qualitative data analysis - viva university · research methods – dr richard boateng...
Post on 08-Sep-2018
233 Views
Preview:
TRANSCRIPT
Research Methods – Dr Richard Boateng [richard@pearlrichards.org] Photo Illustrations from Getty Images – www.gettyimages.com 1
Qualitative Data Analysis
Lecturer/Convenor:
Richard Boateng, PhD.
Email:
richard@pearlrichards.org
Office: UGBS RT18 (rooftop)
Arguments with
Qualitative Data
Research Methods – Dr Richard Boateng [richard@pearlrichards.org] Photo Illustrations from Getty Images – www.gettyimages.com 2
Class Website
• www.vivaafrica.info
Use the class website WEEKLY, ask/comment on the articles,
and JOIN the FACEBOOK
Please Add your name and the course code
Research Methods – Dr Richard Boateng [richard@pearlrichards.org] Photo Illustrations from Getty Images – www.gettyimages.com 3
Learning Objectives
• This session seeks to discuss how to construct and
present analytical explanations on the basis of
qualitative data.
• Making an argument is the construction of a
perspective, an interpretation, or a line of reasoning
or analysis and, significantly, it requires this to be a
relational process, in which the researcher is
continually thinking about and engaging with those to
whom the argument is being made as well as, of
course, the grounds on which they think the
argument stands.
Research Methods – Dr Richard Boateng [richard@pearlrichards.org] Photo Illustrations from Getty Images – www.gettyimages.com 4
Reading
• Mason. J. (2003). Making convincing
arguments with qualitative data. In
Qualitative researching (pp. 173–
204). Thousand Oaks, CA; SAGE
Publications.
Research Methods – Dr Richard Boateng [richard@pearlrichards.org] Photo Illustrations from Getty Images – www.gettyimages.com 5
Making Arguments
• Arguments are sets of ideas which are expressed
and how they are constituted, in writing or in other
forms, is fundamental
• Making convincing arguments depends upon the
assumption that there are no self-evidently correct
answers to intellectual puzzles or social
phenomena…
• So researchers must show others what led them to
suppose that their argument was appropriate or
persuasive.
• Making an argument therefore involves working out
how to construct, communicate, support and
substantiate it.
Research Methods – Dr Richard Boateng [richard@pearlrichards.org] Photo Illustrations from Getty Images – www.gettyimages.com 6
Different Types of Arguments
To argue convincingly, you need to understand:
• What kinds of explanations or arguments can I build
from my data?
• What kinds are outside the scope of my analysis?
• What do I want the explanation or argument to do?
TYPE 1
Arguments about how something has developed
You will construct a developmental argument if you want to
explain how social phenomena, social relationships, social
processes and so on have developed or come to be. Describe
a detailed, contextual and multilayered interpretation of the
developmental processes.
Research Methods – Dr Richard Boateng [richard@pearlrichards.org] Photo Illustrations from Getty Images – www.gettyimages.com 7
Different Types of Arguments TYPE 2
Arguments about how something works or is constituted
These arguments provide ‘mechanical’ arguments that focus on
how social phenomena and processes operate or are constituted.
This is because of the rich, contextual and ‘local’ nature of most
qualitative investigation which is done in ‘messy’ contexts.
TYPE 3
Arguments about how social phenomena compare
Comparative arguments aim to draw some explanatory
significance from a specified set of comparisons and
therefore the logic of explanation is tied up with the mechanism
of comparison. In Qual. Research, our sensitivity to context
maximizes the chances of developing fully meaningful points of
comparison.
Research Methods – Dr Richard Boateng [richard@pearlrichards.org] Photo Illustrations from Getty Images – www.gettyimages.com 8
Different Types of Arguments TYPE 4
Arguments about causation and prediction
Causal arguments are usually framed in terms of the effects of
variables on each other – However, that is not the focus of
qualitative research. Causality focuses on detail, complexity
and contextuality, and…. not expecting to find a cause and
an effect in any straightforward fashion.
Prediction is concerned with how and why social
phenomena or processes happen in particular
circumstances and particular ways can certainly support
predictive ideas about how those things might vary in
different contexts.
Research Methods – Dr Richard Boateng [richard@pearlrichards.org] Photo Illustrations from Getty Images – www.gettyimages.com 9
How to Argue TYPE 1
Arguing evidentially
(‘I can make this argument because I can show you
the relevant evidence’.)
If this is your argument, you will be concerned to
demonstrate that you have marshalled and assembled
your evidence carefully and appropriately. You will need
to be clear about the basis on which you suppose your
data constitute evidence.
Research Methods – Dr Richard Boateng [richard@pearlrichards.org] Photo Illustrations from Getty Images – www.gettyimages.com 10
How to Argue TYPE 1
Arguing evidentially Mobiles and Market women in Ghana
In Case A, AA uses her phone’s calendar functionality to schedule the
times to supply her customers who need tomatoes. In Case B, customers
are able to monitor delivery times of goods and plan for contingencies
through text messages. This communication medium creates a borderless
environment or redefines the ‘‘place’’ factor in transacting business with
customers and creating more personalized services for them.
Personalized services lead to deepened relationships, which can
contribute to customer loyalty and retention. Williamson (1981) refers
to this phenomenon of ‘‘deepened relationships’’ as asset specificity, a
transaction characteristic which depict customers ‘‘locked into’’ a
transaction for a considerable time.
Research Methods – Dr Richard Boateng [richard@pearlrichards.org] Photo Illustrations from Getty Images – www.gettyimages.com 11
How to Argue TYPE 2
Arguing interpretively or narratively
(‘I can make this argument because I can show
you that my interpretation or my narrative is
meaningful or reasonable’.)
If this is your argument, you will be concerned to
show that your interpretation is sensitive,
appropriately nuanced, and valid.
Research Methods – Dr Richard Boateng [richard@pearlrichards.org] Photo Illustrations from Getty Images – www.gettyimages.com 12
How to Argue TYPE 2
Arguing interpretively or narratively
Mobiles and Market women in Ghana
Economic empowerment is evident in both case studies presented above.
For example,
Grace stated that:[. . .] I am able to send simple text messages to inform
customers on maize prices and delivery times.
AA also emphasized that:
[. . .] Therefore, I do not need to be at the market everyday yet still make
my money.
In this respect, the findings suggest that the women traders have gained
some economic empowerment in improved income from cost reduction,
decision making and control in managing the uncertainty in transactions with
trading partners and customers. Thus, the transformational impact observed
is the economic empowerment for the traders.
Research Methods – Dr Richard Boateng [richard@pearlrichards.org] Photo Illustrations from Getty Images – www.gettyimages.com 13
How to Argue TYPE 4
Arguing reflexively or multivocally
(‘I can make this argument because I can
make you aware of a meaningful range of
perspectives, experiences and standpoints,
including my own.’)
If this is your argument, you will be seeking to show
a sensitivity to a range of interpretations and voices in
your data, and a willingness to critique and question
your own as well as those of others.
Research Methods – Dr Richard Boateng [richard@pearlrichards.org] Photo Illustrations from Getty Images – www.gettyimages.com 14
How to Argue TYPE 4
Arguing reflexively or multivocally
Mobiles and Market women in Ghana
Concerning the level of education and usage behavior, all respondents who
had no formal education actively used mobile phones in all the stages of
trading (see Figure 3). Noting that the number of respondents with no formal
education was only 13 percent of the sample, it is inconclusive to suggest
a significant impact of education on mobile phone usage. However, the
innovative use of calculators in trading was observed. 12 out of the 18 traders
(9 percent of total respondents) with no formal education claimed to use
calculators in trading activities.
This ability to identify basic functions in mobile phones and integrate them in
trading activities is arguably a function of the some level of education and the
perceived ease of using the mobile phones they owned. On further enquiry,
these traders intimated that they often received help from their children,
friends, relatives and sometimes customers in learning some of the
functions of mobile phones, especially with ‘‘simple’’ text messages,
calculators, and use of calendars as reminders.
Research Methods – Dr Richard Boateng [richard@pearlrichards.org] Photo Illustrations from Getty Images – www.gettyimages.com 15
Data and Argument
• Positivist Approach
– Connections in Observed data become variables for
explanation
• Realist Approach
– empirical observations can be explained by
underlying mechanisms that are not directly
observable in themselves.
• Interpretive Approach
– interpretations of meanings, experiences, accounts,
actions, events, can be developed into explanations
and understandings
Research Methods – Dr Richard Boateng [richard@pearlrichards.org] Photo Illustrations from Getty Images – www.gettyimages.com 16
Theory and Argument • As Coffey and Atkinson put it: ‘Theories are not added only as a final
gloss or justification; they are not thrown over the work as a final
garnish. They are drawn on repeatedly as ideas are formulated,
tried out, modified, rejected, or polished’ (1996: 158).
Role 1
Theory comes first, before empirical research and
analysis, and is tested on or measured against data. The
theory is not derived from data in this version…. If you are
developing theory in this way, you will have stated clear
hypotheses in advance, and your analytical task will be to
measure or match up your data against these.
Deductive Reasoning
Research Methods – Dr Richard Boateng [richard@pearlrichards.org] Photo Illustrations from Getty Images – www.gettyimages.com 17
Theory and Argument
Role 1
Theory comes first, before empirical research and analysis, and is
tested on or measured against data. The theory is not derived from data
in this version…. If you are developing theory in this way, you will have
stated clear hypotheses in advance, and your analytical task will be to
measure or match up your data against these.
Deductive Reasoning
Also called the ‘hypotheticodeductive method’, whereby
theoretical propositions or hypotheses are generated in
advance of the research process, and then modified –
usually through a process of falsification – by the empirical
research. This is often characterized as moving from the
general to the particular.
Research Methods – Dr Richard Boateng [richard@pearlrichards.org] Photo Illustrations from Getty Images – www.gettyimages.com 18
Theory and Argument
Role 2
Theory comes last and is developed from or through
data generation and analysis.
If you are developing theory in this way, you will probably
begin the process of analysis whilst data generation is
under way, and use a version of theoretical sampling to
augment this. You will scrutinize your data so that you
can develop explanations which appear to fit them.
Inductive Reasoning
like inductive reasoning, where the researcher will develop
theoretical propositions or explanations out of the data, in a
process which is commonly seen as moving from the
particular to the general.
Research Methods – Dr Richard Boateng [richard@pearlrichards.org] Photo Illustrations from Getty Images – www.gettyimages.com 19
Theory and Argument
Role 3
Theory, data generation and data analysis are
developed simultaneously in a dialectical process.
If you are developing theory in this way, you will devise a
method for moving back and forth between data analysis
and the process of explanation or theory construction.
Abductive and Retroductive
Reasoning
theory data
Research Methods – Dr Richard Boateng [richard@pearlrichards.org] Photo Illustrations from Getty Images – www.gettyimages.com 20
Theory and Argument
Role 3
Others have conceptualized abductive reasoning as moving
back and forth between our own data, our experience, and
broader concepts (Coffey and Atkinson, 1996).
Abductive and Retroductive Reasoning
‘Retroductive research strategy’, which falls somewhere
between roles 1 and 2, in that it begins with data but theorizes a
model of an underlying mechanism which might have produced
patterns seen in the data, and then works backwards from the
data towards verifying or otherwise that model.
The model will include some kind of statement about how – if it is
correct – it might operate under different circumstances, and what
the empirical manifestations would look like, so that it can in effect
be empirically tested.
Research Methods – Dr Richard Boateng [richard@pearlrichards.org] Photo Illustrations from Getty Images – www.gettyimages.com 21
Theory and Argument What happens in practice
it is worth pointing out that most research
strategies in practice probably draw on a
combination of these approaches. Are there ‘pure’
forms of, for example, inductive, deductive, abductive or
retroductive reasoning are ever actually practised.
I would also argue that researchers with widely differing
theoretical orientations do actually engage in the practice,
associated with abductive reasoning, of moving back and forth
between data, experience and wider concepts, whether or not
they always explicitly recognize this as part of their research
strategy.
Research Methods – Dr Richard Boateng [richard@pearlrichards.org] Photo Illustrations from Getty Images – www.gettyimages.com 22
Empirical and Theoretical Generalization
• Empirical Generalization is based on a logic whereby
you are able to make generalizations from an analysis of
one empirical population (say, your sample) to another,
wider, population (say, all adults in Ghana), on the basis
that your study population was statistically
representative of that wider population.
• Theoretical Generalization encompasses a range of
strategies based on differing logics, some of which look
more obviously ‘theoretical’ than others. Show that you
have tested out your developing explanation by
trying out alternative explanations, and in particular
by looking for negative instances.
Research Methods – Dr Richard Boateng [richard@pearlrichards.org] Photo Illustrations from Getty Images – www.gettyimages.com 23
Miles and Huberman’s Data Analysis • Transcendental Realism
– Data reduction, data display and drawing and
verifying conclusion
top related