This week we learned about qualitative and case study research, something I was quite familiar with. As I did my bachelor's in arts, I used mostly qualitative methods during my first three years. A lot of focus during my bachelor's was put on interviews and interview technique, something I found quite interesting. We did a lot of interviews, both in person, via skype, and via telephone, during my BA, and it’s one of my favorite ways of doing research. You really get to know people, see how people react and interact, and I feel like you (most often) get honest and real answers. This of course depends on what your researching, but as I did my BA in media and arts, it was a lot about behavior, interaction with media, opinions, and habits etc.
The qualitative research paper I chose for this week, Appearance-related cyberbullying: A qualitative investigation of characteristics, content, reasons, and effects, was done via interviews, and was (just as the title tells you) researching about appearance-related cyber bullying. I found the paper very interesting, and I think that kind of research is very important. It was interesting to read about the ethics review board, their method had been approved, but this is something I didn’t encounter during my bachelor's (maybe I should have?). I found it interesting to read about how they had selected their participants, and this is always something that’s discussed when doing research. Do we take the people easiest accessible? People from different ethnicities? From different geographical areas? Different ages? I think here it’s important to be very clear about what you’re trying to find out, will it add value to the research to have participants in different areas etc.? and if so, how?
This makes me think of what we discussed during last week’s theme, that no two people are alike, so the participants in a study are very important. If you replicate their research with different participants, even if they’re chosen based on the same criteria, odds are the result will be different. Something I think is very important to keep in mind when doing any research.
Case study is something I was a little less familiar with, but still felt I had a decent grasp on. I found it very interesting and something I might want to explore further. To my understanding, a case study explores a specific event, group, company, phenomenon, etc. and can be very valuable when there’s not enough information to formulate a research question. That it’s not always the answer to the question itself, but rather to come up with questions. In the beginning I thought case study would be more specific, however, I now understand that it seeks to explore a specific question in depth, even if the outset is more general. For example, my chosen case study research paper was about Twitter and investigated the use of traditional and social media in the closure of the university South Florida Polytechnic (USFP). Even though it was quite specific, one university only, it could have been investigating the correlation between Twitter and education, doing surveys and looking at data from different universities, and it would still be a case study.
I found this theme quite interesting, and even though I was really sick throughout this week and couldn’t make it to any of the seminars, I still learned a lot. I wish I hadn’t been so ill, as I do find this theme interesting, and it would have been very beneficial to discuss it with my co-students and hear their thoughts, but that’s life I guess.
Thanks for great posts on this theme! In the first blog post you showed that you have a good understanding of qualitative methods, especially the ones related to interviews. Although one has to remember, that there are other – probably less familiar – qualitative methods as well, so I think that is the direction where you could broaden your knowledge next. I also agree with you on the limitations of the cyberbullying study: in sensitive subjects the choice of a qualitative method has twice as more important role than usually, so to be honest I was pretty amazed with the choice of small groups. Why would anyone who has been seriously bullied and is struggling with the psychological effects ever want to take part in a study where you have to discuss the topic with the possible bullies in the same room? Anyway, I tried to access the paper but couldn't for some reason, so I'll leave my further speculations out because of the lack of facts here.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to what you wrote about case studies, I'd like to add a few thoughts which I hope can be beneficial. Although a case study examines a specific phenomena often in a very specific context and the results aren't maybe generalizable in all levels, they do raise some guidelines that are useful for future studies and understanding of similar phenomenon in a larger scale, as well. It's also noteworthy to say that many studies are actually case studies, even if it's not stated in the paper. Therefore it's not a method in itself but rather an approach.
Thanks again for well-written posts and no worries you couldn't make it to the seminar – you have grasped the main idea perfectly!
Hej hej! I found it interesting to read what you wrote here! The part where you say "no two people are alike, so the participants in a study are very important. If you replicate their research with different participants, even if they’re chosen based on the same criteria, odds are the result will be different". Participants are highly important in any kind of research where one conducts interviews or questionnaires, etc. Thus, I think especially in a case study where the amount of participants is so small it is very important to carefully select them to get the best result possible. Moreover, in this way I think case studies are very much connected to design-research as case studies carefully select cases and carefully examine the choices available from among many research tools available in order to increase the validity of the research. It is interesting how all methods and ways of research comes together and complements each other. Well, thanks for your thoughts!
ReplyDeleteYour discussion on selecting participants for research studies evoked two thoughts. Firstly, it made me think about subject one, were we discussed how we carry our experiences that shapes us into becoming who we are – which results in us perceiving and conceiving concepts differently. Secondly, it made me think about the recruiting for the study discussed in theme four. I think your conclusion that design research it seeks to explore a specific question in depth, even if the outset can be more general is spot on. Great reflection!
ReplyDeleteHi! Thanks for a great reflection. I always find it interesting to read about previous experiences in relation to the topics we discuss, and here you bring up your experience in qualitative methods from your bachelor. It seems like the focus was on interviews and interview technique which I think is great because in many cases, performing a good interview is easier said than done. I also liked the part where you mention that no two people are alike which affect the replicability of the study. When doing case studies, I think it is important to keep in mind that the outcome could have been completely different with other participants. Thanks again for your reflection.
ReplyDeleteThanks for a well written and clearly structured post!
ReplyDeleteI feel like we have the same approach to the perks of qualitative methods. I appreciated the way in which you describes your perception of interviews etc leading to "honest and real answers". This very fact had been a topic I've reflected a lot upon lately.
Every other day, I see links to academic project surveys on Facebook, and I get targeted marketing with companies asking me to rate them in quick surveys. The amount of studies one can partake in thanks to media technologies (in this case the internet) is endless, and it has made me doubt the honesty/reliability of the answers given in them. This concerns my own answers, too. Because, when the human link to the researcher is lost, what responsibility do I REALLY have to answer with true reflection and thought, rather than just checking boxes to get done with the survey?
I think this is a real problem linked to media technologies and their implementation in research. But perhaps it is just evolution; perhaps human interaction past screens and the internet will be out of fashion soon anyways ;)
Even though you missed out due to illness, I think you captured some important questions relating to the theme. As we read many co-student's blogs, we come across similar content but here's an advantage with yours (not to read the same again).
ReplyDeleteEspecially liked what you highlighted about questioning samples and respondents and how important they are, being at the core of research. It can be easy to spend so much time on preparing a research project that at the end you don't dedicate enough time to controlling the quality and background of your sample. This applies in other methods than case studies but maybe here, due to the focus on a particular group, it becomes even more important.