...appropiate ones for researching society, focusing on Ethnographic research, Focus groups and Sampling. First of all, it is important to understand why do interpretive researchers prefer interpretivist methods, also known as qualitative methods. Qualitative methods are any type of methods that aim to undercover the meaning of social action rather than measuring it. Qualitative research allows to search for the meaning for participants of events, situations and actions. Interpretivist argue that a full understanding of society can only be presented by understanding how individuals build up their patterns of interactions. This type of research usually studies small scale groups in specific situations, which allows the researchers to preserve the individuality of each in their analyses. This provides them with a detailed understanding of the events, actions and meaning. In contrast to positivist research, qualitative researches dont necessarily have an idea of what they are looking for in a research, but instead, start with a particular area of interest and follow the lead, which leaves them much more open for the unexpected and fresh ideas; This is refer to as “grounded theory”. Lastly, interpretivist researchers are interested in the actual dynamics of the situation, the process, rather than patterns that could be generalized. The first interpretivist method to be analyze is Ethnographic research, also known as Observational research. In order for it to...
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...What is ethnographic research? State the difference between an ethnographic research and a psychometric research and give example from applied linguistic studies. 1. Ethnographic research and Linguistic ethnographic. - Ethnography is the in-depth study of naturally occurring behavior within a culture or social group. It seeks to understand the relationship between culture and behavior; with culture referring to the beliefs, values and attitudes of a specific group of people. - Ethnographic research usually involves observing target users in their natural, real-world setting, rather than in the artificial environment of a lab or focus group. The aim is to describe, analyze, and interpret the culture of a group over time to understand the group’s shared beliefs, behaviors, and language. Wilson (1982) identifies the roots of ethnography in anthropology and sociology. Wilson related the tradition ecological hypothesis and the quantitative – phenomenological hypothesis. - As a term designating a particular configuration of interests within the broader field of socio- and applied linguistics, ‘linguistic ethnography’ (LE) is a theoretical and methodological development orientating towards particular, established traditions but defining itself in the new intellectual climate of late modernity and post-structuralism. According to Rampton (2004, p. 2) Linguistic ethnography generally holds that language and social life are mutually shaping, and that close analysis of situated language...
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...UNDERSTANDING QUALITATIVE RESEARCH Qualitative research, also called interpretive research or field research, is a methodology that has been borrowed from disciplines like sociology and anthropology and adapted to educational settings. Qualitative researchers, as you already have learned, use the inductive method of reasoning and strongly believe that there are multiple perspectives to be uncovered. Qualitative researchers focus on the study of social phenomena and on giving voice to the feelings and perceptions of the participants under study. This is based on the belief that knowledge is derived from the social setting and that understanding social knowledge is a legitimate scientific process. The following are the key characteristics of qualitative research: • Studies are carried out in a naturalistic setting. • Researchers ask broad research questions designed to explore, interpret, or understand the social context. • Participants are selected through nonrandom methods based on whether the individuals have information vital to the questions being asked. • Data collection techniques involve observation and interviewing that bring the researcher in close contact with the participants. • The researcher is likely to take an interactive role where she or he gets to know the participants and the social context in which they live. • Hypotheses are formed afterthe researcher begins data collection and are modified throughout the study as new data are collected and analyzed...
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...form should be attached to the front of all work submitted for assessment. Name: | Chao Sun | Library card number: | 31434921 | Coursework Title: | Paper 1 Paper 2 Research Essay Consulting Project Dissertation Proposal Dissertation | Tutor: | Dr Valerie Stead | * All submissions for coursework assessment should be your own work. * Any copying from the work of others will be heavily penalized. * Allowing other students to copy your work will also be penalized. I hereby confirm that I have read and understood the University’s regulations relating to plagiarism (as summarized in the MA in Human Resources and Consulting Participant Handbook) and that the work to which this declaration is attached is my own. Signature of Student: | | Qualitative Research Methods Review Taking “The Supportive expatriate spouse” as a case Introduction This Review is aimed at analyzing the qualitative research methods used in “The supportive expatriate spouse” by Jakob Lauring and Jan Selmer (2010).The specific research elements will be discussed in perspectives of suitability, benefits, limitations and ethical issues in context of the authors’ research. Research Methods The research question of the above article is to investigate the positive influence of accompanying spouses on their business expatriates. Samplings elected are sixteen Danish female accompanying women in a...
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...at the key research concepts of reliability and validity as they relate to ethnography, and will discuss the importance of context to ethnographic inquiry. In the final part of the chapter, I shall highlight some of the 'central concerns of this topic by contrasting psychometry and ethnography, The chapter seeks to address the following questions: • - What do we mean by ethnography? • - What are the key principles guiding ethnographic research? • - How might one deal with threats to the reliability and validity of this type of research? • - Why is context important to ethnographic research? • - In what ways does ethnography contrast with psychometric research? • Definition: Ethnography involves the study of the culture/characteristics of a group to real-world rather than Laboratory settings. The researcher makes no act to isolate or manipulate the phenomena under investigation, and insight generalizations emerge from close contact with the data rather than from theory of language learning and use. it is a qualitative type of research. Ethnography is provided by LeCompte and Goetz (1982). They use ethnography shorthand term to encompass a range of qualitative methods including study research, field research, and anthropological research. LeCompte and Goetz argue that Ethnography is defined by the use of participant and non-participant observation, a focus on natural settings, use of the subjective views and belief systems of the participants in the research process to...
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...A qualitative "approach" is a general way of thinking about conducting qualitative research. It describes, either explicitly or implicitly, the purpose of the qualitative research, the role of the researcher(s), the stages of research, and the method of data analysis. here, four of the major qualitative approaches are introduced. Ethnography The ethnographic approach to qualitative research comes largely from the field of anthropology. The emphasis in ethnography is on studying an entire culture. Originally, the idea of a culture was tied to the notion of ethnicity and geographic location (e.g., the culture of the Trobriand Islands), but it has been broadened to include virtually any group or organization. That is, we can study the "culture" of a business or defined group (e.g., a Rotary club). Ethnography is an extremely broad area with a great variety of practitioners and methods. However, the most common ethnographic approach is participant observation as a part of field research. The ethnographer becomes immersed in the culture as an active participant and records extensive field notes. As in grounded theory, there is no preset limiting of what will be observed and no real ending point in an ethnographic study. Phenomenology Phenomenology is sometimes considered a philosophical perspective as well as an approach to qualitative methodology. It has a long history in several social research disciplines including psychology, sociology and social work. Phenomenology is a school...
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...………………………………………………..6 Ethnographic Fieldwork Data Analysis …………………………………………………………..9 Reflective Comments/ Conclusion……………………………………………………….…….....9 References………………………………………………………………………………………..11 Targeting Breast Cancer among African American Women in Nash County: A Proposal to Identify Enabling and Reinforcing Factors of Seeking Preventative Screening Services Introduction Ethnographic field work is an excellent strategy in understanding and describing a cultural group. Field work is also an asset in performing a needs assessment in the planning phase of developing health promotion interventions. As described by Bailey (2002), “ethnographic techniques are integral tools for galvanizing and mobilizing communities for social action relative to generating a promotion and disease prevention agenda.” (Bailey, 2002) This paper serves as a proposal to conduct a medical anthropology field work project to assess reinforcing and enabling factors that promote the use of early detection and preventative breast cancer screening services among African American women. The study design consists of a qualitative ethnographic approach utilizing observation and focus group methodology. This project consists of conducting a focus group with a group of African American women age 40-65 years of age at a Nash County church, who regularly receive early detection and preventative breast cancer screenings. Qualitative data collected will be analyzed utilizing qualitative research coding and content...
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...specific research methods commonly used. Social anthropology is considered the holistic study of humanity. This field promotes culture as a scientific concept. Anthropologists use the study of social anthropology as the means of studying how culture affects how people adapt to their environment in non-genetic ways. In both sociology and cultural anthropology there are 2 large categories of research. Quantitative research is quantifiable, meaning measureable, and is collected by analysis. The collection must be able to be counted or mathematically calculated. In general, the idea of doing quantitative research is to be able to apply statistics to large populations of people. On the other hand, qualitative research involves interviewing or observing people. It helps us understand the “experience, meaning of life worlds, the essences of experience, the attentive practice of thoughtfulness, and caring attunements is extended” (Munhall, 1989). Qualitative research is able to be present with not only social research but experimental, linguistic, and cultural context research. It helps us study the human experience. Subcategories of these research methods will be discussed in comparison to sociology and cultural anthropology. When researching a hypothesis there is a research approach catered to each research project. The research process itself involves “defining the problem, reviewing previous research on the topic, developing one or more hypotheses, determining the research design...
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...Originally designed to examine the distinctions between schooling and education, using both McMillan’s (2012) criteria and Wolcott’s (1994). The qualitative method used to analyze the participant in the Wolcott work were direct data collection, rich narrative descriptions, process orientation, data analysis, participant perspectives, and social constructive meaning. Wolcott (1994) was able to show trustworthiness through his research by conducting a two years study showing prolonged engagement....
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...Communication Research -about how humans create techniques and technologies to turn each others thoughts into each others experiences Qualitative -explores attitudes, behavior and experiences through such methods as interviews or focus groups. It attempts to get an in-depth opinion from participants. Quantitative -generates statistics through the use of large-scale survey research, using methods such as questionnaires or structured interviews. Descriptive -The main goal of this type of research is to describe the data and characteristics about what is being studied. The idea behind this type of research is to study frequencies, averages, and other statistical calculations. Ethnographic -is "the work of describing a culture. The goal of ethnographic research is "to understand another way of life from the native point of view. Terminological -is the research of technical terms used in a particular field, subject, science, or art Case Study -A form of qualitative descriptive research, the case study looks intensely at an individual or small participant pool, drawing conclusions only about that participant or group and only in that specific context. Content Analysis -Content analysis is a method for summarizing any form of content by counting various aspects of the content. This enables a more objective evaluation than comparing content based on the impressions of a listener. Deductive/Inductive Deductive research works from the more general...
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...societies values. The association between an animal and man showed that more prestige was given to the more powerful one and thereby increasing male status in the village. b. What kinds of evidence does the author base this claim on? What are the anthropological methods used to collect this evidence? Geertz uses a mixture of research methods in his ethnography, predominantly employing long-term participant observation and supports this participant observation method with the inclusion of historical and literary research, and cross-cultural comparison. Anthropological methods such as interviewing along with the use of ethnographic realism which aims to define accurate and objective methods that accounts the different ways of life from first hand observations and experience. Other ethnographic techniques such as in depth interviewing of the Balinese people have made it possible to find out about the beliefs and perceptions. c. How does the author present the evidence to support the claim in this article? In other words, outline the argument, explaining how it works. The author’s observations and claims about how cockfighting is intertwined in Balinese...
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...Introduction The focus of my ethnographic research is in the subculture of music festivals. Music festivals are a remarkable community event that attracts people to attend all over the world and has been around for many years as a celebration for any occasion. The atmosphere created at these events has shaped attendees to act differently compared to the ‘real world’ causing them to be more socially confident within the community. The attendance of music festivals has grown exponentially recently, based on the fact the new generation of people value personalized experiences and wish to share with others (Harrison, 2014). Applying mixed research methods will uncover how these social events influence the development of one’s behavior. Examining...
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...Approaches to Classroom Research 1 Qualitative Approaches to Classroom Research with English Language Learners Patricia A. Duff University of British Columbia Address: Department of Language & Literacy Education University of British Columbia 2125 Main Mall Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4 Canada Courier: 2034 Lower Mall Road University of British Columbia Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2 Canada Qualitative Approaches to Classroom Research 2 ABSTRACT This chapter provides an overview of recent qualitative research in classrooms examining English language learners (ELLs). I first present common features of qualitative research and review debates regarding research paradigms in the social sciences and humanities. I also discuss the role of triangulation and capturing participants’ insider or emic perspectives in qualitative research and highlight various data collection methods and ways of combining macro-level and micro-level analyses, particularly in ethnographic research. Ethical issues, difficulties obtaining informed consent in classroom research, and criteria for evaluating qualitative research are then considered. Three qualitative studies that have been deemed exemplary and meritorious by scholars in English language education are then presented and some common themes in current qualitative classroom research with ELLs are identified. The chapter concludes with directions for future qualitative research. Introduction Over the past 2 decades, research in language education...
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...Participant observation is a primary method in which the sociologist studies a group by taking a role within it and participating in it's activities. It may be over, where other participants are aware if the researchers true identity and motive. Over participant observation has a number if potential weakness or limitations. These range from the relativity mundane - including the amounts if time and expense involved, through possible problems with data interpretation to more serious questions about the researchers actual levels of involvement in the group and the extent to which this May be considered a naturalistic method if research. Data interpretation problems can include deciding which observation - among many- are significant. Another thing, any social group has many things happening at the same time. It is difficult for the researcher to observe anyone. Decisions have to be made about who to observe and when to observe them significant evidence may be missed, leading to invalid interpretations if the groups behaviour. Involvement with a group may be too superficial, given that one of the purposes if participant observation is to experience the world from the viewpoint of the people being studied. Is the researcher does not become sufficiently involved with the group then this type of data might not be collected. An example might be observation of a group involved in criminal activities. Clearly to understand how and why people commit crimes it would be necessary to...
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... Espinal 1 Part A (2) Participant observation, for many years, has been a hallmark anthropological study. In recent years, the field of education has seen an increase in the number of qualitative studies that include participant observation as a way to collect information. Qualitative methods of data collection, such as interviewing, observation, and document analysis, have been included under the umbrella term of "ethnographic methods" in recent years Aspects of observation discussed herein include various definitions of participant observation, some history of its use, the purposes for which such observation is used, the stances or roles of the observer, and additional information about when, what, and how to observe It is also a structured type of research strategy. It is a widely used methodology in many disciplines, particularly, cultural anthropology. Its aim is to gain a close and intimate familiarity with a given group of individuals (such cultural group, or a particular community) and their practices through an intensive involvement with people in their natural environment, usually over an extended period of time. Observation methods are useful to anthropologists in a variety of ways. They provide researchers with ways to check for nonverbal expression of feelings, determine who interacts with whom, grasp how participants communicate with each other, and check for how much time is spent on various activities. Participant observation allows researchers to check...
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