Research Methodology

    Sampling in qualitative research
    Probability sampling is rarely used in qualitative research because:
    Quantitative research is concerned with quantities and frequencies of occurrence in the general population, so the study sample must be representative. In qualitative research it can often “be impossible to map the population from which a random sample might be taken” (p416), making probability sampling infeasible. Qualitative researchers may well be familiar with statistical techniques but that is hardly the point. It is true that certain types of qualitative research emphasize the importance of developing research questions during research, adding to the sample from time to time. Sampling remains important for all types of research, however.
    Reference: Bryman: Social Research Methods: 5th Edition Page(s) 408
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    Quantitative data analysis
    What is an outlier?
    When we calculate a simple average, the ‘arithmetic mean’, we have to remember that a wide range of values can give the same average as a narrow range and that extreme values could make a simple average fairly meaningless. These values are called ‘outliers’, extremely high or low values in a distribution that threaten to bias the results. The ‘median’ is useful, in this regard, because it simply identifies the mid-point in a whole array of values, giving us a measure of the significance of the arithmetic mean.
    Reference: Bryman: Social Research Methods: 5th Edition Page(s) 338
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    Computer-assisted qualitative data analysis: using NVivo
    You code your data in NVivo by:
    With your document open, you code your data by high-lighting a section of text and copying it to a node. There are many ways of highlighting text, like changing the font, or by using colour, which might be useful to you. NVivo simply accepts as nodes what you place there. Similarly, there are a variety of ways in which text selections can be inserted, including “dragging and “dropping” or by using the tool bar’s “copy and paste” tools. Again, it doesn’t matter to NVivo. It should follow from this that coding is absolutely your decision and any subsequent problems are more likely to stem from this fact, rather than from some defect in the programme. Since there are few practical restrictions on how much data can be coded, it is probably a good idea to code to a number of nodes at once. Later, redundant nodes can be deleted (or changed) and text can be “unselected”, if that seems more desirable.
    Reference: Bryman: Social Research Methods: 5th Edition Page(s) 606-6111
    Author: rikazzz Comment
    Statistical Packages for Social Science (SPSS)
    SPSS recognizes the period symbol as indicating a:
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    Ethics and politics in social research
    Why is it argued that ethical transgression is pervasive in social research?
    Another of the ethical stances that Bryman identifies is the claim that ethical transgression is pervasive and therefore inevitable in social research. This is based on the acknowledgement that researchers have to deceive or withhold information from their participants to some extent. It would be impractical to tell everyone every detail. For example, about the research design. A further instance of this is if the researcher explained the hypotheses being tested, or that most people of a particular socio-economic background hold a particular point of view; whilst this ismore “honest”, it would also bias the response.
    Reference: Bryman: Social Research Methods: 5th Edition Page(s) 124
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    Mixed methods research: combining quantitative and qualitative research
    What is triangulation?
    Triangulation is one of many approaches to multi-strategy research, and it involves cross-checking the results of an investigation that used a method associated with one research strategy (e.g. a quantitative method) against the results from using a method associated with the other research strategy (e.g. a qualitative method).
    Reference: Bryman: Social Research Methods: 5th Edition Page(s) 638
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    The nature and process of social research
    A deductive theory is one that:
    A deduction is a conclusion drawn logically from an argument or a discussion of things previously established or known. Deductions can be expressed as hypotheses which can then be tested, so answer (b) must be correct. However, when we have gathered and analysed the research data, the research findings can be fed back into our existing knowledge, which is a form of induction, meaning answer (c) cannot be correct. The usual application of inductive theory, however, is to allow theory to emerge from our findings, so answer (a) cannot be correct, either. Finally, although it is more likely for deductive theory to use quantitative methods and for inductive approaches to use qualitative methods, we will see later in the book that the methods can be mixed to good effect.
    Reference: Bryman: Social Research Methods: 5th Edition Page(s) 6
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    The nature and process of social research
    Which of the following is not a data-collection method?
    Later chapters go into the precise details of many data-collection methods, including those shown in answers (b), (c) and (d). Interviewing implies asking questions to get answers – data – , whether structured or unstructured. Clearly, questionnaires are designed with the same intention in mind. Participant observation means, usually, that a group of people is studied by a ‘member’ of that group, again with the intention of gathering data. The problem with answer (a), although correct, is, as Bryman says “Â…that we use the same word – question – for both research questions and the kind of questions that are posed in questionnaires and interviews”.
    Reference: Bryman: Social Research Methods: 5th Edition Page(s) 10
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    Statistical Packages for Social Science (SPSS)
    The_________ test is appropriate when comparing two measures of a single population:
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    Using existing data
    What is the “ecological fallacy”?
    The ecological fallacy is the mistake some researchers make of assuming that they can infer the nature and causes of individual people’s behaviour by studying more general, aggregated data about the social groups to which they belong). Often, secondary analysis is used to study a sub-group contained within a data-set and it can seem natural to impute something to the sub-group which has been found to apply to the larger set. This is the logical error of confusing ‘some’ people with ‘all’ people.
    Reference: Bryman: Social Research Methods: 5th Edition Page(s) 322, Key concept 14.2
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