Natalie's English 815 Blog

  Creswell and Poth, Chapter 4: "Five Qualitative Approaches to Inquiry" (Focus on ethnography) Ethnography (as defined by Harris, 1968): a qualitative design in which the researcher describes and interprets the shared and learned patterns of values, behaviors, beliefs, and language of a culture-sharing group Participant observation: researcher immerses him/herself into the everyday lives of the participants Ethnography is both the study and the final product; it takes its origins from anthropology Defining characteristics: focus on complex, complete description of the culture of a group pinpoints patterns to understand social organization and ideational systems draws on theory (i.e. Marxism, acculturation, innovation) to focus their observations combines extensive fieldwork with interviews, observations, symbols, artifacts, and other data analyzes data by synthesizing emic (insider) perspectives (quoted verbatim) through the etic (outsider) perspective to create a picture wh...

Creswell: Chapter 12 "Survey Designs" (focus on instrument design and ethics) Before creating your own survey instruments, you should check for what is available. You may be able to find something that will work "as is" or something that can be modified to fit your needs.  Steps for designing data collection instruments: 1.     Write different types of questions 2.     Use strategies for good question construction 3.     Perform a pilot test of the questions Types of questions: background/demographic questions, attitude/opinion questions, and behavior questions Sensitive questions deal with topics that must be treated with great tact; only use these types of questions when necessary for your study Closed-ended Questions : allow for easy comparison, but not very deep answers; these can be beneficial when creating sensitive questions because the close-ended nature gives respondents comfort from knowing the answer parameters Open-ended Questions : yield i...

  Berger, "Now I see it, now I don't: researcher's position and reflexivity in qualitative research" Focusing on reflexivity This study seeks to understand if reflexivity in qualitative research is affected by whether or not the researcher is part of the research group, sharing their experiences. To me, this just seems like it would be an obvious answer. If you are part of a specific group, you will have a deeper understanding of how things work within that group and will be able to make more meaning from the responses of participants.  "the colonization of knowledge": the systematic subordination and exclusion of non-Western, indigenous, and local knowledge systems by Eurocentric, scientific, and colonial frameworks Disciplines that incorporate the self as part of the study: autobiography, autoethnography, narrative co-construction, and reflexive ethnography "Reflexivity": the process of a continual internal dialogue and critical self-evaluation o...

Creswell and Poth, Chapter 6: Introducing and Focusing the Study It really makes sense that the beginning of the study is the most important. All of the items mentioned--purpose, research questions, research problem--set the trajectory for the entire study to follow. I also like the early emphasis on making all of the parts of the study flow together. There is a HUGE difference between a well-written study and one that does not naturally move from one section to another.  The purpose statement is THE most important part of the research project, according to Creswell and Poth; it lets us know what the author wants to accomplish with the study. Interrelating the Study Problem, Purpose, and Questions Within Research Identify a problem & create research problem statement (focused on study purpose) Create research purpose statement ("study aim") Draft specific research questions   The Research Problem Statement  "The intent of a research problem in qualitative research ...