** - A type of method used in qualitative research - Includes observing participants in an environment (not experimental) - Record observations - Mulhall (2023) Observational data is open to interpretation by the researcher **Determining the Research Question:** - Not a hypothesis - Qualitative RQ's are open-ended: - What are the lived experiences of... - What does it mean to be... - How do children make sense of... **Types of Observations:** - **Overt:** - Subjects know that they are being watched - Naturalistic, structured - Participants provide consent/assent - **Covert:** - Subjects do not know that they are being watched - Non-participant - Ethical concerns? - Deception. Mulhall (2023) when is deception justified **Field Notes:** - Recording observations - Detailed, methodological, and immediate - Reflective notes and interviews - You should record: - Images - Actions - Words - Sounds - Smells etc. - **Reflexivity in field notes:** - Reflective vs descriptive notes: - **Descriptive:** Factual data- actions, behaviours etc. - **Reflexive:** Thoughts, questions, ideas, concerns etc. **Ethnography:** - A methodology that comprises multiple qualitative methods - Full immersion- goes beyond observation - Describe and interpret a culture-sharing group - RQ is related to "What is going on here?" - Descriptive, structural questions - Meloni (2020) ethnography allows for a collaborative approach, particularly with marginalized, hard-to-reach groups. **Colonialism and Ethnography:** - An important historical note - Ethnographies are embedded in a colonial history - Learning about "the other" - What does it mean to study cultures we are not a part of? **Strengths:** - Immersion into the world of the community/people you are researching - Deep contextualization of lived experiences - Reliance on relationship-building **Challenges:** - Time-consuming - Blurring of the field - Context - Ethics - Difficult emotions in the field (Melini, 2020) **Key Terms in Ethnographic Research:** - **Thick description:** - Elaborations on the mundane details of a field/ research site in order to contextualize and understand the many details of the site. (Going above and beyond in notes) - **Triangulation:** - Involves the use of different methods and sources to check the integrity of, or extend, inferences drawn from data. - **Audit trail:** - Is a way for the reader to see the research process and follow its stages. This enhances validity and reliability **What is reflexivity?** - Qualitative research, by its very nature, is subjective! - The research accounts for their own role in the research - How do you consider your own biases and assumptions? - How does your background, values, beliefs, attitudes, positionality etc. impact how you conduct research and interpret the data that is collected? - Reflexivity is a crucial consideration of how the research interacts with the research process- turning the mirror on yourself! **How do I practice Reflexivity?** - Research Journal - Pre-set questions - Creative journaling - Reflexivity work is private! **Interviews:** - A data collection method that gathers one-on-one, in-depth information to learn more about individual/community experiences, opinions, and behaviours - The direction of interviews is guided by participant responses. - **Types of Interviews:** - Structures/closed - Semi-structured - Unstructured/open - Allow for private, in-depth conversations that allow the researcher to learn about personal experiences - Must be cognizant of the power imbalance between researcher/participant(s) **Structured/Closed Interviews:** - Short, specific questions - Read questions the same way and same order with every participant - Positivists are more likely to favour closed questions; they fit more closely with a deductive method - Eg. What are the 3 things you like most about school? **Unstructured/Open:** - Very minimal use of questions, allows the participant to guide/lead the interview - Eg. Tell me the story of your life, from early childhood to now. **Logistics of an Interview:** - Record notes (location, time, mood, non-verbal communication) - Scheduling and confirming - Audio recording (2 methods, test) - Interview space (e.g. access, place, safety, privacy, comfort) **Advantages:** - Private conversations - In-depth, personal conversations - Relationship-building **Challenges:** - Power imbalance between interviewer and interviewee - Interviewer dominating the interview - Discomfort **Focus Groups:** - Takes place in groups (3-12 participants) - Collaborative discussion between researcher and the participants - Explore participants' experience of key informants, including sensitive topics that can be harder for participants to discuss alone. - Shift the power dynamics between researcher and participants(s) **Strengths:** - Group effect/Public talk - Shared experience, identity, history, or goal - Support building - Shifts power dynamics **Drawbacks:** - Demanding on the researcher (attentiveness to non-verbal communication) - Researcher has less control - Confidentiality - Individual discomfort **Participatory Action Research:** - Research in action - An approach that uses collaboration and fosters connections - Participants are involved the entire process - Empowerment of oppressed groups - Social transformation **How is it empowering?** - The lived experiences of participants matter - A goal of improving the lived experiences of participants, particularly though addressing inequalities (social transformation) **Benefits:** - Working together - Social change - Meaningful to participants **Challenges:** - Shifts power away from researcher - Time demands - Engagement - Achieving the "action" is no small task - Ethical complications **Member Checks:** - Data, interpretations, themes, and confusion are presented to participants from original data collection - Allows participants to revise or clarify earlier statements - Humans are not perfect- they could have given a rude response on a question one day (not their real answer) - Ensure that you are not misreading statements/data collection from participants - Can be a formal or informal process - Strengthens the validity of the research project