Class 3

Thursday, September 24, 2020 9:17 AM

Grounded Theory Method: Pure Inductive Reasoning

- An inductive approach to research introduced by scholars Glaser and Strauss, in which
theories are generated from an examination of data, through the constant comparing
ongoing observations with previous observations.
Traditional Model of Deductive Science

Grounded Theory

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- Case Study: Young Motherhood

Variations on Qualitative Interviews
- Person-to-person, flexible, open-ended, conversation is the heart of the qualitative
interview
- Default format is one person to one person, and about perceptions and perspectives a
experiences of the interviewee
- Two major variations: Focus groups and oral history
Focus Groups
- An interviewing method in which a number of subjects are brought together to discus
specific topic or issue. It is typically led by a moderator, who helps to facilitate discuss
and ensures that no person dominates the conversation, while interfering as little as
possible in the discussion.
- Not a probability sample
- Works very well as exploratory although can also be descriptive or explanatory
- 4-6 people typically
- Advantages
○ Real-life situations
○ Flexible
○ High validity
○ Rapid results
○ Lower in cost
○ Interviewees think things and say things in response to one another - good for s
topics
- Disadvantages
○ Researcher has less control
○ Data are difficult to analyze
○ Moderators need training
○ Differences between groups can be troublesome
○ Need a conducive setting
Oral History
- A method that uses in-depth interviews as a means of gathering data about the past f
individuals’ recollections, typically focusing on specific events or periods of time
- Key: It is a form of history and concerns the past. It is a way to access the past in the
 ○ Need a conducive setting
Oral History
- A method that uses in-depth interviews as a means of gathering data about
the past from individuals’ recollections, typically focusing on specific events
or periods of time
- Key: It is a form of history and concerns the past. It is a way to access the past
in the absence of documentary evidence.
- Strengths
○ One-on-one interaction allows for multiple probing
○ Possible to explore great meaning
○ Provides data that cannot be obtained through documents
- Weaknesses
○ Issues of validity and reliability
○ Are respondents’ stories truthful?
○ Selective memory concerning past events is inevitable
○ Is personal subjectivity a problem?
Field Research
- A report on social life that focuses on detailed and accurate description from
the field. Refers to data collected in natural settings; naturalistic
observations; and holistic understandings of cultures or subcultures.
- Is empirical and interpretivist
- Is based on the assumption that actually observing social life is more valid
than hearing people’s accounts – their perceptions and recollections
- Central goal: Researchers immerse themselves in a social setting and gather
data that is then interpreted
- Study: The mosque and black Islam
- Study: Youth Music Habits in Housing Estates in England
- Study: Seductions of Opera
- Ethnography / Participant observation
- Can be exploratory, descriptive, or explanatory
- Explanations are of the type “what’s really going on”
- When we discover what is really going on, familiar things can be recognized
for what is actually strange about them. Conversely, strange things can be
recognized for what is familiar about them.
Field Research vs. Ordinary Human Inquiry
- Distinguished by:
○ Sustained observation (length of research)
○ Strategically planned observations
○ Dialogue between question and data collection
○ Interviewing skills
○ Verstehen (important for researcher to analyze what they observe from
the perspective of who they are observing) and creativity
○ Data management
○ Pattern recognition
○ Formal writing
Doing Field Research: Basic components
 ○ Verstehen (important for researcher to analyze what they observe from
the perspective of who they are observing) and creativity
○ Data management
○ Pattern recognition
○ Formal writing
Doing Field Research: Basic components
- Pose a research question
- Observe (and sometimes talk to) people in a natural setting
- Record and systematize observations
- Analyze observations to identify patterns and to generate theoretical insights
- Write the research
Field Research
- Key feature: observation of behaviour as it naturally happens; this quality of
the data is called naturalism
- Being in the field means that data reflect what usually happens in people’s
lives, not changed behaviours that correspond to how people want to
present themselves to researchers
- Data are more valid for this reason
How to Observe Ethnographically: Various Roles of the Observer
- Complete Participant: Engages fully in activities with other members; people
react most naturally to complete participants
- Participant Observer: Reveals that they are a researcher but still participates
in the activities that take place in the field
- Complete Observer: Observes the field but does not participate in the
activities that take place
Reactivity
- A problem with all of the three types of observation is that of reactivity:
○ Defined: A difficulty that might arise when subjects of social research
react to the fact of being studied, therefore altering their behaviour
from what it would have been normally
- Reactivity can reduce validity
- Reactivity is least with complete participant, and greatest with complete
observer
- Reliability is based on consistency and validity is accuracy
Relations to subjects
- “Insider understanding.“ This enables you to come as close as possible to
understand the world views and actions of the subjects and join them at least
temporarily.
○ This is the interpretivist component of field research
- Strive to treat the beliefs researchers are studying with respect rather than as
objects of ridicule. Suspend judgement of what you are observing. No moral
approval or disapproval
Techniques for getting good data: how to encourage subjects to be forthcoming
- “The Martian” role entails going into the field with no presuppositions and
taking nothing for granted. Observe everything in as much detail as possible
and allow the full details to guide the course of the research and the analysis.
Do not impose your expectations and norms to understand what you
 approval or disapproval
Techniques for getting good data: how to encourage subjects to be forthcoming
- “The Martian” role entails going into the field with no presuppositions and
taking nothing for granted. Observe everything in as much detail as possible
and allow the full details to guide the course of the research and the analysis.
Do not impose your expectations and norms to understand what you
observe, because that could lead you to emphasize certain things you expect
and ignore other things.
- “The convert” involves delving deeper and deeper into the phenomenon
under study, running the risk of “going native.” In order to fully understand
the thoughts and actions of subjects you need to adopt their points of view as
true, at least temporarily.
Combining Data Sources
- Field research always includes observations of behaviours in the field
- Often these observations are supplemented with more data, most often from
interviews with the subjects, as well
- Other data sources could be added, included media content, existing
statistics, archival data, and more
Recording Observations
- Take notes as you observe.
- If not possible, write down notes as soon as possible.
- Do not trust your memory.
- Take notes in stages: on site, take sketchy notes and then later rewrite your
notes in greater detail.
- Write as much as possible that covers all aspects of what you observe.
- Ethnographers have developed many practical techniques for maximizing
accurate data collection.
Coding: the key to analyzing field data
- Coding Procedures: Are analytic tools to assist the researcher in:
○ Identifying concepts
○ Developing concepts
○ Relating concepts
§ Both systematically and creatively
- Coding is the application of a descriptive label to a piece of information
- Systematic coding is important for improving validity and reliability in the
analysis of the data
Coding Field Notes
- Moving from open coding to focused coding
- Part of the process of pattern finding
- Contributes to making codes more valid descriptions/labels of the data
- Can happen as data collection is ongoing, which is explicitly part of Grounded
Theory

Tutorial
- Inductive goes more with qualitative
- Deductive goes more with quantitative
- Doesn't always have to be this way though
Tutorial
- Inductive goes more with qualitative
- Deductive goes more with quantitative
- Doesn't always have to be this way though
- Anytime you are interjecting yourself into a social setting it is obtrusive
research
○ Unobtrusive would be if she didn't tell them she was a researcher and
that she was observing them

Meanings of Pain
What is the main RESEARCH QUESTION?
• How do wrestlers make sense of pain and suffering?
What role did the researcher take?
• He was an obtrusive observer but because he observed for three years, his
obtrusiveness went down as time went on.
What were the implications of this role for the validity of the data and for how the
analysis balances objectivity and subjectivity?
• Wrestlers wouldn't be willing to share the pain they are suffering because
part of their job is to not show pain. Objectively he recorded what injuries
they had gotten and subjectively he recorded their experiences of pain.
• Because he was a participant observer for three years, the data remained
high in validity because the wrestlers reactivity went down as they grew
accustomed to his presence and he was not as obtrusive as he originally
was. It's a subjective understanding because it relies on interviews and the
wrestler's own experiences. It balances subjectivity by using email's, pictures
and forum posts.
What is the main argument? How does this argument illustrate inductive or
deductive reasoning?
• The main argument is that "pain becomes attractive to wrestlers because it is
given substantive meaning which encompasses denial, authenticity,
solidarity, and dominance." The argument illustrates inductive reasoning
because he used examples and his observations to come to the conclusion or
his argument.