WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.410 --> 00:00:03.840 Hello there, and welcome to Part 1 2 00:00:03.840 --> 00:00:07.830 of the video lectures on Qualitative Research. 3 00:00:07.830 --> 00:00:10.860 So, qualitative is a major, 4 00:00:10.860 --> 00:00:12.930 very common kind of research 5 00:00:12.930 --> 00:00:15.870 that many social scientists use 6 00:00:15.870 --> 00:00:20.133 and we will use in our class project. 7 00:00:22.290 --> 00:00:23.760 So here's an overview. 8 00:00:23.760 --> 00:00:26.340 We're gonna speak a little bit about it, 9 00:00:26.340 --> 00:00:30.870 see how it fits into mixed methods, 10 00:00:30.870 --> 00:00:35.160 the balance between being an insider and an outsider. 11 00:00:35.160 --> 00:00:38.730 One way of evaluating the data 12 00:00:38.730 --> 00:00:41.640 and coming up with hypotheses and theories, 13 00:00:41.640 --> 00:00:43.890 which is called grounded theory, 14 00:00:43.890 --> 00:00:45.180 but we're gonna talk about 15 00:00:45.180 --> 00:00:49.770 how to structure an interview guide 16 00:00:49.770 --> 00:00:53.730 and the value of semi-structured interviews, 17 00:00:53.730 --> 00:00:57.630 which are probably the most common type of interviews. 18 00:00:57.630 --> 00:00:59.370 And then we're gonna talk about 19 00:00:59.370 --> 00:01:01.320 what are the strengths and weaknesses 20 00:01:01.320 --> 00:01:05.010 of qualitative research overall. 21 00:01:05.010 --> 00:01:10.010 And think about the trade-offs of valid and reliable, 22 00:01:10.590 --> 00:01:13.773 which is a major theme of this whole class. 23 00:01:16.170 --> 00:01:20.520 Very often, qualitative is used as the second step 24 00:01:20.520 --> 00:01:22.890 in a mixed method to study, 25 00:01:22.890 --> 00:01:27.540 much like the one that our class is doing this semester. 26 00:01:27.540 --> 00:01:30.060 So you start with a lit review, 27 00:01:30.060 --> 00:01:33.750 so sort of do your homework, see what's already known, 28 00:01:33.750 --> 00:01:35.130 what's already been done, 29 00:01:35.130 --> 00:01:36.630 what can we build on, 30 00:01:36.630 --> 00:01:39.240 and then go to qualitative, 31 00:01:39.240 --> 00:01:43.050 where it really sort of helps you get your mind around 32 00:01:43.050 --> 00:01:44.820 what are the big issues out there? 33 00:01:44.820 --> 00:01:47.913 Well, what are the big themes and ideas? 34 00:01:49.140 --> 00:01:54.140 And this is often done through the use of interviews, 35 00:01:54.840 --> 00:01:57.960 where you can really begin to understand 36 00:01:57.960 --> 00:02:02.790 what do research subjects 37 00:02:02.790 --> 00:02:05.550 think, and feel, and believe, and do about this, 38 00:02:05.550 --> 00:02:09.930 so it's a good way of really getting a deep understanding 39 00:02:09.930 --> 00:02:14.930 of their experience of the topic that you are studying. 40 00:02:16.530 --> 00:02:18.150 It also is a good way 41 00:02:18.150 --> 00:02:21.990 to begin to form theories or hypotheses. 42 00:02:21.990 --> 00:02:23.613 And then last, 43 00:02:24.900 --> 00:02:27.450 we can jump to quantitative, 44 00:02:27.450 --> 00:02:31.380 where we take those themes and those ideas, 45 00:02:31.380 --> 00:02:36.380 those major issues from the qualitative part, 46 00:02:38.550 --> 00:02:40.380 and sort of test them out 47 00:02:40.380 --> 00:02:44.313 on a much larger sample, we can test hypotheses, 48 00:02:45.240 --> 00:02:48.000 and it's also a way to count 49 00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:51.300 how many folks say these things, 50 00:02:51.300 --> 00:02:53.670 and then correlate answers. 51 00:02:53.670 --> 00:02:57.870 So sort of how is there a relationship 52 00:02:57.870 --> 00:03:02.400 between how they answered one question to another question, 53 00:03:02.400 --> 00:03:05.010 or how they answered one question, 54 00:03:05.010 --> 00:03:08.640 to maybe demographic variables 55 00:03:08.640 --> 00:03:12.003 like your age, or gender, or race, or things like that? 56 00:03:16.170 --> 00:03:18.030 So in many ways, 57 00:03:18.030 --> 00:03:22.800 we all do qualitative research every day. 58 00:03:22.800 --> 00:03:25.980 We observe things, we talk to people, 59 00:03:25.980 --> 00:03:28.440 we use that to try to understand things 60 00:03:28.440 --> 00:03:30.813 that we don't understand that well. 61 00:03:32.430 --> 00:03:34.290 And for the most part, 62 00:03:34.290 --> 00:03:38.040 qualitative is used to understand these things like 63 00:03:38.040 --> 00:03:40.860 attitudes, behaviors, beliefs, 64 00:03:40.860 --> 00:03:43.950 opinions, awareness, things like that, 65 00:03:43.950 --> 00:03:47.580 and it can give you great depth of understanding, 66 00:03:47.580 --> 00:03:52.580 really sort of do a deep dive into your research subjects, 67 00:03:52.860 --> 00:03:55.020 understanding of this thing, 68 00:03:55.020 --> 00:04:00.020 what are their attitudes, behaviors, et cetera. 69 00:04:03.030 --> 00:04:06.420 Since you are in the middle of the action, 70 00:04:06.420 --> 00:04:10.830 since like you are sort of being observed as a researcher, 71 00:04:10.830 --> 00:04:14.190 while you're collecting these data, 72 00:04:14.190 --> 00:04:18.240 some sort of special care and consideration must be made 73 00:04:18.240 --> 00:04:21.210 that you don't want your behavior 74 00:04:21.210 --> 00:04:25.950 to alter the responses that you want, 75 00:04:25.950 --> 00:04:29.520 your job as a qualitative researcher 76 00:04:29.520 --> 00:04:34.110 is to draw out your subject's own account, 77 00:04:34.110 --> 00:04:36.810 in their own words, in their own thoughts, 78 00:04:36.810 --> 00:04:41.810 and not sort of following what you want them to say, 79 00:04:42.180 --> 00:04:46.023 or say something because they know they're being observed. 80 00:04:48.600 --> 00:04:50.730 Two ways of thinking about this 81 00:04:50.730 --> 00:04:55.507 are the emic and the etic perspectives. 82 00:04:57.210 --> 00:05:01.590 And that is sort of how are you seeing the subjects 83 00:05:01.590 --> 00:05:03.840 and what they are doing. 84 00:05:03.840 --> 00:05:08.550 So the first one is the emic view, 85 00:05:08.550 --> 00:05:13.550 where you really try to see it from their point of view, 86 00:05:13.650 --> 00:05:18.090 you really immerse yourself in that experience 87 00:05:18.090 --> 00:05:19.560 or that subject, 88 00:05:19.560 --> 00:05:23.700 and really like try to understand 89 00:05:23.700 --> 00:05:25.830 in a very deep way, 90 00:05:25.830 --> 00:05:30.210 what is going on in this specific context. 91 00:05:30.210 --> 00:05:33.780 And since you're allowing your subjects 92 00:05:33.780 --> 00:05:36.480 to express things in their own words, 93 00:05:36.480 --> 00:05:38.490 to the best of your ability, 94 00:05:38.490 --> 00:05:39.630 it's very valid, 95 00:05:39.630 --> 00:05:42.490 it's very deeply true what they are saying 96 00:05:43.537 --> 00:05:45.120 for that individual. 97 00:05:45.120 --> 00:05:46.230 On the other hand, 98 00:05:46.230 --> 00:05:50.040 there is etic perspective 99 00:05:50.040 --> 00:05:55.040 where you sort of enter more as an outsider, 100 00:05:56.220 --> 00:05:58.020 much more detached, 101 00:05:58.020 --> 00:06:02.310 and thinking about will what these folks are saying, 102 00:06:02.310 --> 00:06:05.850 hold in other contexts, in other places, 103 00:06:05.850 --> 00:06:08.460 in other times, and with other subjects, 104 00:06:08.460 --> 00:06:11.820 and this can tend to be more reliable 105 00:06:11.820 --> 00:06:16.203 that you're getting more of the same types of answers. 106 00:06:17.400 --> 00:06:20.820 Note that it is impossible in my view, 107 00:06:20.820 --> 00:06:22.470 to be completely objective. 108 00:06:22.470 --> 00:06:24.390 We all bring our biases, 109 00:06:24.390 --> 00:06:28.140 and these biases play out in numerous ways 110 00:06:28.140 --> 00:06:33.140 in how we choose the research, how we choose what to ask, 111 00:06:33.180 --> 00:06:34.953 how we interpret data, 112 00:06:36.330 --> 00:06:39.360 so the most important thing 113 00:06:39.360 --> 00:06:42.210 is to be aware of one's own biases. 114 00:06:42.210 --> 00:06:44.737 Like we talked about a confirmation bias. 115 00:06:44.737 --> 00:06:47.190 "Why am I seeing it this way?" 116 00:06:47.190 --> 00:06:52.190 And maybe trying to see how others would see it, 117 00:06:52.230 --> 00:06:53.730 folks that aren't you, 118 00:06:53.730 --> 00:06:56.760 and what is the lenses that you bring 119 00:06:56.760 --> 00:06:59.010 that may make you see this, 120 00:06:59.010 --> 00:07:01.020 you know, sort of notice some things 121 00:07:01.020 --> 00:07:05.550 or think some responses 122 00:07:05.550 --> 00:07:08.193 are more important or less important. 123 00:07:09.750 --> 00:07:12.750 One interesting way to think about it is 124 00:07:12.750 --> 00:07:15.900 how involved should you be with the subjects? 125 00:07:15.900 --> 00:07:20.900 And this is again, sort of this emic and etic perspectives. 126 00:07:23.730 --> 00:07:26.310 We'll talk a little bit more about this in class, 127 00:07:26.310 --> 00:07:29.190 but I think back to my experience 128 00:07:29.190 --> 00:07:34.190 as a Peace Corps volunteer in Senegal, in the 1990s, 129 00:07:35.340 --> 00:07:39.990 I lived in a very, very rural farming village 130 00:07:39.990 --> 00:07:43.653 and there was no sort of, 131 00:07:44.490 --> 00:07:47.790 not a lot of formal education, 132 00:07:47.790 --> 00:07:49.620 and there was no school there, 133 00:07:49.620 --> 00:07:51.990 and thinking about what they thought was true 134 00:07:51.990 --> 00:07:54.570 and what they thought was not true. 135 00:07:54.570 --> 00:07:58.920 And two examples that really stood out to me, 136 00:07:58.920 --> 00:08:02.643 is they believed that there were these sort of, 137 00:08:03.630 --> 00:08:07.410 these amulets that you could wear on your arm, 138 00:08:07.410 --> 00:08:12.410 and they sort of have a charm of like, nobody can stab you, 139 00:08:13.290 --> 00:08:14.940 like if you wear this, 140 00:08:14.940 --> 00:08:18.630 that a knife won't go into your flesh. 141 00:08:18.630 --> 00:08:22.800 And on the other hand, 142 00:08:22.800 --> 00:08:26.640 I remember talking with my family one night 143 00:08:26.640 --> 00:08:28.950 and there was a nice big full Moon, 144 00:08:28.950 --> 00:08:33.950 and I said, "Oh, well, there have been humans 145 00:08:34.470 --> 00:08:36.870 who have walked on the Moon." 146 00:08:36.870 --> 00:08:38.490 And they were like, "No, there's not." 147 00:08:38.490 --> 00:08:41.730 And they thought I was completely insane, 148 00:08:41.730 --> 00:08:46.650 and it's because of the culture and the context 149 00:08:46.650 --> 00:08:48.900 in which they grew up, 150 00:08:48.900 --> 00:08:52.920 many believed that these amulets 151 00:08:52.920 --> 00:08:57.540 could protect you from a knife wound, 152 00:08:57.540 --> 00:09:00.510 but that it's completely absurd 153 00:09:00.510 --> 00:09:04.740 that any human has ever walked on the Moon. 154 00:09:04.740 --> 00:09:08.040 So your job is not to judge. 155 00:09:08.040 --> 00:09:09.870 We as social scientists, 156 00:09:09.870 --> 00:09:14.730 our job is to record and understand what they think. 157 00:09:14.730 --> 00:09:17.730 We might think that what they are saying and thinking 158 00:09:17.730 --> 00:09:19.350 is completely absurd, 159 00:09:19.350 --> 00:09:23.400 but it's not our job to sort of call them out, 160 00:09:23.400 --> 00:09:25.803 and tell 'em they're dumb and they're wrong, 161 00:09:27.330 --> 00:09:32.070 our job is to understand what do they believe, and feel, 162 00:09:32.070 --> 00:09:33.870 and do, and why, 163 00:09:33.870 --> 00:09:36.120 like given the context 164 00:09:36.120 --> 00:09:38.100 in which they are operating, 165 00:09:38.100 --> 00:09:40.320 why are they saying these things? 166 00:09:40.320 --> 00:09:42.690 And again, to have a really deep understanding 167 00:09:42.690 --> 00:09:47.640 of what their perspective on the matter, 168 00:09:47.640 --> 00:09:51.243 and that's what a good qualitative researcher does. 169 00:09:53.970 --> 00:09:58.470 So two main ways that we can analyze data, 170 00:09:58.470 --> 00:10:01.110 and we've talked about this before, 171 00:10:01.110 --> 00:10:04.323 the deduction and the induction. 172 00:10:05.430 --> 00:10:06.810 So in deduction, 173 00:10:06.810 --> 00:10:10.050 you start with a theory or a hypothesis 174 00:10:10.050 --> 00:10:11.790 and you say, "Well, if this is true, 175 00:10:11.790 --> 00:10:12.900 then this next thing is true, 176 00:10:12.900 --> 00:10:15.450 and if that is true, then this other thing is true." 177 00:10:15.450 --> 00:10:18.033 And we use our data to see, 178 00:10:19.950 --> 00:10:22.080 does this theory hold, 179 00:10:22.080 --> 00:10:27.080 do the data support this preexisting hypothesis or theory? 180 00:10:27.960 --> 00:10:29.670 That is deduction. 181 00:10:29.670 --> 00:10:31.410 On the other hand, 182 00:10:31.410 --> 00:10:34.950 induction is you start with the data, 183 00:10:34.950 --> 00:10:38.910 you try to sort of forget about any preconceived notion, 184 00:10:38.910 --> 00:10:41.580 any theory, any hypothesis, 185 00:10:41.580 --> 00:10:46.020 and you let the data form the hypothesis, 186 00:10:46.020 --> 00:10:49.620 and this is so-called, this is called grounded theory. 187 00:10:49.620 --> 00:10:51.030 And I don't love this term, 188 00:10:51.030 --> 00:10:54.913 I don't think it's very intuitive or descriptive, 189 00:10:56.220 --> 00:11:00.300 but what it means is, 190 00:11:00.300 --> 00:11:05.100 that you are developing theories based on the data. 191 00:11:05.100 --> 00:11:09.030 It's this use of induction, 192 00:11:09.030 --> 00:11:12.750 of thinking about what are the data saying, 193 00:11:12.750 --> 00:11:15.633 and then forming a hypothesis based on that. 194 00:11:17.070 --> 00:11:18.690 And yeah, that's the difference 195 00:11:18.690 --> 00:11:21.093 between deduction and induction. 196 00:11:24.690 --> 00:11:26.790 So, again, it's very common 197 00:11:26.790 --> 00:11:28.920 that qualitative researchers use this 198 00:11:28.920 --> 00:11:30.780 so-called grounded theory, 199 00:11:30.780 --> 00:11:35.700 where you get your data, you get observations, 200 00:11:35.700 --> 00:11:39.210 you get the results of interviews say, 201 00:11:39.210 --> 00:11:42.330 and you compare them, 202 00:11:42.330 --> 00:11:46.830 and you see sort of what are the themes that you're seeing? 203 00:11:46.830 --> 00:11:49.443 You try to get interviews or data 204 00:11:52.470 --> 00:11:56.250 from multiple from viewpoints, from multiple subjects, 205 00:11:56.250 --> 00:11:58.567 and sort of step back and think, 206 00:11:58.567 --> 00:12:00.213 "What are the patterns here? 207 00:12:01.441 --> 00:12:04.050 Why are they saying what they are saying? 208 00:12:04.050 --> 00:12:07.860 What would we hypothesize that would come from that?" 209 00:12:07.860 --> 00:12:12.300 And therefore, and I think that's why they call it this, 210 00:12:12.300 --> 00:12:16.050 that the theory that you develop from your data 211 00:12:16.050 --> 00:12:18.810 is then grounded in the data, 212 00:12:18.810 --> 00:12:21.720 rather than sort of preexisting, 213 00:12:21.720 --> 00:12:24.543 before your study begins. 214 00:12:26.160 --> 00:12:27.420 So that's the end of Part 1, 215 00:12:27.420 --> 00:12:29.103 and please watch Part 2.