What is epistemology?
theory of knowledge, which determines what counts as valid or accepted knowledge, and therefore how do we go out about obtaining or producing that knowledge.
the study of being and is concerned with the state/nature of the world; with questions of what exists and what relationship exists between the world and our human understandings and interpretations of the world.
theory of how research proceeds, including consideration of such thing as methods, participants and the role of the researcher, ethics etc.
What is realism?
an ontological and epistemological position which assumes that the world has a true nature which is knowable and real, discovered through experience and research.
an epistemological position which assumes that the world has a true nature which is knowable and real, discovered through experience and research.
a theoretical position that holds that there are multiple, constructed realities, rather than a single, knowable reality.
a theoretical approach that assumes an ultimate reality, but claims that the way reality is experienced and interpreted is shaped by culture, language and political interests.
What is ontology?
What is methodology?
What is critical realism?
What is relativism?
What is positivism?
a theoretical framework for making sense of the world which assumes a world that exists independent of our ways of getting to know it, and that if we observe it properly, we can discover the reality of the world.
a theoretical framework which rejects a single ultimate truth; it sees the world as constructed through language, representation and other social processes.
What is social constructionism?
a theoretical approach informing some qualitative research, which assumes that meaning is related to the context in which it is produced.
What is contextualism?
Subjectivity refers to...
people’s sense of themselves; their way of being in, and relating to the world.
research not being influenced by personal feelings and beliefs.
a critical reflection on the research process
Reflexivity refers to...
a critical reflection on the research, both as process and as practice on one’s own role as researcher and on one’s relation to knowledge.
the analysis of results in relation to a wider literature search
What is purposive sampling ?
involves selecting participants or data on the basis that they will have certain characteristics or experience.
involves selecting participants randomly, whereby each member of a subset population has an equal chance of being selecting.
involves participants who self select into the survey.
What is triangulation?
using two or more data sources, methods, or researchers to try to gain a fuller or multi-faceted understanding of the topic.
the formation of or division into triangles.
the formation of a love triangle.
What is transferability?
the extent to which qualitative research results can be ‘transferred’ to other groups of people or contexts.
the extent to which qualitative research results can be 'transformed' to other groups of people or contexts.
the extent to which qualitative research results can be 'generalised' to other groups of people or contexts.
Coding refers to...
the process of examining data, identifying and noting aspects that relate to your research question; can be selective or complete.
the process of arranging themes to create a thematic map.
the process of making audio data available in textual form for analysis