Qualitative Research Methods
Exam Materials
Course Introduction
Qualitative Research Methods introduces students to the principles and practices of qualitative inquiry in the social sciences and related fields. The course explores various qualitative research designs including ethnography, phenomenology, case study, grounded theory, and narrative research focusing on the processes of data collection, such as interviews, observations, and document analysis. Through hands-on activities, students learn techniques for coding and analyzing qualitative data, ensuring rigor and trustworthiness in their research. Ethical considerations, reflexivity, and the development of research questions appropriate to qualitative methods are also emphasized, empowering students to design and conduct independent qualitative studies with critical awareness.
Recommended Textbook
Qualitative Research Methods for the Social Sciences 8th Edition by Bruce L. Berg
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Chapter 1: Introduction
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Sample Questions
Q1) The technique of using multiple lines of sight, or an array of symbols and theoretical content to create a better research result, or picture of reality, is called ________.
A) triangulation
B) ethnography
C) sociometry
D) quantitative
Answer: A
Q2) The founder of the Iowa School of Symbolic Interactionism is _______.
A) Kuhn
B) Dewey
C) Mead
D) Blumer
Answer: A
Q3) What type of concept does quantitative research measure?
A) Definition
B) Characteristic
C) Number
D) Essence
Answer: C
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Page 3
Chapter 2: Designing Qualitative Research
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Q1) Explain why operational definitions can be crucial to a research design, or not required. Defend your answer.
Answer: An operational definition makes the meaning intended by the concept in your study concrete. It also creates criteria for empirically measuring the concept investigated. Several definitions can exist in the research and literature review, as long as readers know which definition you're using in the current paper. The operational definition is used to define how your concept will be identified and measured. For less tangible qualities, it can be used to create a list of observable qualities that are associated with the definition of the concept. An operational definition is crucial to most qualitative research because failure to define concepts will make results meaningless. Another researcher could not reproduce your research. It would be unclear where in the existing body of work your research fits, and explanations would lack concrete meaning. The only time that an operational definition would not be required is in interpretive, or phenomenological, research where the researcher attempts to discover naturally arising meanings among members of the study population.
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Chapter 3: Ethical Issues
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Q1) What are some of the criteria for an IRB's members, and what guidelines are left fuzzy or unspecified?
Answer: An IRB must be composed of a minimum of five members. The member should have varying backgrounds so they can provide a complete and adequate review of a variety of topics. The IRB should not be composed singularly of one racial, ethnic, or gender group, or a single profession. There should be at least one member who does not work in the social sciences, or any science at all, for example, lawyers, ethicists, or clergy. The federal government does not specify how to select members for the IRB, how long they should be able to serve, what research qualifications a member should have, or how to elect a chairperson of the IRB. Regulations specify that "assurances" must be submitted to the Office for Protection from Research Risks, National Institutes of Health. Those specify the IRB members' names, earned degrees, representative capacity, and indication of experience. The requirements allude to the inclusion of clinicians by asking for documents similar to board certifications or licenses.
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Chapter 4: A Dramaturgical Look at Interviewing
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Q1) Affected messages that are transferred from one acting individual to another through nonverbal channels is/are ____________.
A) researcher reactivity
B) self-conscious performance
C) social interpretations
D) full-channel communication
Q2) Using email, message boards, or privately hosted bulletin posting areas to conduct an interview over the Web over a longer period of time with delays between responses is an example of ____________.
A) Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI)
B) Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI)
C) synchronous environments
D) asynchronous environments
Q3) How can a novice interviewer begin to establish an interviewer repertoire?
Q4) What steps should an interviewer take when preparing guidelines for the interview to be ready for the interviewing experience?
Q5) What are some of the advantages and disadvantages to conducting interviews over the Internet and email using asynchronous methods?
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Chapter 5: Focus Group Interviewing
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Q1) Historically, for what purpose have focus groups been traditionally used?
A) Psychological research
B) Social Science research
C) Advertising research
D) Marketing research
Q2) The first person to write an article on the use of focus groups, or focused interview was ________.
A) Y.R. Zarchin
B) Paul Lazarsfeld
C) C. L. Adler
D) Robert K. Merton
Q3) What is a focus group and what are its appropriate uses?
Q4) Pick two problems in focus group interviewing, and discuss how a researcher can avoid them
Q5) Which technique is the most effective at obtaining a great amount of detail about various content information?
A) Focus groups
B) Unobtrusive measures
C) Face-to-face interviewing
D) Participant observation
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Chapter 6: Ethnographic Field Strategies
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Q1) A person indigenous to the group and setting being studied who is convinced that the study is worthwhile and meaningful to group, and that no harm will fall upon the group, and then extends his or her credibility among the group to the researcher is a(n)
A) gatekeeper
B) guide
C) informant
D) bargainer
Q2) What are subjective versus external motivating factors for research?
Q3) Explain the four steps to learning what to watch and listen for when conducting ethnography.
Q4) What are the three categories of field notes and what do they include?
Q5) A change in the definition of ethnography to include a set of highly formal techniques designed to extract cognitive data is called _________________.
A) new ethnography
B) macroethnography
C) microethnography
D) ethnonursing research
Q6) Why is reflectivity important to ethnography?
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Chapter 7: Action Research
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Q1) During analysis of collected data, which question(s) will the researcher ask to help establish the problems and issues, the things bothering the population, and the way these problems intrude on the lives of the people in the group?
A) What and how
B) Why
C) Who, where, when
D) Whether
Q2) The phase of photo research in which the researcher discusses the reasons why the participant took the photo, what the image means, and what the images are supposed to depict. This is the phase in which the photographer provides his or her voice to the researcher. This is called _______.
A) selecting photographs
B) contextualizing stories
C) codifying
D) capturing photographs
Q3) What is photovoice, and how does it fit in with past trends in ethnography?
Q4) Explain the three phases of photovoice, and what each involves.
Q5) What are the goals of photo voice?
Q6) When is action research a good fit, and when should action research not be used?
Page 9
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Chapter 8: Unobtrusive Measures in Research
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Q1) Any type of written, drawn, or recorded (video or audio) materials produced for general or mass consumption is called ___________. Examples include newspapers, books, magazines, television program transcripts, videotapes, comics, maps, and blogs.
A) private archives
B) commercial media accounts
C) actuarial records
D) official documentary records
Q2) An underutilized type of private archival material used in research is the ___________________.
A) letter
B) diary
C) autobiography
D) blog
Q3) Explain what type of unobtrusive data collection a personal letter is, and describe an example of when letters have been used in research scenarios.
Q4) Why is video record becoming such a valuable research tool?
Q5) Define commercial media accounts, and give an example of how they can be used as an unobtrusive data source.
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Chapter 9: Social Historical Research and Oral Traditions
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Q1) Define the three types of data sources that historical researchers can use.
Q2) Which term can be considered a synonym for internal criticism?
A) Genuine
B) Reliable
C) Legitimate
D) Valid
Q3) When studying history, social scientists must remember to compare, rather than judge the meanings found. Provide an example of your own, or from the text, of a term that has changed meaning throughout history, or a label that may have a negative connotation. Explain what this symbol can teach the social scientist when judgment is suspended.
Q4) A technique that allows the researcher to gain access to the day-to-day accounts of real people without a filter from the "official" perspective and without limits to the class in power is called __________.
A) External criticism
B) Internal criticism
C) Oral history
D) Identification
Q5) What is an oral history?
Q6) Define how the term historical research is used in the social sciences.
Page 11
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Chapter 10: Case Studies
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Q1) Which type of case study is undertaken when a researcher wants to better understand one particular case as an illustration of a particular trait, characteristic, or problem?
A) Embedded case study
B) Intrinsic case study
C) Instrumental case study
D) Collective case study
Q2) Which researcher quality indicates that the researcher is flexible enough to change data collection strategies if they do not seem to be functioning effectively?
A) Inquiring mind
B) Ability to listen and sense
C) Adaptability
D) Unbiased interpretation
Q3) Name and define three types of case studies.
Q4) What are several reasons that a case study to generate theory or a theory after research model can be useful?
Q5) What are the five typologies of case studies? Define each.
Q6) What is a community case study, and how does it work?
Q7) What is an example of a case study from your own knowledge, or from the text?
Page 12
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Chapter 11: An Introduction to Content Analysis
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Q1) Which unit of analysis looks at the strength or weakness of a word in relation to the overall sentiment of the sentence?
A) Semantics
B) Characters
C) Concepts
D) Items
Q2) What are the advantages and disadvantages of content analysis?
Q3) Which term describes the first grouping used to categorize data that virtually anyone in society can distinguish between and among, e.g., persons, things, and events such as age, gender, and roles?
A) Theoretical classes
B) Concept classes
C) Special classes
D) Common classes
Q4) Which unit of analysis measures the entire unit of the sender's message?
A) Semantics
B) Characters
C) Concepts
D) Items
Q5) How can a researcher avoid exampling?
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Chapter 12: Writing Research Papers: Sorting the Noodles from the Soup
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Q1) Which heading level is written indented from the left with only the first letter of the first word capitalized to label a specific definitional point or to enumerate a categorical listing with explanations and runs into the paragraph?
A) A head
B) B head
C) C head
D) D head
Q2) Which is NOT a purpose of section headings in a paper?
A) Making a witty remark
B) Indicating general level of importance
C) Orienting the reader
D) Announcing major divisions of the text
Q3) Which writing pitfall occurs when the researcher capitalizes a word or phrase, or quotes certain words to highlight their importance in the sentence?
A) Lazy word beginnings
B) Similar word confusions
C) Rhetorical questions
D) Improper emphasis
Q4) What value does rewriting have in research?
Page 14
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