OT III Samenvatting.
Module 1
Fundamentals of Qualitative Research
What is qualitative research:
• Study of social phenomenon in detail
• Research that focuses on experiences, interpretations, or motivations of people (in a
particular context).
• Goal is to understand how people understand the world around them and why they do so
• Understand the social and cultural context
Qualitative research helps to explore questions like…
• What is happening here?
• Why is this happening?
• What does it mean to people?
• How is this influencing people?
• When did what occur?
• How did it evolve over time?
When to conduct qualitative research?
• To connect theory closely to the meanings that people assign to the world around them
• To explore emerging phenomena (with few pre-existing insights)
• To study complex situations
• To study changes of new practices
• To describe and understand how processes evolve over time
• To develop (inductive) theory
,Philosophical assumptions
Positivistic: it considers the world around us to be objective. For everybody the same.
• Assumption: Reality is independent from the researcher and can be interpreted through
reasoning and logic.
• Researcher: Objective and neutral
• Goal: Explain the true reality and generalizing
• Methods: Systematic categorization and hypothesis and variables.
Interpretive
• Assumption: reality is constructed. Everyone experiences the reality different.
• Understanding how people make sense of the reality
o Different actors can assign different meanings to the same objective reality
• Researcher: interpreter, insider
• Goal: understand and describe meaning
• Methods: Inductively uncover context-dependent meaning
• Meer kijkend naar de mening van de mensen. Misschien is mijn realiteit anders dan die van
persoon X.
Critical (hier wil je een eigen mening hebben)
• Assumption: social realities are based on mechanisms and structures that influence
behaviors, interactions and events
Reality is shaped by interest, knowledge, power, and forms of social control
• Researcher: role (and influence) of the researcher is important.
• Goal: criticism of existing social structures, sometimes emancipating
• Methods: understand historical evolution and power structures
The choice of one of those methods influences/guide the following within qualitative research:
➢ How research subjects are being considered
➢ The research questions
➢ The research design
➢ How findings are derived
➢ How findings are presented
Role of the researcher
Ethical challenges:
▪ How much do you ask and how much do you give back?
▪ How personal does your/can your relationship get?
▪ How to build trust but not exploit it?
▪ What if your study reveals sensitive findings?
The four ethical principles: to respect and protect the people actively consenting to be studied.
1. Truthfulness and honest
2. Thoroughness
3. Impartiality = stay independent in your research, your bias should not affect your research design/
analyses. (so while collecting data and analyzing the data).
4. Relevance.
Informed consent: (it is not always possible but should be the norm)
, ❖ Consent that participants agree to participate in the study and that they can choose to
terminate their involvement at any point in time
❖ Honest and transparent disclosure of study’s purpose and nature of data collection
❖ Written or oral
❖ Use language that participants can understand
Privacy & Confidentiality
❖ Researchers cannot disclose personal information about individuals or companies without
consent
❖ They must keep participants or organizations identifies sealed, e.g.
o Interviewee names
o Company names
o Other unique identifying characteristics (e.g. position, industry)
Reflexivity (how their own believes and values effect their research)
• Being conscious about one’s own role as a researcher (e.g. theoretical choices, data
collection and analysis)
• Reflecting about one’s own experiences and about the consequences of theoretical choices,
role and action.
Final tips
• Think about if and how you can share research findings with the participants
• Are you planning on staying in touch with the participants? If so, how do you plan to do so?
• If in doubt about (un)expected observations, reach out to your coach or supervisor
• Placing ongoing attention to safety, damage and risks concerning the research participants,
you (the researcher), and people working with you.
➢ Inductief vs deductief
Inductief: met heel veel informatie beginnen en naar kleine schaal brengen. Focus meer op wat
je leert van je eigen data.
Deductief: je begint met een klein beetje data en dat wordt steeds groter. Je begint bij de
literatuur.
Deductief redeneren is in feite wat we als wetenschap beschouwen. Het is een ‘top-down’ logica,
waarbij vanuit het algemene gevolgtrekkingen worden gemaakt naar het bijzondere. Een beroemd
voorbeeld van een deductief argument, stapsgewijs uitgewerkt:
“Alle mensen zijn sterfelijk” – algemene regel, major-premisse
“Socrates is een mens” – bijzondere regel, minor premisse
“Socrates is sterfelijk” – conclusie
Een deductief argument is vanzelfsprekend waar en kan dus niet weerlegd worden, maar wel
geïllustreerd worden door specifieke waarnemingen. Deductie speelt met name een grote rol in
formele wetenschappen zoals logica en wiskunde, maar ook in overige wetenschappen wanneer een
strikte bewijsvoering mogelijk en vereist is.
Inductief redeneren is ‘bottom-up’: men komt tot een algemene regel, generalisatie geheten, op
grond van empirisch onderzoek (specifieke waarnemingen). Ter illustratie een voorbeeld:
In een park wordt de kleur van afzonderlijke zwanen geobserveerd:inductie-black-swan
“De eerste zwaan in het park is wit”
“De tweede zwaan in het park is wit”
“De laatst waargenomen zwaan in het park is wit”
Conclusie: “Alle zwanen in het park zijn wit” (incorrect: “Alle zwanen zijn wit”)
Module 1
Fundamentals of Qualitative Research
What is qualitative research:
• Study of social phenomenon in detail
• Research that focuses on experiences, interpretations, or motivations of people (in a
particular context).
• Goal is to understand how people understand the world around them and why they do so
• Understand the social and cultural context
Qualitative research helps to explore questions like…
• What is happening here?
• Why is this happening?
• What does it mean to people?
• How is this influencing people?
• When did what occur?
• How did it evolve over time?
When to conduct qualitative research?
• To connect theory closely to the meanings that people assign to the world around them
• To explore emerging phenomena (with few pre-existing insights)
• To study complex situations
• To study changes of new practices
• To describe and understand how processes evolve over time
• To develop (inductive) theory
,Philosophical assumptions
Positivistic: it considers the world around us to be objective. For everybody the same.
• Assumption: Reality is independent from the researcher and can be interpreted through
reasoning and logic.
• Researcher: Objective and neutral
• Goal: Explain the true reality and generalizing
• Methods: Systematic categorization and hypothesis and variables.
Interpretive
• Assumption: reality is constructed. Everyone experiences the reality different.
• Understanding how people make sense of the reality
o Different actors can assign different meanings to the same objective reality
• Researcher: interpreter, insider
• Goal: understand and describe meaning
• Methods: Inductively uncover context-dependent meaning
• Meer kijkend naar de mening van de mensen. Misschien is mijn realiteit anders dan die van
persoon X.
Critical (hier wil je een eigen mening hebben)
• Assumption: social realities are based on mechanisms and structures that influence
behaviors, interactions and events
Reality is shaped by interest, knowledge, power, and forms of social control
• Researcher: role (and influence) of the researcher is important.
• Goal: criticism of existing social structures, sometimes emancipating
• Methods: understand historical evolution and power structures
The choice of one of those methods influences/guide the following within qualitative research:
➢ How research subjects are being considered
➢ The research questions
➢ The research design
➢ How findings are derived
➢ How findings are presented
Role of the researcher
Ethical challenges:
▪ How much do you ask and how much do you give back?
▪ How personal does your/can your relationship get?
▪ How to build trust but not exploit it?
▪ What if your study reveals sensitive findings?
The four ethical principles: to respect and protect the people actively consenting to be studied.
1. Truthfulness and honest
2. Thoroughness
3. Impartiality = stay independent in your research, your bias should not affect your research design/
analyses. (so while collecting data and analyzing the data).
4. Relevance.
Informed consent: (it is not always possible but should be the norm)
, ❖ Consent that participants agree to participate in the study and that they can choose to
terminate their involvement at any point in time
❖ Honest and transparent disclosure of study’s purpose and nature of data collection
❖ Written or oral
❖ Use language that participants can understand
Privacy & Confidentiality
❖ Researchers cannot disclose personal information about individuals or companies without
consent
❖ They must keep participants or organizations identifies sealed, e.g.
o Interviewee names
o Company names
o Other unique identifying characteristics (e.g. position, industry)
Reflexivity (how their own believes and values effect their research)
• Being conscious about one’s own role as a researcher (e.g. theoretical choices, data
collection and analysis)
• Reflecting about one’s own experiences and about the consequences of theoretical choices,
role and action.
Final tips
• Think about if and how you can share research findings with the participants
• Are you planning on staying in touch with the participants? If so, how do you plan to do so?
• If in doubt about (un)expected observations, reach out to your coach or supervisor
• Placing ongoing attention to safety, damage and risks concerning the research participants,
you (the researcher), and people working with you.
➢ Inductief vs deductief
Inductief: met heel veel informatie beginnen en naar kleine schaal brengen. Focus meer op wat
je leert van je eigen data.
Deductief: je begint met een klein beetje data en dat wordt steeds groter. Je begint bij de
literatuur.
Deductief redeneren is in feite wat we als wetenschap beschouwen. Het is een ‘top-down’ logica,
waarbij vanuit het algemene gevolgtrekkingen worden gemaakt naar het bijzondere. Een beroemd
voorbeeld van een deductief argument, stapsgewijs uitgewerkt:
“Alle mensen zijn sterfelijk” – algemene regel, major-premisse
“Socrates is een mens” – bijzondere regel, minor premisse
“Socrates is sterfelijk” – conclusie
Een deductief argument is vanzelfsprekend waar en kan dus niet weerlegd worden, maar wel
geïllustreerd worden door specifieke waarnemingen. Deductie speelt met name een grote rol in
formele wetenschappen zoals logica en wiskunde, maar ook in overige wetenschappen wanneer een
strikte bewijsvoering mogelijk en vereist is.
Inductief redeneren is ‘bottom-up’: men komt tot een algemene regel, generalisatie geheten, op
grond van empirisch onderzoek (specifieke waarnemingen). Ter illustratie een voorbeeld:
In een park wordt de kleur van afzonderlijke zwanen geobserveerd:inductie-black-swan
“De eerste zwaan in het park is wit”
“De tweede zwaan in het park is wit”
“De laatst waargenomen zwaan in het park is wit”
Conclusie: “Alle zwanen in het park zijn wit” (incorrect: “Alle zwanen zijn wit”)
