Social Research Methods Week 8

Qualitative Approaches

Social Research Methods Week 8

Your readings from Becker have been geared towards qualitative social research, so some of his ‘how to’ tricks might make more sense if they are set within a framework of various qualitative methods, which we will explore today.

We have discussed hypotheses and hunches, and said that you don’t need a full-blown, ‘scientific,’ hypothesis to get started on your research project. In fact, most qualitative research starts out with a hunch.

I tried to explain how to use your data to move from hunches to generating concepts or generalizations. This is something Becker does over a chapter in his book, but it is a rather large leap. I think it will be helpful for this lecture to get ourselves back in a place where we have a ‘hunch.’ The techniques we discuss today will help us to gather data that can help us to refine our hunches. We will set aside generating concepts or generalizations for the time being, and come back to it later. (Just keep in mind, though, that conceptualizing and generalizing are some of the main tasks of social scientists …)

One important thing you can be doing as your nurse your hunch over the next weeks and months is to be thinking about the literature around your topic, and how to approach your literature review. You should be concerned both with empirical and theoretical literature about your topic. Say, for instance, you are like me and are interested in Northern Irish evangelicalism. You could start by going to the library and taking out books and journal articles on Northern Irish evangelicals. These might be histories, sociological studies, political studies, and so on. These sources will provide you with a great deal of context, and ideas about what sort of questions researchers have been asking about Northern Irish evangelicals. This is the empirical aspect of the literature concerning your topic. Further, you could start taking out books and journal articles about the theoretical role of religion in politics, in conflict, in society – whatever interests you. When I wrote my Ph.D. thesis on Northern Irish evangelicalism, I was interested in how religion functioned in civil society. So I read a lot of theoretical literature about civil society in general and the role of religion in civil society. This was the theoretical aspect of my research. When I wrote my Ph.D., the literature review was both theoretical and empirical. The theoretical part dealt with the role of religion in civil society in contexts of conflict; and the empirical part dealt with the role of evangelicalism in Northern Ireland.

Do not panic if you are not certain right now what sort of empirical and theoretical literature you should be reading about your topic. Most good studies contain both empirical and theoretical components; as you read them this will help you develop ideas. Reading as much as you can will make you aware of what sort of ‘debates’ are out there about your research interests. As you read for your other courses in this programme, you may also start to develop ideas. Indeed, keep your eyes and ears open for ideas in all of your courses!

It is a good idea to get to work on the literature as soon as you can. Take notes as you read, outlining the arguments of the major ‘stars’ in the field and trying to figure out where your research might fit in. Remember that your own dissertation will in itself be a big argument, supported by the data that you gather. You should keep reading all the time, as much as you can, even as you are gathering data and then writing it up. Don’t expect the argument that you start to articulate in your literature review in the early days to be the very same argument that makes it into the last draft of your dissertation.

Key Texts:

Brewer, J. Ethnography, chapter 3, Open University Press, 2000
Silverman, D. Doing Qualitative Research, Sage, 2005
Marshall and Rossman (eds.) ‘Data Collection Methods,’ in Designing Qualitative Research, 1999, Sage
Ganiel, Appendix in Evangelicalism and Conflict in Northern Ireland, Palgrave, 2008
W. Foddy, ‘Constructing Questions for Interviews and Questionnaires,’ Theory and Practice in Social Research, CambridgeUniversity Press, 1993

Discussion Topics:

How to conduct qualitative research (designing interview questions, participant observation, writing field notes, how to conduct interviews, analysing text and talk)

Participant Observation – is it just hanging out?

Brewer (2000: 59): [participant observation] involves data gathering by means of participation in the daily life of informants in their natural setting: watching, observing and talking to them in order to discover their interpretations, social meanings and activities.

Gaining access to the field: mutual contacts, ‘gatekeepers,’ snowball effect.

It is usually easier to gain access to the field, and to start participating in it, if you are already a part of the field or if you have mutual contacts. For instance, when I was researching Northern Irish evangelicals I was living in Dublin and attending a Baptist church there. The pastor of the church in Dublin put me in touch with evangelicals in Northern Ireland, and I was able to progress the research from there. Similarly, I knew a Northern Irish pastor who now lives in Maine who put me in touch with Northern Irish evangelicals from the other end of the spectrum from those known by my pastor in Dublin. When I went to South Africa, I found the congregation I studied through an Irish friend living in Zimbabwe. He attended a church in Zimbabwe that was affiliated with the same charismatic network as the church in Cape Town.

Do not despair if you do not already have ‘contacts’ in your chosen field. Dr Lorenzo CanasBottoswas a researcher on a major project at UCD. An anthropologist from Argentina, he was sent to the border areas of Ireland and Northern Ireland without any prior contacts. He bought a bicycle, got a place to stay, and started hanging out. People eventually talked to him! (He may have gone to the pub a lot … )

What sort of activities should you participate in? (Becker would probably say everything …)

Gatekeepers: key individuals within your field who can direct you to other people who will be helpful for your research

Snowball effect: term used to describe the process whereby you encounter one person after another

Writing Field Notes

Writing field notes is the most basic way of remembering and recording your experiences as a participating observer. You may remember from last week Becker’s admonition to write down everything!

Marshall and Rossman (1999: 107): ‘Observation entails the systematic noting and recording of events, behaviors, and artifacts (objects) in the social setting chosen for study. The observational record is frequently referred to as field notes – detailed, nonjudgmental, concrete descriptions of what has been observed.’

See the sample field notes in Marshall and Rossman, page 109. They recommend keeping observation and comments separate. For instance, they divide their notebook into two columns, one for observation and one for comments. Brewer also recommends keeping observation and comments separate.

When I am writing up field notes, I tend to go a bit of stream of consciousness, which means my observations and comments are sometimes jumbled together. I am comfortable enough with this, because it is obvious to me when I re-read my notes what is comment and what is observation. I think the way you choose to write your field notes depends to some extent on personal style.

So, why should we have field notes? Beyond the simple fact that they help us remember stuff, they can also be the source of new ideas and hypotheses. This is a point that Becker makes repeatedly. When we were talking about generating concepts and generalizations, Becker said that field notes can be a great source for this. He tells his students to write down everything, and then to play the ‘nine Wagner’ game. In the nine Wagner game, which we tried in class with field notes from my research in South Africa, you look for answers to unknown questions (or hypotheses) in your field notes.

Designing and Conducting Interviews

Interviews are one of the primary ways of gathering data in qualitative studies. Interviews usually take place after establishing contact in the field, preferably after people have gotten to know the researcher a little bit (although this is not always the case).

Marshall and Rossman (1999: 108): ‘Qualitative researchers rely quite extensively on in-depth interviewing. Kahn and Cannell (1957) describe interviewing as “a conversation with a purpose” (p. 149); it may be the overall strategy or one of several methods employed in a study. … Patton (1990, pp. 280-290) categorizes interviews into three general types: the informal conversational interview, the general interview guide approach, and the standardized open-ended interview.’

The main difference between these three approaches is the amount of structure that the researcher imposes on each type of interview.

Standardized open-ended interview: The researcher will ask the same series of open-ended questions to all respondents. (In practice, due to real-world time constraints or the flow of conversation, the researcher may not have the opportunity to ask everyone exactly the same question). I used this approach in my M.A. research on evangelicals in the Christian Union at Queen’s University; and I am using it in my current research on religion in the DUP. Below are the interview schedules for my M.A. research and for my DUP research.

Questions for students in the Queen’s Christian Union:

How long have you been a Christian? Could you explain how and why you are one?
How long have you been interested in politics? Could you explain how and why you became interested?
Did you vote on the referendum for the Good Friday Agreement?
How did you vote (or how would you have voted if you had been old enough)? Why?
Would you vote the same way today? Why or why not?
What do you like about the Good Friday Agreement? What do you dislike about the Good Friday Agreement?
Are you interested in the politics of the European Union?
What do you like about the European Union and its role in the politics of the United Kingdom, Ireland and Northern Ireland? What do you dislike about the role of the EU?
Do you discuss politics with your family?
Do you discuss politics with members of your ‘home’ church?
Does the clergyman of your home church talk about politics from the pulpit? What does he say? Do you agree or disagree with him?
Did you discuss the relationship between Christianity and politics at your secondary school? What did you discuss? Did you agree with what you were taught?
Do you discuss politics at CU meetings? With individual members of the CU?
Do you think the way you practice politics should be related to the way you practice your Christianity? Why or why not?
Have your beliefs about the relationship between Christianity and politics changed over the last 3-5 years, or remained constant? If they have changed, how and why do you think they have changed?
Have you heard of the following groups or organizations: The Orange Order, Evangelical Contribution on Northern Ireland, the European Institute for Protestant Studies, Corrymeela Community, Centre for Contemporary Christianity. For each group, describe what you think their political and theological beliefs are, and if you agree or disagree with them.
Please describe what the phrase ‘For God and Ulster’ means to you.
What political activities or organizations are you engaged in? What do you think are the most important political duties for a Christian to perform?
What are your hopes and/or fears for the future of Northern Ireland?

Questions for (evangelical) DUP politicians:

Could you describe how you became a Christian?
How did you get involved in DUP politics?
What’s the relationship between faith and politics in your life?
What’s the relationship between faith and politics in the DUP? (Has this relationship changed over time?)
Are there secular and evangelical strands or camps in the DUP?
Around the time of the December 2004 talks, Dr Paisley said that the IRA must ‘repent in sackcloth and ashes.’ That has religious connotations. Do you agree with him?

You will notice that the list of questions for the DUP research is quite short. I have found that politicians are generally running to a fairly tight schedule when you interview them, so I have limited the number of questions to those that I think will provide me with the information that I want to know.

General Interview Guide Approach

This approach is slightly less structured than the previous one. The researcher will have a few general questions that they want to ask, but is willing to let the person being interviewed take the conversation in other directions. I used this approach in my Ph.D. research. I personally prefer this approach to the standardized, open-ended approach because it gives respondents more freedom. But, if you have limited time with an interview (such as with politicians) it may not always be possible to use this approach. See the sample questions from my Ph.D. research on evangelical congregations in Northern Ireland:

Questions for evangelicals in congregations:

Ask about confidentiality

Background:

Age
Occupation

Beliefs:

Describe how you became a Christian. How long have you been a Christian?
How long have you been a member of this church?
Do you think that the way you practice politics should be related to the way your practice your Christianity? Why or why not? Describe an ideal Christian citizen.
Is there an appropriate venue or method for clergy and church officers to raise issues of religion and politics? Describe those venues or methods.
Are there appropriate and/or inappropriate ways for churches to try and influence society and politics? Give examples. How do you determine what’s appropriate?
How much time, during a year, do you devote to issues of religion and politics – through church activities, informal conversations, etc?
What are your views on the following: a united Ireland, the politics of the European Union, cross-community activities, the Orange Order, the Belfast Agreement, IRA decommissioning/prisoner releases. Do you support a particular political party? (If so, do you mind identifying the party?) Do you think that it’s important for your fellow parishioners to know your views on those subjects?
Have you or your parish been involved in any activities or with any groups that address political issues in Northern Ireland? Which ones? Gauge the extent of these activities.
Do you discuss political issues with Christians from other denominations? Which ones?
Have you had much interaction with Catholics? Describe that interaction.
What do you think of your denomination’s political activities, at the denominational level? Are they effective/ineffective? Too much/not enough? Are there any changes you would like to see made?
What do you think of your church’s political activities (if there are any)? Effective/ineffective? Too much/not enough? Any changes you would like to see made?
Describe what went on in your church during the Belfast Agreement referendum. (i.e. Were there organised activities to consider the Belfast Agreement? Informal discussions?) What was the mood of the members? Did you agree or disagree with most of your fellow members?

Changes:

Did your theological or political beliefs change in the years leading up to the Belfast Agreement? If so, describe those changes. What do you think caused them?
More than four years after the Belfast Agreement, have your theological or political beliefs changed? If so, describe those changes. What do you think caused them?
What are the main challenges facing churches in Northern Ireland as they head into the next 5-10 years? The main challenges facing your own congregation? How is your congregation preparing for those challenges?
Are there particular political issues with which Christians should be concerned? What methods should Christians use to address those issues?
Are you optimistic or pessimistic about the current political situation in Northern Ireland?

The Informal Conversational Interview

Brewer (2000: 66): ‘In this type of interview there may be some questions worked out beforehand, or a guide to topics that need to be addressed, but open questions are used and there is a relative absence of structure. Researchers give themselves the latitude to ask whatever they want, in the form and order they determine, and to prompt, probe and ask supplementary questions as the occasion or respondent warrants. It takes the form of a natural conversation that is skillfully guided or focused by the researcher. The rationale behind this type is that the absence of formal structure gives greater freedom for respondents to answer accurately and in depth.’