URBS 260- 10 - BreakingDownTheDivide.pdf

URBS 260 ANALYTICAL METHODS IN URBAN STUDIES BREAKING DOWN THE QUANTITATIVE/QUALITATIVE DIVIDE QUIZ 5 CLOSES TOMORROW NOV 17 AT 5 PM • Based on Last Weeks Lecture and Readings on Qualitative Analysis • 20 minutes once you start • ASCD accommodations are applied • 5 questions TEACHING AGAINST TH...

URBS 260 ANALYTICAL METHODS IN URBAN STUDIES BREAKING DOWN THE QUANTITATIVE/QUALITATIVE DIVIDE QUIZ 5 CLOSES TOMORROW NOV 17 AT 5 PM • Based on Last Weeks Lecture and Readings on Qualitative Analysis • 20 minutes once you start • ASCD accommodations are applied • 5 questions TEACHING AGAINST THE TEXT: THE CASE OF QUALITATIVE METHODS (HOOD, 2006) Hood states that in some ways all of these questions are completely or partially false. Many social research textbooks may make such statements. Within certain content, it may be right – time of writing, certain fields of social research, period of analysis, and etc.. The first statement, however, is still right. As there are also many social researchers who would argue that certain, if not all, statements to the right are wrong. The importance issue here is context and agreement, as not all researcher agree on truths. Hence, the reason why you need to be a critical reader and no not an unreflective thinker. Q1 Q7 308,709 17,175 11,332 The above article results were from the same searches on the Academic Search Complete Database for Geography Urban Studies: EBSCO host Q5 OVERLAPPING INTERESTS • Naturalist vs. interpretivist • Objectivist vs. Constructionist orientation • Methods are not exclusive to one school • Multi-strategy research • Combines both quantitative and qualitative (although not necessarily better). THE NATURAL SCIENCE MODEL AND QUALITATIVE RESEARCH Qualitative research often exhibits features associated with a natural science model. • Empiricist themes: e.g., desire for direct contact with reality, procedures in which theories are grounded in data, the meanings people give to their actions can be ascertained through the senses, etc. • A specific problem focus • Hypothesis- and theory-testing, e.g., analytic induction, grounded theory • Realism: Some qualitative researchers are neo-positivist in the sense that they believe that a reality external to the observer exists, e.g., Miller, Charmaz, Glaser, Strauss, etc. QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH INTERPRETIVISM CONSTRUCTIONISM • Many quantitative researchers are interested in issues of meaning, e.g., those who study attitudes using surveys. • Quantitative methods (such as quantitative approaches to content analysis) can be used to establish how people create their sense of reality. • • Qualitative claim access to participants’ world view • Rarely proved through respondent validation e.g., one could study the content of TV shows quantitatively to illustrate one way in which gender socialization takes place EPISTEMOLOGICAL AND ONTOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS • People using a particular research strategy do not always share the same epistemological and ontological assumptions. • Use of certain research methods may not be accompanied by the expected epistemology and ontology. THE QUANTITATIVE/QUALITATIVE CONTRAST A NUANCED VIEW • Behaviour vs. meaning • Many perspectives in quantitative social science now consider meaning to be important. • Qualitative research often involves the study of behaviour. DEDUCTIVE/INDUCTI VE • Much quantitative research (e.g., survey research) is largely inductive. • Many hypotheses and theories may only emerge after the data have been gathered. THE QUANTITATIVE/QUALITATIVE CONTRAST NUMBERS VERSUS WORDS • Some qualitative researchers engage in a limited amount of quantification. • Some quantitative researchers gather or analyze qualitative data to better understand their subject matter or to generate ideas, e.g., Bell’s (2007) study of western Canadian separatism. ARTIFICIAL VERSUS NATURAL • Qualitative interviewing may take people away from their natural settings. • Participant observation may introduce some artificiality and reactivity. • Artificiality is not only an issue in quantitative work. QUALITATIVE METHODS USED TO STUDY QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH • The nature of quantitative research can be examined using qualitative methods. • That suggests that the two approaches are not radically different. • The nature of qualitative research can be examined using quantitative methods, e.g., meta-ethnography (Hodson, 1996). • Reliability measures for coding • Again, this suggests that the two approaches are not radically different. QUANTIFICATION IN QUALITATIVE RESEARCH Can occur in: Thematic analysis: An implicit quantification may determine the identification and prominence of certain themes rather than others. Quasi-quantification: Use of terms like ‘many’, ‘often’, ‘rarely’, etc. • Limited quantification to counter anecdotalism THE ARGUMENTS AGAINST MULTISTRATEGY RESEARCH • The embedded methods argument: The use of a particular research method implies acceptance of certain epistemological and ontological positions. • • e.g., use of participant observations necessarily means that the researcher takes an interpretivist position that is inconsistent with the natural science model There is reason to question the embedded methods argument. • Unsustainable • The paradigm argument: The quantitative and qualitative approaches are based on separate paradigms that are epistemologically and ontologically incommensurable. • Quantitative and qualitative methods do have areas of overlap. THE TWO OPPOSING POSITIONS • An epistemological argument: Quantitative and qualitative research are based on incompatible epistemological principles. • People making this claim also maintain that the two general orientations are ontologically incompatible. • A technical argument: Quantitative and qualitative methods are simply techniques that can be used without necessarily adopting a particular epistemological (or ontological) position. • The selection of a method is a decision about which window the researcher will open to look into the ‘room’. • It does not dictate how one will see. APPROACHES TO MULTI-STRATEGY RESEARCH FILLING IN THE GAPS • When the researcher cannot rely on either a quantitative or a qualitative method alone, a multi-strategy approach can be used to fill in the gaps • Two-step approach to planning multi-strategy research: 1. The priority decision:Will the principal data-gathering tool be qualitative or quantitative? 2. The sequence decision: Should the “complementary” method be used first, as a preliminary to the principal method, or second, as a follow-up? THE PROBLEM OF GENERALITY • Tendency in qualitative research to present findings without evidence indicating how typical they are • Quantitative comparisons can be of use QUALITATIVE RESEARCH AND THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN VARIABLES • Qualitative research may help to interpret the relationship between variables • One strategy is to look for an intervening variable • One that is influenced by the independent variable but in turn has an effect on the dependent variable STUDYING DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF A PHENOMENON • Macro and micro orientations can be differently useful based on the research question • In multi-strategy research, the different methods may be geared to addressing different kinds of research questions REFLECTIONS ON MULTISTRATEGY RESEARCH • Multi-strategy research becoming more common: • Methods are seen as simply a technique of data collection • Softening in feminist position against quantitative methods REFLECTIONS ON MULTISTRATEGY RESEARCH • Becoming more common • Methods are seen as simply a technique of data collection. • Softening in feminist position against quantitative methods. • Must be competently designed and conducted • Must be appropriate for the research questions asked • More is not necessarily better. • Multiple methods likely take more time and money • Spreading resources too thinly can dilute the effectiveness of the research. • Different skills and training required • ‘Trained incapacities’ may prevent integrating both methods.