Flashcards
research chapter 5
Cards in this deck (11)
- 1Observing While ParticipatingResearch taking on the form of participant observation is often used by social scientists called ethnographers, which focus on studying cultures. In this form of investigation, the scientist participates in the culture himself while observing it. The informants represent the people of that culture being studied. The ethnographers feel they have an advantage of scientists using other methodologies by experiencing the emotions of the people first hand by participating in their culture. Even though there are unobtrusive forms of observers, the informants might feel an invasion of privacy due to knowing about the observations made.
- 2behavioral samplingIn behavioral sampling the researcher fixes several periods of observations for a behavior that occurs continuously and watches out for the occurrences within these periods.
- 3Condensed accountmeans that single words or fragments were noted down
- 4expanded accountis the result of a later-on filled in condensed account.
- 5what points need to be answered to make qualitative data more organized?1. Purpose of activities
2. Procedures used
3. Time and space needed for the activities
4. How many participants, who they are, and what their roles are - 6day-in-the-life approachwhole day is described, or the approach of focusing the data organization around a problem. Key events can also be helpful in the organizing process. Just like in a mystery story, the outcomes can also be left for last.
- 7Analytical serendipitydescribes how one tries to derive theoretical sense from of the data. It is important that stereotypes are not influencing this process, and therefore well-documented conclusions are necessary for the sense-making. Also, a researcher should not only be open to expected experiences, but also embrace what has not been expected. Furthermore, metaphors can be used for concepts the activities. Lastly, the interpreter and observer bias have to be paid attention to so they can be avoided.
- 8Interpreter biasWhen data is interpreted, systematic errors might be made when interpreting the data, which results in an interpreter-bias. When other researchers check the work of a colleague, they can control for interpreter bias in the results. A study by Sherwood and Nataupsky showed how different biographical characteristics of researchers led to differences in the interpretation of findings, regarding a study of IQ and racial differences.
- 9Observer biasHere the error does not occur during the interpretation of the data, but when the observations are made. What we think we see can therefore have a strong influence on the research, mostly in favor of the hypothesis. A good illustration of the observer bias is that of André Blondlot at the beginning of the 20th century, who thought he discovered “N rays”, rays that apparently had an increased intensity of light reflection. R. W. Wood proved him wrong by showing how N rays are just creations of humans being fooled by imagination, but for a while people did believe in the existence of this special ray.
- 10interactional artifactswhich a researcher cannot control but which directly influence the participants’ reactions. Furthermore there are reactive measurements and nonreactive measurements affecting behavior. If simply measuring the starting speed of a participant in a word ordering task for example would push the participant to work faster, this would represent a reactive measurement. Nonreactive measurements entail the use of archives, physical traces, and unobtrusive observation, which will be discussed below.
- 11judgment studiesWhen the researcher does not make judgments or observations, like he would in observational studies, it is then judges who are selected to do the evaluation or categorization. These studies are termed judgment studies.
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- Flashcards on research chapter 5, created by Adrian Mayer on 02/05/2018.
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