PGwT Workshop University of Salford 2nd December 2009

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PGwT WorkshopUniversity of Salford2nd December
2009
Teaching Qualitative Methods

• 
  Dr. Siobhan Hugh-Jones
• 
  Institute of Psychological Sciences
• 
  University of Leeds
• 
  s.hugh-jones_at_leeds.ac.uk

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Workshop Aims

• i) to identify what aspects of qualitative
  psychology are important for undergraduate
  students to understand
• to develop your skills in teaching interviewing
• to develop your skills in teaching IPA
• to be more aware of the ways in which the quality
  of student work can be progressed
• To introduce you to the Psychology Networks
  Qualitative Dataset
• Qualifier! Tricky to meet all needs given
  diversity in the time allocated to qualitative
  methods in UG curriculums and in the learning
  outcomes specified

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Group task 1

• You have 2 minutes to list what you consider to
  be the key principles / aspects of qualitative
  research methods which undergraduate students
  should know / think about.

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Qualitative Methods at Undergraduate Level

• BPS benchmarking statements
• include the acquisition and knowledge of a range
  of research skills and methods for investigating
  experience and behaviour, culminating in an
  ability to conduct research independently
• apply multiple perspectives to psychological
  issues, recognising that psychology involves a
  range of research methods, theories, evidence and
  applications
• carry out empirical studies involving a variety
  of methods of data collection, including
  experiments, observation, psychometric tests,
  questionnaires, interviews and field studies
• analyse data using both quantitative and
  qualitative methods
• 3

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(Personal) markers of high standard at UG level

• A flexible way of thinking about the ways in
  which knowledge can be produced in psychology
• A fit-for-purpose approach to judging the quality
  of differing research paradigms
• An appreciation of the variety of ways in which
  qualitative research methods can produce data
  (rather than collect it) and outcomes useful to
  psychology
• An understanding of the role of idiographic
  approaches in psychology and its attention to
  meaning and process rather than causality
• An awareness of the ways in which theory operates
  in qualitative studies
• A considered understanding of the role of the
  researcher (and interpretation) in qualitative
  methods
• A basic knowledge of how the issues of
  subjectivity, validity, reliability,
  generalisability etc. are managed in qualitative
  paradigms

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Most common starting point

• Students are most familiar with quantitative
  approaches and will naturally compare qualitative
  methods to these.
• Promote flexible thinking rather than an either/
  or approach.
• Some students seem to have real affinity with
  qualitative methods.
• Still be prepared for the obvious questions about
  control groups, validity etc.

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Example activities Activity 1 Subjectivity

• Many qualitative approaches in psychology are
  interested in peoples subjective experiences
  (i.e. what were things like for them? How did
  they experience an event / phenomenon?).
• However, using subjective accounts as research
  data is sometimes criticised by psychologists and
  others.
• Why do you think this is?
• Do you think subjective accounts have a value
  
• in psychological research?

Point is to get them to think about this
(probably for the first time). If they struggle
with accepting subjective data, could point to
survey / questionnaire data. Ask them to
consideration limitations as well as benefits.
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Example activities Activities 2 3 Research
Questions

• Research question
• we want qualitative work
• to focus on a defined aspect of a research topic
• to generate a manageable amount of data
• for use with an appropriate analytic method
• and to subsequently provoke a critical discussion
  of that research field.
• in other words, aim to say a lot about a little.

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Teaching about interviewing

• Point out interview society (Atkinson
  Silverman, 1997)
• Interviews are familiar, legitimate and (mostly)
  respected ways of generating information and
  understanding others.
• If you want to know how people understand their
  world and their lives, why not talk with them?
  (Kvale, 2009 p xvii).

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(No Transcript)
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Teaching about interviewing

• Point out interview society (Atkinson
  Silverman, 1997)
• Interviews are familiar, legitimate and (mostly)
  respected ways of generating information and
  understanding others.
• If you want to know how people understand their
  world and their lives, why not talk with them?
  (Kvale, 2009 p xvii).
• Activity 4 research interview vs. media
  interview
• different types and procedures of qualitative
  interviews, for example
• structured
• unstructured
• semi-structured
• dilemma interview
• feminist interview
• biographical interview
• free association narrative interview
• narrative interview
• life story interview
• Activity 5 list pros and cons of structured vs
  unstructured interviews

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Experiencing interviewing Activity 6

• Being interviewed
• Person A interviews person B with the interview
  schedule A for 2 minutes.
• Person B interviews person A with the interview
  schedule B for 2 minutes.
• Report on what it felt to be the interview / the
  interviewee.
• Hopefully they notice things such as
• Feeling there is a right answer
• Wanting to please the interviewer
• Finding it hard to remember
• Knowing when to ask a question
• Listening to interviewee without being distracted
• Trying not to lead the interviewee

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Interview schedules Activity 7

• If you wanted to understand the how undecided
  voters made a decision to vote Tory or Labour in
  the last election, what would you ask them?
• If you wanted to understand how comedians
  conceptualise comedy, what would you ask them?
• If you wanted to know how older women make
  decisions about genetic testing, what would you
  ask them?
• Can provoke discussions around how difficult it
  is to devise questions that are both helpful to
  the interviewer and helpful to the interviewee.
• Interview schedules Activity 8-10
• closed vs open questions
• spotting good questions
• prompts

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Key conceptual points in teaching about interviews

• The interview is not a just type of data, nor
  even a way of collecting it (as Holliday, 2002
  suggests) but rather a way of generating it
  (manufacturing it, Rapley 2004)
• a professional conversation where knowledge is
  produced in inter-action (Kvale Brinkmann,
  2009)
• can treat the interview itself as an
  observational site.
• This distinction between collection / generating
  data is important
• remaining aware that the way a person speaks is
  an artefact of the interview is important when it
  comes to analysing it and making claims about it.
  
• the entire research enterprise influences the
  nature of data collected / generated
• Do people think there is an agenda? Do they have
  one?
• Conceptual thinking Activity 11 Do you think
  people tell the truth in interviews? Any speaker
  has at their disposal options to speak about
  things, truthfully, in many different ways.
  Consider talk about ASBOs.

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Key conceptual points in teaching about
interviews ontology epistemology

• Different types of qualitative interviews have
  their own philosophical assumptions concerning
• what can be known?
• can we know what people really think, feel, know,
  believe etc.?
• is there a truth / objective reality to be
  known?
• how we should produce knowledge?
• remaining sensitive to the context in which it
  was produced
• based on differing conceptualisations of the
  relationship between language, cognition and
  reality?
• Is there a direct link between what happened,
  what one thinks about it and what one says in an
  interview about it?

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Diana-Bashir Interview (1995)

• BASHIR At this early stage, would you say that
  you were happily married?
• DIANA Very much so. But, the pressure on us both
  as a couple with the media was phenomenal, and
  misunderstood by a great many people. We'd be
  going round Australia, for instance, and all you
  could hear was, oh, she's on the other side. Now,
  if you're a man, like my husband a proud man, you
  mind about that if you hear it every day for four
  weeks. And you feel low about it, instead of
  feeling happy and sharing it.
• BASHIR When you say she's on the other side',
  what do you mean?
• DIANA Well, they weren't on the right side to
  wave at me or to touch me.
• BASHIR So they were expressing a preference even
  then for you rather than your husband?
• DIANA Yes - which I felt very uncomfortable
  with, and I felt it was unfair, because I wanted
  to share.
• BASHIR But were you flattered by the media
  attention particularly?
• DIANA No, not particularly, because with the
  media attention came a lot of jealousy, a great
  deal of complicated situations arose because of
  that.

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Exploring epistemology / ontology Activity 12

• Are the interview questions in this extract any
  good?
• What examples are there in this extract of
  co-construction of data?
• Consider how alternative questioning might have
  delivered a different response.
• Does this mean that the interview lacks validity?

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Theoretical positions on interview data
Data as time and context bound social
interaction
Data as a factual verifiable record
Between these two positions, one may consider
that what respondents say does have some
significance and reality for them beyond the
bounds of this particular occasion, that is
part of their ongoing self-story and represents a
manifestation of their psychological worlds, and
it is this psychological reality that one is
interested in (Smith, 1995, p10).
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Metaphors for interviewing

• 1.opening up interviewees head and accessing the
  knowledge inside it
• job of researcher to extricate information from
  interviewee who was reluctant, or unable, to hand
  it over.
• 2. have moved away from this basic model to new
  active (collaborative) model
• focus on allowing participants to speak for
  themselves and formulate own account (Gubrium
  Holstein, 2002)
• The aim is interpretation and understanding of
  how and why, not 'fact-finding' (Warren, 1988).

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Subjective Experience / Psychological world
Events
Representation
Need sensitivity to interactional context
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Exploring epistemology / ontology Activity 13

• What does this all mean for the kinds of claims
  psychologists can make when they have based their
  research on semi-structured, qualitative
  interviews?

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TQRMUL Dataset

• http//www.psychology.heacademy.ac.uk/Webdocs_not_
  nof/tqrmul/dataset/
• Collected for teaching purposes participants
  fully informed.
• On topic of friendship
• Have two types of transcripts available
  Jeffersonian and playscript we are using the
  latter.
• Can never be a mirror image of the interview
  bound to lose some aspects of the interaction.
• Type of transcription depends on what you want
  to do with the data.
• Should be verbatim, or near verbatim.

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Workshop Part 2 Teaching IPA

• What are the key features of IPA that we would
  want students to grasp?
• What do you think they struggle with the most?

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Workshop Part 2 grasping meaning-making

• People are self-interpreting beings (Taylor,
  1985)
• Interpretative activity - sense-making is
  central to human experience action.

Eva
Early on at University, I met this guy and we
seemed to just hit it off straight way laughing
a lot and finding it so easy to be with each
other. Over dinner one evening, I really felt
that he was interested in me but I began to feel
that I was putting on a bit of an act. I know I
started to withdraw a bit, as I was annoyed at
myself, and though he had probably not seen the
best of me. Out the walk home, I decided to tell
me why I had gone a bit quiet as I really wanted
to keep this openness between us.
I went to University. I met a man. We went out to
a restaurant. We ate our dinner. We went home.
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IPA as a tool

• IPA is a newly developed, and continually
  developing, methodological tool to analyse
  meaning-making
• founded by Jonathan Smith (1997 In N. Hayes
  Doing Qualitative Research in Psychology)
• Central concern is with
• the uniqueness of a persons experiences
• how they are made meaningful
• how these meanings manifest themselves

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IPA grasping theoretical underpinnings

• Principle of Phenomenology (Husserl, 1859-1938)
• challenges notion of absolute truth / the
  reality
• Does redness mean the same thing to you as it
  does to me?
• Did the dinner mean the same thing to Eva as it
  did to her date?
• valid knowledge and understanding can be gained
  from peoples descriptions of how the world is to
  them
• measurement of external, observable behaviour is
  not the only means to understand human behaviour

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IPA grasping theoretical underpinnings

• Hermeneutic inquiry
• Hermeneutics development and study of theories
  of the interpretation and understanding of texts
• IPAs aim is achieved through interpretative
  activity on the part of the researcher
• Researcher aims to assume an insider perspective
  (Conrad, 1987) to stand in the shoes of the
  participant
• Double hermeneutic (dual interpretation process)
• Access to the participants experience depends
  on, is complicated by, the researchers own
  conceptions
• But interpretative activity is necessary in order
  to make sense of others personal worlds
• the participants are tying to make sense of
  their world the researcher is trying to make
  sense of the participants trying to make sense of
  their world.
• (Smith Osborn, 2003 51)
• Research is a dynamic process the researcher
  plays an active role.

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IPA grasping double hermeneutic
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IPA grasping idiographic approach

• Idiography
• Focusing on the particular rather than the
  universal
• Idiographic studies work at the individual level
  to make specific statements about those
  individuals
• The alternative - nomothetic studies - work at
  the group/population level to make probabilistic
  claims/predictions
• NOT either/or, rather we argue for (a)the
  intensive examination of the individual in her or
  his own right as an intrinsic part of
  psychologys remit, and (b) that the logical
  route to universal laws structures is an
  idiographic-nomothetic one
• (Harré, 1979 cited in Smith Eatough, 2006
  326)

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IPA the analytic stage Key
Points

• researcher as active in making sense of the data
• purpose of the analysis to make sense of the
  data in a meaningful way that addresses the
  research question (not trying to just generate a
  summary of what they said)
• the researcher keeps moving between text and
  theme development
• your interpretation must fit with the data, i.e.
  someone else could audit your analysis and should
  be able to confirm your evidence for themes
• analysing the individuals account, not analysing
  the person
• i.e. not about claiming the individual said what
  they did because they had an awful childhood, are
  neurotic, greedy, in denial or full of themselves

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Stages of IPA (see Willig, 2001, p 54)

• Stage 1 read and re-read transcript
• in left-hand margin, note your initial
  observations / thoughts about the data. Could
  include associations, questions, comments on
  language use, absences, descriptive labels etc.
  Often terms open coding
• Stage 2 identify and label themes that
  characterise each section of text
• these should be conceptual, should capture
  something about the essential quality of what was
  said, can use psychological terminology
• Stage 3 relationship between themes
• list themes and consider if any are related.
  Some will form natural clusters, since they share
  the same elements. If clusters can be formed,
  group them, and give a Cluster Label that
  captures their essence.
• Stage 4 Produce summary table of clusters and
  themes, with quotes and line numbers etc.

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Stage 1 Open coding what do you notice?

• Sure of degree or this place?
• Getting swept along
• Idea of the system
• sense of loss?

• Ive never really been sure of coming to
  Universitywell, I mean, Ive never been sure if
  it was what I really wanted but
• I guess it kind of just happened. I filled in the
  forms at the right time, did what everyone else
  was doing, and here I am. I guess there is
• some comfort in doing the same as lots of people,
  but I dont know if Ive done this for me really.

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Stage 2 How to be conceptual

• Move beyond description of the text, or
  paraphrasing of it.
• Ask yourself, what is this text referring to?
• What is the participant really getting at, or
  really trying to convey?
• Attempt to capture more concisely the
  psychological quality inherent in the extract
  can use psychological terminology here
• Caution is essential so that the connection
  between the participants own words and the
  researchers interpretation is not lost.

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Parallels with film reviewing

• Description of film
• Two main characters, both trying to figure out
  how to cheat casino
• One guy uses big group of hustlers
• Another guy relies on himself
• End up having to rely on each other, and share
  the pay out

• Thematic Analysis
• Greed amongst powerless
• Self-reliance vs. need
• Vulnerability

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Stage 2 Generating themes

• Possible themes?
• me
• Wants
• Conforming
• Need for comfort
• Uncertainty me

• Ive never really been sure of coming to
  Universitywell, I mean, Ive never been sure if
  it was what I really wanted but
• I guess it kind of just happened. I filled in the
  forms at the right time, did what everyone else
  was doing, and here I am. I guess there is
• some comfort in doing the same as lots of people,
  but I dont know if Ive done this for me really.

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Stage 3 Introduce structure relationships
between themes

• look for ways in which themes may be grouped
• this may not be possible from just one transcript
  (but is essential when conducting larger scale
  studies)
• between 2 and 5 themes could meaningfully form a
  cluster

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Stage 3 Introduce structure relationships
between themes

• Cluster Real vs. Supposed me
• Theme 1 Real me
• I just dont know if this is right for me for
  the kind of person I am (Line 143)
• Theme 2 Perceived me
• I guess everyone just thought Id fit in at Uni,
  that Id do well. (Line 64)
• Theme 3 Managing discrepancy
• At times, I can convince myself I fit. Other
  times, I get angry and want to rebel.

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Stage 4 Write-up (good practice)

• Cluster Real vs. Supposed
• This cluster represents reported experiences
  around a perceived real self, and one that is
  perceived by others. The participant often
  referenced the subjective self (i.e. me) and used
  this as a way to judge the suitability of her
  choices. Three theme have been placed within this
  cluster, Real vs. Supposed Me, Perceived Me
  and Managing Discrepancy

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Stage 4 Write-up (good practice)

• Theme 1 Real me
• I just dont know if this is right for me
  for the kind of person I am (Line 143)
• The participant spoke of her University choice in
  terms of a fit with her self. She referred to
  herself a as particular kind of person,
  suggesting a view of her self which was static,
  complete and able to drive her choices.
• I am the sort of person who likes to
  know whats happening, you know. Im also
• quite keen to hear others views
• Im quite a reflective person
• Much of her account centered around a theme of
  uncertainty, most
• prominent in terms of her choice of career.
• quote
• quote

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Stage 4 Write-up (bad practice)

• Theme 1 Real me
• I just dont know if this is right for me
  for the kind of person I am (Line 143)
• The participant did not know what she wanted
  to do. She could not decide whether University
  was right for her. She may have been worrying
  about what others thought of her, or maybe she
  thought she would not enjoy University. She might
  also have been thinking she was too intelligent
  for the place, as she seemed quite aloof in the
  interview.

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From analysis section of Dickson et al (2007)

• There is no doubt that the most frequently
  reported experience with the GP
• was a contested diagnosis between CFS and
  depression. The participants
• reported a sense of being in tune with their
  own bodies, and having a strong
• sense of insight into their own health. This
  allowed them the knowledge that they
• were definitely not suffering from depression or
  indeed any other medical
• condition but were suffering from CFS. The
  participants often had a strong sense
• of the truth of their own self-diagnosis with
  CFS. This personal understanding
• of their condition fuelled negotiations with the
  GP. Thomas presents a typical
• account of such contested diagnoses
• He GP goes Oh, it sounds like youve got
  depression, he says these are the symptoms of
• depression, I said No theyre not, I said
  some of the symptoms of depression yeah, Im
  not
• sleeping! And all these kinda but I said Its
  not depression, I know my own body and I know
• how Im feeling and I know this is not
  depression. He goes Well, depression can
  manifest
• itself in different ways and he goes, and he
  kind of irritated me because what he said was
  Oh,
• eh, the, kind of, the medical world is just a cop
  out what they call things like this CFS and eh,
• what was it? and irritable bowel he said
  Its just a cop out on their part, basically
  its just an
• excuse cause they

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Challenges in doing IPA

• What do / did you feel unsure about in doing this
  analysis?
• What do you find difficult?
• What do you get?

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Evaluating qualitative studies

• Criteria such as validity and reliability rest on
  assumptions of objectivity and aim to reduce bias
  (Lyons Coyle, 2007).
• But qualitative methods acknowledge context and
  role of researcher in production of knowledge.
• Some qualitative researchers reject these
  criteria, whilst others work with them in
  tailored ways.
• e.g. Validity the extent to which our research
  method describes, measures or explains what it
  purports to describe, measure or explain.
• interview data has high ecological validity.
• reflexivity, transparency and triangulation to
  promote validity.
• e.g. Reliability not applicable given is time
  and context bound.

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Evaluating qualitative studies

• Henwood Pidgeon (1992) 7 attributes of good
  qualitative research
• Elliott et al. (1999) Evaluation criteria
• Madill et al. (2000) epistemological stances
  necessitating tailored evaluation criteria
• See Willig (2001) Chapter 9 useful for students.

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Useful resources

• Interviews
• Gubrium, J.F. Holstein, J.A. (2001) Handbook of
  interview research. London Sage.
• Hermans, H. (2004) Interviewing as an activity.
  In U. Flick, E. von Kardoff and I. Steinke (2004)
  A companion to qualitative research. pp 209-221
• Kvale, S. (1996) Interviews an introduction to
  qualitative research interviewing. London Sage.
• Kvale, S. and Brinkmann, S. (2009) InterViews
  learning the craft of qualitative interviewing,
  London Sage.
• Quality control in interview-based research
• Smith, J. (2003) Qualitative Psychology. See
  Chapter 11
• Willig, C. (2001) Introducing Qualitative
  Research in Psychology. See Chapter 9.

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Useful resources - IPA

• Larkin, M., Watts, S and Clifton, E. (2006).
  Giving voice and making sense in interpretative
  phenomenological analysis
• Michell, J. (2004). The place of qualitative
  research in psychology. Qualitative Research in
  Psychology, 1, 307319.
• Smith, J.A. (2004). Reflecting on the development
  of interpretative phenomenological analysis and
  its contribution to qualitative research in
  psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology,
  1, 39-54
• Wilig, C. (2001) Introducing Qualitative Research
  in Psychology adventures in theory and method.
  Buckingham Open University Press.

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Useful resources - papers using IPA

• Lavie, M. Willig, C. (2005) "I Don't Feel Like
  Melting Butter" An Interpretative
  Phenomenological Analysis of the Experience of
  'Inorgasmia'. Psychology Health. Vol 20(1),
  115-128.
• Parke, A. Griffiths, M. (2005). Aggressive
  Behaviour in Adult Slot Machine Gamblers An
  Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Journal
  of Community Applied Social Psychology. Vol
  15(4), 255-272.
• Smith, J.A. Osborn, M. (2007) Pain as an
  assault on the self. Psychology and Health, 22
  (5), 517-534.

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Useful resources - papers using IPA

• Eatough, V. Smith, J. (2006). I was like a
  wild wild person understanding feelings of
  anger using IPA. British Journal of Psychology,
  97, 483-498.
• Dickson, A., Knussen, C. and Flowers, P. (20070.
  Stigma and the delegitimation experience an
  interpretative phenomenological analysis of pole
  living with chronic fatigue syndrome. Psychology
  Health, 22 (7), 851-867.
• Howes, H., Benton, D. Edwards, S. (2005).
  Women's Experience of Brain Injury An
  Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis.
  Psychology Health. Vol 20(1), 129-142