LIS 570

1
LIS 570

• Sessions 3.1, 3.2

2
Objectives

• Have some experience with early steps in research
  design
• Understand the distinction between qualitative
  and quantitative research
• Understand the relationships among
  quantitative-qualitative and positivist-constructi
  onist philosophies

3
Agenda

• Q/A last session readings
• Exercise Discussion Life on Campus
• Discussions deduction-induction
  qualitative-quantitative positivist-interpretive
  (or positivist-constructivist)

4
Readings, Assignments

• Updates/Announcements
• Text requested to be on reserve
• Research methods
• 1pp font at least 10pt margins1 L R, min.
  0.6 top/bottom
• Post not later than 8PM Tuesdays
• Email anytime w/ questions/issues/clarifications
  Reflections focus on learning
• Q/A

5
Short ExerciseLife on Campus

• In groups, discuss 1st group of questions
• 10 minutes
• Report back on each of the questions
• Observers
• Observe
• Make notes on how the team operated

6
Teams

• SGHR Kate Sellers, Rachel Howard, Jonathan
  Rochkind, Brian Greene
• JAO Serin Anderson, Karen Jaskar, Stacey O'Shea
• OEH Solveig Ekenes, Heather Higgins, Erin
  Ostrander
• EJM Laurel Evans, Ben Johnson, Liz Melson
• BBW Hannah Burke, Beth Barrett, Amy Wilcox
• SST Jennifer Seib, Esti Shay, Kyla Tew
• For today, observers of teams will be Anne,
  Scott, Adam, Shawn, Rose, John, Dani

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Qualitative Methods

• Definition
• Researchers role
• Features of qualitative research
• Context
• Description
• Process
• Participant perspective
• Induction
• Implications of research setting
• Some qualitative field research frameworks

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Definition - Qualitative Research

• A process of enquiry that draws from the context
  in which events occur, in an attempt to describe
  these occurrences, as a means of determining the
  process in which events are embedded and the
  perspectives of those participating in the
  events, using induction to derive possible
  explanations based on observed phenomena.

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Researchers role

• In qualitative field research
• fly on the wall vs. complete participant
  scientific detachment immersing into
  subjects world
• Personal involvement and partiality
• Reflexivity
• Discuss considerations of local culture
• Empathetic understanding

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Features of Qualitative Research

• Context
• Description
• Process
• Participant perspective
• Induction

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Context

• Draws from the context or environment in which
  events occur
• Uses the natural setting
• Researcher does not remain remote
• enters the context or situation to collect data
• enhances this data through insights gained onsite

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Context
Identify with your subjects Experience what they
are experiencing
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Description

• Describes occurrences
• the flavor of events is included in the
  research
• Instruments researcher, tape recorders, video
  cameras, notes, camera, diaries, memos
• Collection verbal narratives from the
  participants, observations. diary.
• Report narrative, themes, corroborated by other
  analyses

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Process

• Not just the result of events but the events
  themselves
• understanding the process of events
• how ideas become action
• the reactions to actions
• components of a process
• richer and fuller understanding through immersion
  in the entire activity

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Participant perspective

• What do the people involved in a particular
  process think
• what people believe
• how people feel
• how people interpret events
• Often involves participant involvement in or
  comment on the researchers observations and
  interpretations

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Exercise

• What is the next number in these sequences?
• 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, ?
• 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 6,
  6, ?
• How did you decide the next number in the
  sequence?

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Induction

• Analysis of observations in a coherent and
  meaningful manner
• a bottom-up approach after data have been
  collected
• from the particular to the general
• evidence is used to develop an explanation of
  events - to establish a theory based on observed
  phenomena

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Deduction

• Collection of data based on prior assumptions
• Top down approach
• From general to specific
• Typically begins with theory
• Data are used to support or question theory

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Grounded Theory

• Approach data collection with little or no theory
  (let data speak for themselves)
• Once some data are collected, review and see what
  theories might match
• Theory development (or matching) is grounded in
  the observations/data
• Theory-data collection are interactive

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Definition - Qualitative Research

• A process of enquiry that draws from the context
  in which events occur, in an attempt to describe
  these occurrences, as a means of determining the
  process in which events are embedded and the
  perspectives of those participating in the
  events, using induction to derive possible
  explanations based on observed phenomena.

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Research setting

• Effect of the research agenda
• E.g. R D in industry
• Effect of the research institution
• Power relationship?

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Data recording sheet (Bouma 182)
What you observe
Your reactions/ thoughts
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Actor Network Theory

• Network structure emerges from interactions among
  actants, who may be both human and non-human
• Analyst looks at issues such as
• Translation
• Enrollment
• Delegation
• Example consortium of universities

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Qualitative research

• Researchers work within the natural setting of
  the data, and the key data collection instruments
  are the researchers themselves
• The data (collected) are verbal, not numerical
• Researchers are concerned with the process of an
  activity, not only the outcomes of that activity
• Researchers usually analyze their data verbally
  rather than statistically
• The outcomes are often the generation of research
  questions and conjectures, not the verification
  of predicted relationships or outcomes

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B
Obtrusive Research Operations
C
Unobtrusive Research Operations
A
Particular Behavior Systems
Universal Behavior Systems
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Uses of Qualitative Research

• Phase 1 Essential First Steps
• Phase 2 Data Collection
• Phase 3 Analysis and Interpretation

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Qualitative Research and Essential First Steps

• Phase 1
• Select, Narrow, and Define Problem
• Exploratory Qualitative Research
• Refine problem statement
• Select a Research Design
• Design and Devise Measures for Variables
• Operationalization of the variable
• Measurement Process
• Select Tables for Analysis
• Select a Sample

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Qualitative Research and

• Purpose
• Descriptive
• What is .
• Exploratoryseek Relationships
• Association Between Ideas (Concepts)
• Explanatory and predictive
• Cause and Effect Relationships

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Summary Qualitative Research Often Goes from
Bottom Up in Ladder of Abstraction
Concept
Dimensions
Variables
Indicators
Validity Reliability
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For more readings in Qualitative Research in IS
http//www.qual.auckland.ac.nz/