Showing papers on "Qualitative research published in 1980"

The Case for Qualitative Research

Abstract: Debates regarding research methods in the social sciences are linked directly to assumptions about ontology, epistemology, and human nature. After reviewing a range of positions relating to these assumptions, we argue that the dichotomy between quantitative and qualitative methods is a rough and oversimplified one. Contemporary social science is dominated by commitments to research methods almost as ends in themselves, resulting in abstracted modes of empiricism based on both quantitative and qualitative methods. Qualitative research is an approach rather than a particular set of techniques, and its appropriateness derives from the nature of the social phenomena to be explored.

Roundsmanship: inherent control on a medical teaching ward.

Abstract: Instead of focusing on the “outcomes” of imposed regulatory mechanisms in medical settings, this article describes the operation of an inherent control mechanism—roundsmanship—that exists as a natural and emergent feature of medical work and instruction in teaching hospitals. Qualitative research findings used in this article are based on field observations of and interviews with medical staff in three teaching hospitals. The first section of the article examines the nature of roundsmanship. As a control mechanism, it is viewed by physicians in training as an academic game that approximates the use of tests in schools. The second section of the article examines the uses of roundsmanship to physicians in training. It is used to establish trust among peers on the ward, to control instruction by attending physicians, to control supervision by attending physicians, and to establish temporary status in a setting where competence and ability are unclear. Finally, implications of studying inherent control mechanisms for conventional thinking about supervision and regulation in medicine are reviewed.

Ethnomethodology and Grounded Theory Methodology: An Integration of Perspective and Method

Abstract: EDITOR'S NOTE: The following article is another in John M. Johnson's special symposium on qualitative research methods. The Marilyn Lester and Stuart Hadden article attempts to integrate selected a...

Nontraditional Mass Communication Research Methods: An Overview of Observational Case Studies of Media Use in Natural Settings

Abstract: This article discusses the advantages of qualitative research techniques for examining media-oriented behaviors in natural family settings. Focusing on methodological issues, the article deals with...

A study of mentally retarded persons: applied research in occupational therapy.

Abstract: An ongoing project is described in which qualitative research was undertaken to guide development of a service program for retarded adults. Several issues concerning the need for research, the type of research, and research methodology appropriate to occupational therapy are discussed. The research activity as well as some findings and supporting data is presented to illustrate how the investigation was conducted and what kinds of information it yielded. Two subsequent discussions focus on how the findings were used to guide program development and add substantive empirical support to occupational behavior theory.

Methods for analyzing fuel supply limitations on passenger travel

Abstract: Development and application of methods for analyzing the impacts of fuel supply limitations on passenger travel are described. The perspective of the project was medium to long range. Chapter Two describes the quantitative analyses. Specific items include definition of shortfall scenarios, description of the forecasting system, and applications of the system to shortfall scenarios. Chapter Three presents findings on qualitative analysis procedures, including further analyses of work and nonwork travel, household residential and employment location choices, analysis of activity levels and locations, and analysis of the distributional consequences of fuel supply limitations and subsequent policies. In Chapter Four, the findings in Chapters Two and Three are evaluated and procedures for applying the quantitative and qualitative methods are presented. Chapter Five presents conclusions and suggestions for future research.

Fieldwork in Schools: The Reciprocity of Bias

Abstract: This paper contains a plea for sociologists of education to utilise qualitative research methods, particularly fieldwork, in order to advance our understanding of the motives and meanings of actors in educational contexts. Some of the major problems of conducting fieldwork in schools—problems of time and working hours, conflicting research paradigms, interpersonal relations in institutional settings and financial and moral support—are discussed. Examples are drawn from the writer's research experience in three schools in Adelaide, South Australia and analysed within a conceptual framework which stresses the importance of the establishment and maintenance of inter-subjective understandings for the conduct of action-oriented research in schools. Some solutions to the problems of the reciprocal bias which too often exists between researchers and research subjects are proffered in the belief that fieldwork, as a method, provides a sound basis for overcoming such problems.