Term
| What is a good research question? |
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Definition
| Is feasible, socially important, scientifically relevant |
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Term
| Name three methods and say if they are quantitative or qualitative? |
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Definition
1) Interview - Qualitative
2) Survey - Quantitative
3)Ethnography - Qualitative |
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Term
| What are the weaknesses of qualitative research? |
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Definition
| Results are not generalisable, cannot be duplicated by other researchers, conclusions are subject to personal values and interpretations. |
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Term
| What are the weaknesses of quantitative research? |
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Definition
| Lacks rich context found in qualitative studies, |
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Term
| Explain the characteristics of a narrative study. |
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Definition
| Collects stories by individuals, reports their experiences and arranges the experiences in a chronologically attached manner. |
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Term
| Explain the characteristics of a phenomenological study. |
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Definition
| Focuses on individuals lived experiences of a concept or phenomenon, focus on what individuals have in common during lived experiences, describes "what" they felt and "how" they felt it. |
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Term
| Explain the characteristics of a grounded theory study. |
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Definition
| Seeks to generate theory for further research/explanation of processes or practice, focus on experiences of a large number of participants, data analysis starts while collecting it. (could be -coding material/data into categories for future research) |
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Term
| Explain the characteristics of an ethnographic study. |
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Definition
| Focus on an entire cultural group, their shared patterns through participant observation (participant is immersed in day-to-day life of participants) |
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Term
| Explain the characteristics of a case study. |
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Definition
| Focus on a bounded system (case) or cases through collection of data from multiple sources of information over time. Is used to understand an issue or a setting using the case as an example. |
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Term
| What can be a 'case' in a qualitative case study? |
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Definition
| An activity, an individual or group of individuals, a law case or an event. |
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Term
| What do the terms 'emic' and 'etic' refer to an in which research are they relevant? |
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Definition
Emic = views of participants
Etic = views of the researcher
Relevant in ethnography (qualitative method) |
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Term
| What are the main elements of empirical research? |
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Definition
| Research Question, Theory, Method, Strategy & /Design, Material & Result |
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Term
| What are the characteristics of 'random sampling', 'purposive sampling' & 'representative sampling'? |
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Definition
-Random sampling relies on chance where every possible sample choice has a known choice probability.
-Purposive sampling is a non-probability sampling method where samples are chosen for a purpose, usually for their unique position.
-Representative sampling is when the sample "looks like" the population from which it was chosen. The distribution of characteristics among the elements matches that of the distribution among the total population. |
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Term
| Name three different types of hypotheses. |
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Definition
-Null hypothesis (predicts there is no relationship/difference between groups on a variable)
-Directional hypothesis (predicts the expected outcome based on prior literature and studies that predict a potential outcome)
-Non-directional hypothesis (prediction is made but exact form of differences are not specified because no prediction can be made from prior lit. or studies) |
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Term
| Explain the purposes and the ways of mixing qualitative and quantitative data |
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Definition
Mixing qualitative and quantitative data means either that the qualitative and quantitative are actually merged, kept separate or combined in some way between the two extremes. The purpose of mixing qualitative and quantitative data is to compliment the weaknesses of quantitative and qualitative research and provide researchers with comprehensive results and better understanding of the problem compared to when one type of datasets are used alone
- Connected means that the quantitative and qualitative are connected between a data analysis of the first phase of research and data collection of the second phase.
- Integrating qualitative and quantitative data means that the data are actually merged through a comparison approach during data collection.
- Embedding is where a secondary form of data is lodged within a larger study with a different form of data as the primary. The secondary data provides a supporting role. |
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Term
| Which are the most important goals of social science? |
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Definition
| Exploration, explanation, description & evaluation |
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Term
| What must a quantitative research purpose statement consist of? |
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Definition
| A quantitative research purpose statement must consist of the major intent of the study, such as purpose, intent or objective. It must also identify the theory, model or conceptual framework and identify the independent and dependent variables. Is must also contain the specific type of strategy of inquiry used in the study. Refreneces to key participants (or the unit of analysis) and mention the research site. |
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Term
| What are the "everyday errors" in nonscientific understandings of the social word? |
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Definition
Overgeneralization
Selective or inaccurate observation
Illogical reasoning
Resistance to change |
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Term
| What are the main characteristics of a scientific approach to social issues? |
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Definition
| Systematic procedures... Explicit criteria for identifying causes... Systematic measuring and sampling... Providing evidence --- aovding 'everyday errors' by the use of scientific methods |
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Term
| What is a hypothesis and in which research approach are hypotheses used? |
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Definition
| Hypothesis is a tentative statement about empirical reality. It is used in deductive research. |
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Term
| What is sampling and why is it important? |
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Definition
| Sampling is the use of an offset of a population to study the population as a whole. Sampling is important to make a research manageable. |
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Term
| What do you know about surveys? |
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Definition
| A survey design provides a quantitative or numeric description of trends, attitudes, or opinions of a population by studying a sample of it. From sample results, the researcher generalizes or makes claims about the population. |
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Term
| What is the difference between qualitative and quantitative reliability? |
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Definition
| Quantitative reliability is when measurement procedures gives consistent scores while a qualitative research projects can't be repeated in exact manner by other researchers. Reliability in qualitative research is when several researchers observe the same people, events or places and their data is similar. |
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Term
| What is a dependent and an independent variable? |
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Definition
| Dependent variable is a variable that is hypothesized to vary depending on or under the influence of another variable. Independent variable is a variable that is hypothesized to cause, or lead to, variation in another variable. |
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Term
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Definition
| A questionnaire is a survey instrument containing the questions in a self-administered survey. |
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Term
| Can everything in the social work become scientific data? Explain |
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Definition
| Yes, everything can in the social word but not all questions are equally worthy. The questions that warrant the expense and effort of social research are feasible, socially important, and scientifically relevant and need to approached using scientific methods |
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Term
| Explain the difference between inductive and deductive research |
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Definition
| Inductive research starts in the data, deductive starts with a theory and then uses data to test some of its implications. |
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Term
| What is the difference between positivism and postpositivism |
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Definition
| Postpositivism is challenging the traditional notion of the absolute truth of knowledge and recognize that we cannot be "positive" about our claims of knowledge when studying the behavior and actions of humans |
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Term
| What is the difference between qualitative and quantitative validity? |
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Definition
| In quantitative research validity is whether one can draw meaningful and useful conclusions from the scores on particular instruments while in qualitative research there are no set standards for validity. However evidence and methods on which conclusions are based must be considered carefully. |
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Term
| Explain the difference between open-ended and closed-ended data |
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Definition
| open-ended questions are question to which the respondent replies in his or her own words. In close-ended questions the question provides pre formatted response choices for the recipient |
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Term
| Mention at least two different ways of administering a survey |
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Definition
Mailed, Self-administered Surveys
Group-administered Surveys
Telephone Surveys
In-Person Interviews
Electronic Surveys |
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Term
| What separates an ethnographic study from a survey? |
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Definition
| In ethnography the researchers primary material is based on prolonged periods of observation in the subjects natural setting and open-ended interviews compared to surveys which uses questionnaires or structured interviews. The ethnographic research is also flexible and evolves in response to the field setting while surveys follow a strict pattern set up in the research design. |
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Term
| What does it mean to conduct a mixed method study? |
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Definition
| Mixed method research is an approach that combines or associates both qualitative and quantitative forms. It involves the use of boy approaches so that the overall strength of a study is greater than either qualitative or quantitative research |
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Term
| What is the basic difference between qualitative and quantitative research? |
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Definition
| Quantitative research is framed in terms of using numbers while qualitative research are using words. Quantitative research use close-ended questions while qualitative use open-ended questions. |
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Term
| When should you choose to conduct a survey? |
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Definition
| when you want to collect data relatively fast and at relatively low cost |
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Term
| What is participant observation? |
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Definition
| A qualitative method for gathering data that involves developing a sustained relationship with people while they go about their normal activities? |
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Term
| In what kind of research is representativity central? |
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Definition
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Term
What does
snowball
sampling mean? |
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Definition
A method of sampling in which sample elements
are selected as they are
identified by successive
informants or interviewees |
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Term
Explain the
concept of validity |
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Definition
The state that exists
when statements or
conclusions about
empirical reality are correct |
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Term
| Explain the notion/concept empirical |
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Definition
Relating to or based on
experience / relation to, derived from, or testable by observations made using the physical senses or using instruments which extend the senses |
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Term
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Definition
A person in a field
setting who can
grant researchers access to the setting |
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Term
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Definition
| a basic set of beliefs that guide action |
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Term
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Definition
| An insider who is willing and able to provide a field researcher with surperior access and information. |
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Term
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Definition
| A logically interrelated set of propositions about empirical reality |
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Term
| What is the function of theory in a quantitative study? |
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Definition
| You use theories as an explanation for answers to the research question |
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Term
| What is the function of research strategy / design? |
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Definition
| are plans and the procedures for research that span the decision from broad assummptions to detailed methods or data collection and analysis |
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Term
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Definition
You draw a small sample
of individuals from the
population you are studying or one very similar to it and carry out the survey procedures with them |
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Term
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Definition
| a philosophical assumption about the nature of reality |
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Term
| Explain the concept of reliability? |
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Definition
| A measurement procedure yields consistent scores when the phenomenon being measured is not changing |
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