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Quality of the research

23 important questions on Quality of the research

What does judgment of the quality of research entail?

Judgment of the quality of research is an assessment of the accuracy of the insights gained as a result of the research. It takes into account of the findings and conclusions convincingly represent the social phenomenon that claimed to be examined.

What questions can you ask yourself when judging the quality of research?

·How were these findings and conclusions realized?
·How were research questions formulated?
·What data methods were chosen?
·How was the sample composed?
·What instruments were used?
·How was the data analyzed?
·How did the researchers manage their influence on the outcomes?

What does reliability (of the research) mean?

Reliability is the consistency of the measures used in social research. Measuring the same phenomenon repeatedly with the same  (reliable) instrument should lead to comparible outcomes. Reliability is often determined by calculating internal consistency and stability over time.
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How can you increase reliability?

-By standardizing the data collection with the assumption that accidental errors and thus inconsistencies occur less frequently when all procedures are specific.
-By doing sufficient observations with the hope to even out unsystematic errors.

What does it mean when research is high on internal validity?

The research measured what is what out to asses.  Measuring what you want to measure depends on using the correct measures.

What can be threats to internal validity?

-       When only a segment of the selected population is reached this can lead to a part of the story systematically being left out

-        When the chosen method of data collection does not provide accurate information about the topic of interest this can bias the result (for example when participants decide not to talk about a certain something)
· -      When researchers interpret the data in a desired direction because they have a result they want to prove.

What does construct validity mean?

Whether the measure that is formulated to research a particular concept really does reflect the concept that is supposed to be measured.

What is the aim of qualitative research?

Explore, describe and explain and that way try to understand the meaning that people award to their social words and understanding their actions.

Which are the 4 criteria for quality that Glaser and Strauss formulated?



·fitness: the theory must closely fit the substantive area in which it will be used
·understanding: the theory must be easy to understand by all the people concerned with this area
·generality: the theory must be sufficiently general to be applied to a lot of different daily situations in the area, not just a specific type of situation
·control: the theory must allow the user partial control over the structure and process of daily situations as they change through time.

What does methodological accountability mean?

This means that the researcher accurately documents what they have done, how they have done it and why. This way others can judge whether the outcome is trusted and they can repeat the process if desired.

In what 2 ways can the researchers role influence the field?

1. reactivity: People tend to act differently when they know they are being observed
2. going native: the research may be drawn into the world of the investigated individuals and become absorbed into the local culture. Then it cannot be expected that they can still reflect theoretically on their area of interest. His interpretations may then become biased.

What does methods triangulation means and what does it add to the research?

Method triangulation refers to using different methods. Using different methods can reveal varied dimensions of a phenomenon leading up to a layered and thick description of a subject under study.

What does member validation mean?

Member validation is also known as feedback from participants or member checks. The people having the experience should be able to recognize them as their own if the qualitative research succeeds to provide accurate descriptions and interpretations.

Why do participants don't always have to agree with the interpretations of the researchers in research report?

·researchers probably have access to different information then participants do and the use a theoretical point of view to interpret the data

·participants may also have interests in the field that are at odds with the outcomes of the study.

What is analyst/ researcher triangulation and what does it add?

Using multiple researchers to collect the data. This way the potential bias of collecting all the data alone is reduced.
-Comparison of the data provides a way  to assess the reliability and the validity of the data.
-Teams are better at standardizing coding and improve accuracy of the coding process and avoiding bias because of control on each other’s  interpretations.
-A team can also support each other socially.

What does 'peer debriefing' mean?

In this type of research triangulation colleagues/ peer that are not part of the research time provide a fresh perspective on the analysis process and explore explanations that researchers may have overlooked.

What does external validity mean?

External validity or generalizability pertains to whether the results of a study can be generalized beyond the specific research context. If this is not possible the findings only apply to the cases examined.

For research to be externally valid it is crucial to examine how the sample is selected.

What does statistical generalization mean?

This is dominantly used in quantitative research and is based on random sample to that each case has an equal chance of becoming part of that sample and that way findings about the representative sample are able to be generalized to the entire population.

What does theoretical generalization mean?

1.This is based on the principle of replication. The researcher makes a theory based on a certain sample but then test his findings by using a new sample. The growing theory is then adjusted, refined, expanded corrected and this process is then repeated several times. The theory formulated ultimately must become generalizable to cases not yet studied, provided that they belong to the scope of the theory.

What does variation-based generalization mean?

This generalization based on covering the variation in a certain phenomenon.The research may be focused on describing the variations in which a phenomenon occurs. New comparison cases are added until no new information turns up. It is than believed that the variation in the population has been covered by the variation in the sample.

What does   analogical generalization mean?

the researcher considers the relevant similarities and differences between the cases studied and the cases not studied to argue the possibility that the findings are applicable for the non-researched cases as well. The established correspondence of analogy between the researched and non-researched situations must justify the transferability of the findings and conclusions.

What does communicative generalization mean?

A research report may enable the readers to consider what the research results and conclusions mean for specific situations that they are interested in. To make this possible the original researcher needs to provide the reader with adequate descriptions so the reader can see how equal or different their situation is from that examined.

What is the main difference between journalism and qualitative research?

Qualitative research revolves around social theory and journalism does not.

-In qualitative research it's the social theory that determines what is studied and the problem statement
-in qualitative research the aim is to bridge a gap in social theory
-to allowed to contribute to this social theory a common research practice is used.
- theoretical reasoning is used in the report that justifies the claim of having delivered a scientific piece of work. 

The question on the page originate from the summary of the following study material:

Analysis in Qualitative Research | 9781847870070

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