Showing papers in "Field Methods in 2003"
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors describe a variety of techniques for theme discovery in qualitative research, ranging from quick word counts to laborious, in-depth, line-by-line scrutiny.
Abstract: Theme identification is one of the most fundamental tasks in qualitative research. It also is one of the most mysterious. Explicit descriptions of theme discovery are rarely found in articles and reports, and when they are, they are often relegated to appendices or footnotes. Techniques are shared among small groups of social scientists, but sharing is impeded by disciplinary or epistemological boundaries. The techniques described here are drawn from across epistemological and disciplinary boundaries. They include both observational and manipulative techniques and range from quick word counts to laborious, in-depth, line-by-line scrutiny. Techniques are compared on six dimensions: (1) appropriateness for data types, (2) required labor, (3) required expertise, (4) stage of analysis, (5) number and types of themes to be generated, and (6) issues of reliability and validity.
4,921 citations
TL;DR: No universal transcription format is adequate for all types of qualitative data collection approaches, settings, or theoretical frameworks, but there are some practical considerations that can help researchers systematically organize and analyze textual data.
Abstract: The increased use of qualitative research, especially its application in multisite studies, requires robust data collection techniques and the documentation of research procedures. The inappropriate or inadequate preparation of transcripts from audio or digital recordings can delay or negatively affect the analysis process. Although no universal transcription format is adequate for all types of qualitative data collection approaches, settings, or theoretical frameworks, there are some practical considerations that can help researchers systematically organize and analyze textual data.
825 citations
TL;DR: A case study is used, which examines HIV vaccine efficacy trial participants' discourse, to demonstrate how cluster analysis can be used to aid in the analysis of large qualitative data sets.
Abstract: Qualitative data analysis requires organizing and synthesizing often large quantities of text. In many cases, this analysis entails negotiating the interplay between raw data, semantic themes or co...
154 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, Qualitative Comparative Comparative Analysis (QCA) is described as a "middle road" between quantitative and qualitative strategies, which is a technique originally proposed by Charles C. Ragin.
Abstract: Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) is both an approach and a technique launched in the late 1980s by Charles C. Ragin as a “middle road” between quantitative and qualitative strategies. This re...
137 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyzed data on forty-one villages in southern India reported in Robert Wade's (1988) comparative study of villagewide collective action, Village Republics, and showed that Wade's explanation of villagewide collective action is incomplete.
Abstract: Qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) offers researchers the opportunity to combine the intensiveness of case-oriented research strategies and the extensiveness of variable-oriented approaches in a single framework. QCA is specifically designed for a moderate number of cases, too few for variable-oriented research designs and too many for in-depth, case-oriented analysis. To illustrate QCA's applicability to moderate-sized data sets, we analyze data on forty-one villages in southern India reported in Robert Wade's (1988) comparative study of villagewide collective action, Village Republics. Using QCA, we show that Wade's explanation of village-wide collective action is incomplete. We complement his strictly ecological explanation with a sociological perspective and show that intervillage competition is an important condition for villagewide collective action.
98 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors introduce computer assisted self-interviewing (CASI) and review its advantages and disadvantages, giving special attention to data quality, and use it with very special populations (primary school children, visually impaired young adults, and parents and children from multiproblem families).
Abstract: Self-administered questionnaires have many advantages, especially when sensitive questions are asked. However, self-administered paper questionnaires have a serious drawback: Only relatively simple questionnaires can be used. Computer-assisted self-interviewing (CASI) can overcome these problems. CASI can be part of a personal interview in which the interviewer hands the computer over to the respondent for specific questions. It also can be a computerized version of the disk-by-mail survey. The authors have used both forms with very special populations (primary school children, visually impaired young adults, and parents and children from multiproblem families, in which professional guidance for the family was sought). This article introduces CASI and reviews its advantages and disadvantages, giving special attention to data quality.
84 citations
TL;DR: The authors conducted interviews with tattoo artists and drug reform advocates, aiming to elicit from informants an array of interpretive standpoints, which they termed "good cop, bad cop" technique.
Abstract: The need to establish and maintain good rapport with interviewees is a methodological axiom supported by most social scientists. Some say we place unnecessary limits on data collection, however, when respondents' statements are simply accommodated. More innovative approaches are especially needed to account for varying roles and their narratives, as Goffman would have it, at different frontstage and backstage levels. Sociological focus on tolerable deviance—with emphasis on public deviance by those who promote wider tolerance through situated claims making—presents a research challenge of this nature. The interviews in this article with tattoo artists and drug reform advocates combine attention to rapport with more confrontational tactics, aiming to elicit from informants an array of interpretive standpoints. The authors term this technique “good cop, bad cop.”
50 citations
TL;DR: Ethno-Notes makes the process of writing, sharing, and analyzing field notes easier and more systematic, and is readily exportable to word-processing and other software for further analysis and integration into research papers.
Abstract: This report describes a field notes database management tool, EthnoNotes. Ethno Notes makes the process of writing, sharing, and analyzing field notes easier and more systematic. Text can be indexed, coded, and integrated with quantitative data or images, all accessed from the same database system. EthnoNotes can be used by individual researchers or be fully Internet-based, accessible online by teams collab orating in empirical studies. Field notes are easily entered on the Web, then are immediately accessible to other researchers for interpretation and analyses. Built on the FileMaker Pro relational database software, EthnoNotes addresses many practical tasks of multiuser, multisite projects. EthnoNotes text and quantitative data are readily exportable to word-processing and other software for further analysis and integration into research papers.
36 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue for ethnographers to attend to and wrestle with what they describe as relational spaces during all phases of the research by considering these relational spaces as objects of study in and of themselves.
Abstract: This article explores the perennial issue of social relations in ethnography. The authors argue for ethnographers to attend to and wrestle with what they describe as “relational spaces” during all phases of the research by considering these relational spaces as objects of study in and of themselves. De Certeau provided the theoretical foundation for their focus on the relational spaces of ethnography with his distinction between space and place. Using ethnographic essays from their own research with youth, the authors discuss how they engage with relational spaces, both intellectually and in practice, to deepen and build on Marcus's call for recognizing complicity in relation to multisited ethnography.
33 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors provide data on the amount of deforestation in a Tsimane' Amerindian village (Bolivia) and assess informant error by cross-checking three different assessments: (1) a direct physical measure by a research team of each plot cleared from the forest, (2) an estimate by the household head of the entire area cleared by his household during the year before the interview, and (3) an estimation by the plot owners of the area cleared of each plots he owns.
Abstract: To assess rates of deforestation, researchers typically use questionnaires. But do questionnaires provide accurate information about the extent of forest clearance by households? In this article, the authors provide data on the amount of deforestation in a Tsimane' Amerindian village (Bolivia) and assess informant error by cross-checking three different assessments: (1) a direct physical measure by a research team of each plot cleared from the forest, (2)an estimate by the household head of the entire area cleared by his household during the year before the interview, and (3)an estimate by the plot owners of the area cleared of each plot he owns. Results show a high correlation between direct measures and estimates of areas provided by informants; plot owners provided more accurate information than heads of households. Results suggest that asking Amerindians about the area of forest cleared will yield reliable estimates of deforestation.
30 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the use of the cultural consensus model to estimate individual informants' knowledge of cultural domains and found that individual informant competency scores correlated at highly variable levels.
Abstract: This article examines the use of the cultural consensus model to estimate individual informants’ knowledge of cultural domains. The author compares informants’ knowledge scores generated by the cultural consensus model derived from triad data and rating data with each other and with free list lengths in two closely related domains—brands of bicycles and the greatest cyclists of all time. Results indicate that individual informant competency scores correlated at highly variable levels (.11–.75). These results raise questions concerning the model’s validity related to individual informant competency scores. More research is needed concerning the range of domain consensus and interinformant variability in genuine knowledge that produces valid informant competency scores and the impact that different research instruments have on competency scores.
TL;DR: In this article, an audiotaped game-playing session with a six-year-old child is used to illustrate a typical session and analyze how it can establish common ground, shared meaning, and trust between an interviewer and an interviewee.
Abstract: In research on childhood loneliness, the predominant questions have been, What is children’s conception of loneliness? and How can it be measured? The question of how to approach children to talk about their subjective experiences of loneliness has not been adequately addressed. This article proposes a game-playing approach for initiating conversations with children about their experiences of loneliness. Excerpts from an audiotaped game-playing session with a six-year-old child are used to illustrate a typical session and analyze how it can establish common ground, shared meaning, and trust between an interviewer and an interviewee. The interview procedure provided a deeper understanding of the experiential aspects of childhood loneliness regarding lived space, lived other, lived body, and lived time. It also made it possible to distinguish the phenomenon of loneliness from the similar yet different experiences of aloneness, solitude, and boredom.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors describe a wide range of behaviors that do not conform to the rules defined by the rules of political action, and describe two types of behaviors: conventional and unconventional political action.
Abstract: Citizens usually participate in two ways in politics: conventional and unconventional political action. The latter type covers a wide range of behaviors that do not conform to the rules defined und...
TL;DR: In this paper, a method for constructing incomplete designs for paired comparisons data, using cyclic designs that place each item in the same number of pairings, has been described and tested using judged similarity data on twenty-one animal names and finds that designs that use 30% of the data have an acceptable level of reliability.
Abstract: The author describes a method for constructing incomplete designs for paired comparisons data, using cyclic designs that place each item in the same number of pairings. He tests the reliability of the method using judged similarity data on twenty-one animal names and finds that designs that use 30% of the data have an acceptable level of reliability. The method has great potential value in field research as a means of reducing the number of questions required.
TL;DR: A key means by which readers judge the validity of both qualitative and quantitative research findings is to consider how well these findings are supported by the sample from which they were drawn as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: A key means by which readers judge the validity of both qualitative and quantitative research findings is to consider how well these findings are supported by the sample from which they were drawn....
TL;DR: In this paper, a systematic approach to the study of transnational migration in the central valleys of Oaxaca, Mexico is presented, where it is shown that it is possible to model and score transnational outcomes for individual migrants and migrant households and understand variations in sending practices of local communities.
Abstract: This article reviews a systematic approach to the study of transnational migration in the central valleys of Oaxaca, Mexico. The authors argue that the investigation of transnational migration should be more than an exercise in labeling outcomes. They show that it is possible to model and score transnational outcomes for individual migrants and migrant households and understand variations in sending practices of local communities. They illustrate this point using data from the investigation of eleven communities in Oaxaca.
TL;DR: The authors argue that collaboration in on-site participant observation is a good idea for qualitative fieldwork, and that the ethnographic model of the single scholar in the field typically leads to a "single scholar" model.
Abstract: Social scientists who engage in qualitative fieldwork typically follow the ethnographic model of the single scholar in the field. We argue that collaboration in on-site participant observation is a...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors introduce a tool to document how households are affected by changes in variables such as composition, economics, politics, and the natural environment, providing a step-by-step methodology for documenting household composition and other changes a household may experience over time.
Abstract: Those who conduct applied field research cannot ignore the importance of the household as a unit of analysis. Academics and practitioners alike have written a great deal about the prominence of households around the world and throughout history. One of the difficulties often encountered with using the household as a unit of analysis is how best to compare households for the purpose of making relevant suggestions for how they might best reach their goals. This article introduces a tool to document how households are affected by changes in variables such as composition, economics, politics, and the natural environment. The article provides a step-by-step methodology for documenting household composition and other changes a household may experience over time. The methodology is then applied to a case study in which the benefits and drawbacks of this approach are discussed.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors show how Ragin et al. misstate VR's argument and go on to describe problems with their measurement of key variables (intervillage density, water location, collective action).
Abstract: Village Republics (VR) (Wade 1988) explains village-based collective action in terms of intravillage conflict rooted in ecological conditions. Ragin et al. (2003 [this issue]) say that VR's data point to intervillage conflict as the main driver—villagers organize themselves against incursions from people in other villages intent on stealing their resources. The authors show how Ragin et al. misstate VR's argument and go on to describe problems with their measurement of key variables (intervillage density, water location, collective action). The authors end with some thoughts about a more general problem with the quantitative comparative analysis method—it throws out confidence-affecting information that both qualitative case studies and quantitative statistical analyses would use.
TL;DR: From ethnographic observations and interviews, the author discovered that the concept of obligation was important in structuring power relationships in Chicago union locals and that relationships of reciprocity underlie the politics of unions and resistance to some programs from the international organization as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: From ethnographic observations and interviews, the author discovered that the concept of obligation was important in structuring power relationships in Chicago union locals. This was pivotal because relationships of reciprocity underlie the politics of union locals and resistance to some programs from the international organization. Here, the author discusses how he used paired comparisons to test ethnographically derived hypotheses about the salience of concepts of reciprocity and obligation to move beyond qualitative ethnographic intuition to measure cultural concepts and test hypotheses. In conclusion, he suggests that such approaches and methods can enlighten our understanding of reciprocity.
TL;DR: In this paper, a methodological analysis of anthropological research on child nutrition carried out during fifteen months in a small farming community in the southern Peruvian highlands is presented, based on the measurement of food intake of seventy-five people during three seasons for a total of more than six hundred meals.
Abstract: This article is a methodological analysis of anthropological research on child nutrition carried out during fifteen months in a small farming community in the southern Peruvian highlands. Based on the measurement of food intake of seventy-five people during three seasons for a total of more than six hundred meals, the author explains the various ways in which she adapted the weighed food record technique for measuring dietary intake to make it acceptable in this cultural context. She also shows how this method yielded ethnographic data on nonbiological dimensions of hunger in rural households that are concealed from sight of other community members. This analysis shows that the process of collecting quantitative data is itself a sociocultural process that illuminates the realities of people's lives. This article is intended to be useful for researchers, both seasoned and neophytes, who seek a detailed discussion of doing dietary assessment in the field.
TL;DR: This article describes a methodology, called the Product Attribute Characterization Technique (PACT), which is designed to elicit from informants information to group and describe products, and has been successfully tested in two product areas, PC software and telecommunications.
Abstract: This article describes a methodology, called the Product Attribute Characterization Technique (PACT), which is designed to elicit from informants information to group and describe products. The methodology was developed for use by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in price-indexing efforts. Informants are required to complete three tasks: provide a list of products that fall into the area of analysis, group these products on the basis of similarity, and compare and contrast pairs of products that fall into specific product clusters. The last task produces information that can be used to create detailed product descriptions, which, for example, can be used by the Bureau of Labor Statistics to develop product checklists, an essential tool in developing price indices. PACT has been successfully tested in two product areas, PC software and telecommunications. PACT’s implementation time needs to be shortened for its value to be fully realized.