PUBH2007 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Sample Size Determination, Statistical Hypothesis Testing, Fieldnotes
PUBH2008 LECTURE TEN
Qualitative Research
Titanic:
80% men died
70% women survived
Why?
Women and children told to go first.
• Incredible inequity on boat and inequity in who died due to class system.
• Almost all first class women survived, compared with only 42% third class.
• Major tragedy: not enough boats. First class able to access, others had to share.
Remembering the Titanic: a mixed method account
Quantitative data: mortality
Qualitative data: personal accounts, interviews, photographs, stories, documents, letters
Qualitative research: knowledge, experiences, perceptions, ideas, notions
Aims to elicit the contextualised nature of experience and action, and attempts to generate analyses
that are detailed, 'thick' and integrative in the sense of relating individual events and interpretations to
larger meaning systems and patterns.
Understanding context via examination of social data
Studies human beings in their social context: qualitative researchers aim to study things in their natural
setting, attempting to make sense of, or interpret, phenomena in terms of the meaning people bring to
them.
E.g. Interviewing people in their own homes
The philosophy or paradigm underlying particular methods - a theoretical tradition
Methodological perspective: theory that underlies why we are doing what we are doing
Methods: surveys, interviews, observation, focus groups (room full of people and asked questions),
diaries, photo-voice
Qualitative traditions:
• Symbolic interactionism (interactions between individuals)
• Phenomenology
• Feminism
• Critical theory
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Incredible inequity on boat and inequity in who died due to class system. Women and children told to go first: almost all first class women survived, compared with only 42% third class, major tragedy: not enough boats. First class able to access, others had to share. Qualitative data: personal accounts, interviews, photographs, stories, documents, letters. Aims to elicit the contextualised nature of experience and action, and attempts to generate analyses that are detailed, "thick" and integrative in the sense of relating individual events and interpretations to larger meaning systems and patterns. Studies human beings in their social context: qualitative researchers aim to study things in their natural setting, attempting to make sense of, or interpret, phenomena in terms of the meaning people bring to them. The philosophy or paradigm underlying particular methods - a theoretical tradition. Methodological perspective: theory that underlies why we are doing what we are doing.
