Deck 13: Qualitative Understanding of Communication Behavior: Interviews, Focus Groups, and Ethnography

Question 1

In Dell Hymes's ethnography of communication, a communicative act is

A) the occasion when people talk ______.
B) the goals of the communication
C) the specific speech activity that takes place
D) smaller units of speech within a speech event

Answer 1

D

Question 2

In Dell Hymes's ethnography of communication, a speech event refers to ______.

A) occasions within a speech community when people talk
B) a specific speech activity that takes place in a speech situation
C) the setting where speech activities occur
D) styles of speech used in specific situations

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Which of the following is NOT a basic principle of ethnographic research?

A) conduct research primarily in natural settings
B) combine direct observation with interviews
C) operationalize constructs so they can be measured
D) focus on local, subjective knowledge and categories

Answer 3

C

Question 4

In a(n) ______ online focus group, members contribute in their own time.

A) asynchronous
B) synchronous
C) postsynchronous
D) unsynchronous

Question 5

Often, focus group members are selected to be ______.

A) demographically dissimilar
B) diverse in their opinions
C) representative of minority demographics
D) similar in their opinions

Question 6

Which of the following most accurately describes the researcher-researched relationship in unobtrusive measures research?

A) observer as participant
B) participant as observer
C) complete observer
D) semi-partial observer

Question 7

In unobtrusive measures research, people are informed that their behavior is being documented.

Question 8

Which of the following is NOT a unit of Hymes's SPEAKING model?

A) situation
B) participants
C) ends
D) intentions

Question 9

Which of the following is NOT an interview prompt?

A) what
B) whatever
C) who
D) when

Question 10

If quantitative methods are an experimental science in search of law, qualitative methods are a(n) ______ one in search of meaning.

A) objective
B) interpretive
C) controlled
D) invalid

Question 11

In a(n) ______ focus group, members interact with one another in "real time."

A) asynchronous
B) synchronous
C) postsynchronous
D) unsynchronous

Question 12

Which of the following is NOT an analytic unit of Hymes's ethnography of communication?

A) speech community
B) speech situation
C) speech event
D) speech intention

Question 13

In Dell Hymes's speaking model, key refers to the ______.

A) tone of speech
B) key idea in a speech
C) channels or methods used to communicate
D) rules governing speech and its interpretation

Question 14

Which of the following question types ask respondents to explain the relationships among the terms they use?

A) descriptive
B) structural
C) contrast
D) funnel

Question 15

Typically, focus group discussions are not recorded.

Question 16

Focus groups are basically the same as interviews.

Question 17

Which of the following is NOT one of the relationships between researcher and informants described by Gold?

A) complete observer
B) observer as participant
C) incomplete observer
D) participant as observer

Question 18

Which one of the following is essentially a qualitative method?

A) survey
B) experiment
C) interview
D) census

Question 19

In Dell Hymes's ethnography of communication, a speech community is ______.

A) a group of people who share common a language
B) the occasion when people talk
C) specific speech activities
D) the styles of speech used in specific situations

Question 20

Which of the following is an advantage of qualitative methods?

A) The researcher's presence may impact results.
B) They are always easier and quicker.
C) They can be easily generalized.
D) They often have higher "real-life" validity.

Question 21

Respondents are research participants defined as speaking only for themselves.

Question 22

An interviewer's personal characteristics will not affect how an interviewee responds to the interview.

Question 23

A researcher's dress, language, body language, vocabulary, status, and gender might all affect the outcome of the interview.

Question 24

Because the participants in an interview or discussion are typically selected judgmentally by the researcher, there can be questions about the validity of sampling.

Question 25

The variability of human behavior over time puts a question mark over the reliability of findings from qualitative methods research.

Question 26

Informants are research participants defined as being able to talk about others as well as about themselves.

Question 27

Qualitative data cannot be analyzed using computer software.

Question 28

Preconceived categories are essential for the analysis of qualitative data.

Question 29

Focus groups cannot be conducted online.

Question 30

A strength of focus groups is that researchers observe human communication in its natural settings.

Question 31

The reliability of focus group results can be answered by running a second focus group and comparing the results with those from the first group.

Question 32

Respondents are research participants defined as being able to talk about others as well as about themselves.

Question 33

Interviews generally consist of a series of questions asked by a researcher in order to elicit information he or she is interested in.

Question 34

The "constant comparative method" basically means testing new statements or ideas against categories and then reworking the categories as data analysis proceeds.

Question 35

Analytic notes are the notes an ethnographer writes to make sense of or interpret raw data and observations.

Question 36

The concept of "theory as grounded in data" means that a theory must be in place as a prerequisite to data analysis.

Question 37

Descriptive notes record the specific methods an ethnographer uses to gather data.

Question 38

The concept of "theory as grounded in data" means that a theory is expected to emerge as data analysis proceeds.

Question 39

The basis of most analyses of qualitative data is categorization.

Question 40

"Coding" typically means assigning units of information to a category.

Question 41

Explain with examples each of the following question types defined by James Spradley: descriptive questions, structural questions, and contrast questions.

Question 42

Explain the differences between unstructured, semi-structured, and structured interviews.

Question 43

Identify and discuss at least three recommendations you would make for running a successful focus group.

Question 44

What is a netnography?

Question 45

Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of interviewing research participants "on-site" versus in the researcher's office.

Question 46

Explain the importance of setting and sensitivities to successful interviews.

Question 47

Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of audio- or video-recording interviews.

Question 48

Identify and discuss at least two problems with the focus group method.

Question 49

Identify and discuss at least three important decisions that must precede research based on ethnographic approaches to human communication research.

Question 50

Conversation analysis is a method for analyzing how people negotiate rules for understanding.

Question 51

Typically, observational studies record and interpret individual and group behaviors in an experimental setting.

Question 52

Explain the similarities and differences between qualitative and quantitative research.

Question 53

Explain and discuss the reasons to use unobtrusive measures research.

Question 54

A disadvantage of qualitative research is that the reliability can be brought into question.

Question 55

Qualitative researchers look for relationships among phenomena.

Question 56

Qualitative studies can be observational without being ethnographies.

Question 57

Explain the difference between fixed and flexible coding.

Question 58

Explain the difference between informants and respondents.

Question 59

Name and describe the four relationships between researcher and informants identified by Gold.

Question 60

What are the advantages and disadvantages of online focus groups?