Summary Notes on qualitative methods course

Lecture notes: Qualitative Methods
Lecture 1: Introduction – Frameworks and Assumptions
Assumptions:
 Ontology
o = nature of reality = questions of existence
o What is it to be in reality?
o Nature of society  society = material or cognitive
o Marx: studied society in terms of capital and resources (materialist ontology)
o Foucault: studied society as set of discourse, words, power structures
(cognitive/institutional ontology)
o  single or multiple realities? => dominant view is that there are multiple
realities
 Epistemology
o = knowing abt what counts as knowledge
o What knowledge is better
o Dominant view: knowledge is based on subjective experiences of ppl
 Axiology
o = study of values = role of values in research
o Values: justice, sustainability, hierarchy and power
o Creswell: dominant view  research is value-laden, researchers also have values
throughout their lives w/ experiences and in their discipline
o Post-positivists: researchers should be objective, explicate their values, make it
explicit, use rigorous scientific methods
 Methodology
o = study of research procedures and methods
o Views qualitative research
 Inductive to reductive
 Inductive: Starts from observation  patterns  hypothesis 
theory
 Deductive: Theory  hypothesis  test hypo in the field to
confirm or disconfirm
 Topic in context
 Bc most knowledge based on subjective experiences so have to
get close to them and go into context
 Emergent in research design
 Important bc study topic in context  particular plan in context
does not work  have to change plan


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,Interpretive Frameworks:
 = frames that contextualize the research approach
 Creswell and Poth stated 5 frameworks:
o Postpositivism
 Ontology
 Single reality exists beyond ourselves
 Researchers may not be able to understand that perfectly
 Epistemology
 Reality is approximated
 People have not complete knowledge of reality
 Reveal reality that exists outside ourselves through research and
statistic
 Get best knowledge if limit interaction w/ research subjects 
nonbiased
 Validity comes from peers not participants (ie: scientists not
common people)
 Axiology
 Researchers need to control their biases
 No need to explicate them (if biases are controlled)
 Methodology
 Rigorous scientific methods important
 Deductive  start from theory
o Social constructivism
 Ontology
 Multiple realities constructed through lived experiences and
interactions with others
 People live in different realities and researchers try to understand
their subjective experiences
 Epistemology
 Important is to understand how ppl construct reality rather than
facts
 Knowledge abt reality co-constructed between researcher and
subjects
 Axiology
 Different value sets  individual values should be honored and
negotiated among individuals
 Methodology
 Aimed at reconstructing subjecting meanings of subjects

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,  Researchers understanding is different than participants’
 Develop new knowledge from participants’ experiences
 Inductive and emergent
o Post modernism
 Ontology
 Multiple realities
 Reality defined by experiences AND concepts  no reality
beyond that meaning there are no brute facts
o (ex:) a screen is a concept, but quarks & molecules also
represent a screen  many realities  your
understanding of that reality is always embedded within a
concept
 Epistemology
 Knowledge is defined by concepts, by one’s position and by
power structures
o Power structure examples
 In past neoliberal view  markets important
 In NL police were not allowed to register ethnicity
so now have no info on that
 Truth is relative to a certain frame of reference
 Multiple ways of knowing
 Axiology
 Respect for multiple value systems (indigenous values)
 Values need to be problematized and interrogated  bc no
absolute truth
 Methodology
 Questioning of methods
 Any method would lead to specific understanding bc any method
has specific concepts  no absolute truth and science cannot
determine that either
 Stress transparency in methodological work by highlighting issues
and concerns  others can understand concepts used and
knowledge
o Joined transformative & postmodern
 Transformative = aim to transform society (emancipatory)
 Ontology
 Multiple realities
 Reality defined through interaction researcher/ communities

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