Deck 9: Trust the Process: Analyzing Qualitative Data

Question 1

In the context of conducting research, "trust the process" is a reminder ________.

A) that being a qualitative researcher means believing in causal linkages in data
B) that if qualitative research does not work, quantitative work can always be conducted to "save the project"
C) to keep observing and interviewing until the point of empirical saturation
D) to researchers to have faith that there are important themes in their data and that they will have the insight and skill to find these themes

Answer 1

to researchers to have faith that there are important themes in their data and that they will have the insight and skill to find these themes

Question 2

According to the textbook, coding data ________.

A) refers to separating relevant from irrelevant data and deleting the latter
B) is one of the "routine activities" that are part of the data analysis process
C) is best left to the very end of the research and ideally done by specialists
D) is done in very specific ways predetermined ways to predict results more easily

Answer 2

is one of the "routine activities" that are part of the data analysis process

Question 3

Ellie is a novice researcher conducting research as part of a qualitative class project. Her chosen research objective is to understand why university students join social clubs on campus. Throughout the process Ellie has often stopped to examine how her own experiences as a university student who belongs to social clubs may have influenced the research design and findings. Ellie is engaging in ________.

A) active analysis
B) knowing your role
C) reflexivity
D) introspection

Answer 3

reflexivity

Question 4

The author of the textbook mentions how comments from friends and colleagues ("Widowers remarry too soon" and "They do not know how to cook or do housework") ultimately helped her frame her research question. This example demonstrates the importance of ________.

A) epiphanies
B) memos
C) seeking outside opinion
D) reaching points of saturation

Question 5

Howard Becker suggests an approach to understanding data, which is summarized as ________.

A) finding a question in the data
B) categorical coding
C) "reading yourself" into the interview
D) qualitative discovery

Question 6

Open coding involves a process whereby researchers ________.

A) discard pieces of data that do not "fit"
B) label sub-categories of larger themes in their work
C) openly discuss the data with the respondents
D) label the themes they find in transcripts or field notes

Question 7

According to Sharon Kaufman, the theme of an interview is ________.

A) the main line of questioning one takes into the interview
B) a topic or issue that comes up over and over again
C) the most important point that is made, however brief
D) the topics or issues that are located only within latent content

Question 8

The textbook author's examples regarding widows who are learning to drive alone, learning to live alone, and learning to do new things are examples of ________.

A) focused coding
B) categorical coding
C) open coding
D) finding the question in the data

Question 9

A story in Western cultures has all of the following characteristics except ________.

A) it is usually purposeful
B) it has a moral that addresses the issue at hand
C) the teller wants the listener to understand the moral
D) it is linear

Question 10

Tales that people like to tell about themselves or situations that they like to narrate are known as ________.

A) "I" stories
B) signature stories
C) parables of the self
D) stories of "best impression"

Question 11

Sensitizing concepts ________.

A) help the researcher understand their participants' world views
B) are ways of understanding varying degrees of "sociability" among research participants
C) allow research endeavours to remain grounded through a process of "theory checking"
D) enable a respondent to speak candidly about sensitive or personal topics

Question 12

________ first articulated sensitizing concepts as "holding pens."

A) Erving Goffman
B) W.I. Thomas
C) Howard Becker
D) Herbert Blumer

Question 13

The textbook notes that Arlie R. Hochschild's work on flight attendants that developed the concept(s) of ________ was helpful in understanding widows' efforts to ________.

A) civil inattention; learn new things
B) baby talk; naturalize into the group
C) emotion work/feeling rules; keep up appearances
D) working self/definition of the situation; adapt and survive

Question 14

Karen March used Glaser and Strauss's work on dying patients' knowledge of their terminal status in her own research to understand ________.

A) the situation of adoptees who attempted to control stigma associated with being adopted
B) how youth engage in gendered behaviour
C) how tattoo artists legitimate their career choice
D) how race categories play a role in political advertisements

Question 15

One important way a researcher can make connections between themes and concepts is to interpret them in light of ________.

A) social processes
B) statistical significance
C) institutional "truths"
D) "so what" questions

Question 16

To find previously-identified sensitizing concepts that help the researcher understand the situation of her participants, she should ________.

A) engage in qualitative research methods chat groups online
B) consult the literature
C) talk to friends and colleagues
D) combine open coding with closed coding

Question 17

In analyzing students' approaches to exams, Albas and Albas identified the concept of magic and then observed how magic fits into ________.

A) dealing with feeling overwhelmed
B) stress management
C) the social process of dealing with uncertainty
D) the social process of dealing with lack of studying

Question 18

According to Antony J. Puddephatt's work on amateur chess players, how players mask their intentions and fears and keep their attack plans veiled is through ________.

A) poker face
B) self-preservation
C) impression management
D) image work

Question 19

In her research on a group of religious refugees in Canada, van den Hoonaard says she problematized the issue of racism because ________.

A) she knew that some of them must have experienced it although none of them discussed it in the interviews
B) participants mentioned it over and over again
C) related research showed it is an important one
D) all immigrants experience it

Question 20

Open coding is a process closely associated with ________.

A) discourse analysis
B) grounded theory
C) sensitizing concepts
D) generic social processes

Question 21

________ sees language as a social practice that constitutes social life.

A) Frame analysis
B) Postmodernism
C) Discourse analysis
D) Network analysis

Question 22

All of the following are ways that stories are dissected through narrative analysis except ________.

A) the ways in which tellers structure the story
B) the verbal and non-verbal cues the teller chooses
C) the social context or narrative environment in which the stories develop
D) the identity of the audience

Question 23

When it comes to analyzing your data, you should always begin with predetermined concepts, hypotheses, and a theoretical framework.

Question 24

Grounded theory is an approach where the researcher bases his or her data collection on a clear theoretical framework, which then allows for theory testing.

Question 25

The primary goal of qualitative research is to find the hidden meaning in everyday experiences.

Question 26

Tales that people like to tell about themselves or situations that they like to narrate are referred to as "signature stories" and contribute to the process of "impression management."

Question 27

Civil inattention, as defined by Erving Goffman, is an excellent example of a generalizable sensitizing concept that may be used as a tool in the work of other researchers.

Question 28

Discovering sensitizing concepts in existing literature is so important to the qualitative process that every attempt should be made to utilize them in your own research.

Question 29

There is research showing that they produce incorrect results in qualitative analysis.

Question 30

Van den Hoonaard does her research from a symbolic interactionist perspective.

Question 31

In his study of interactions within a community of amateur chess players, Antony J. Puddephatt concluded that players had developed unique individualized approaches to the generic social process of performing activities.

Question 32

The approaches taken to code interview transcripts, on the one hand, and to code field notes, on the other, could not be more different from each other.

Question 33

Michel Foucault would argue that the way we talk about phenomena and define them is controlled by powerful components of society.

Question 34

Indigenous cultures have a more collective outlook than Western cultures on what it means to be a human being.

Question 35

The author of the textbook argues against using data software to "unpack" data. Briefly outline her main arguments.

Question 36

Summarize Andrea Doucet's process of reading her transcriptions and summarize each stage in terms of its importance on her understanding of the research.

Question 37

Define the concept of problematization in data analysis and use an example from this chapter to highlight how it may help to enhance a researcher's understanding.

Question 38

Choose either the story about the "money grabber" or the "challenge of the VCR" discussed in the analysis chapter of your textbook. Briefly outline the details of this story and identify what important concept it demonstrates.

Question 39

Assess which issue regarding research ethics is the most important when it comes to analyzing data.

Question 40

Outline what the author of the textbook learned through her use of narrative analysis as it relates to the stories widows told about their husbands' deaths.

Question 41

Define "sensitizing concept." Using examples from the text as your main body of evidence, write a compelling argument for or against the following statement: "Sensitizing concepts are useful tools in research."

Question 42

Using examples from the text, argue for or against the following statement: "Using generic social processes in the analysis of your own work is fruitless."

Question 43

Collect all paper issues of a daily newspaper during a period of one week, Monday through Sunday. If you do not know anyone who has a subscription, you can get them from a local public library or the university library. Your essay is essentially a shortened research report that answers the following question: "What were the most important events in the week of [month, day] to [month, day] as reported in [the newspaper]? You need to read the paper front to back. Focus on news stories only. Follow the coding procedures discussed in this chapter. Be sure to discuss how you proceeded and why and what conclusions you drew and why. For example, why do you believe event X was the most important of the week? Or, why did you find it difficult to come up with a particular list (of the top five important events)? Alternatively, students can be asked to focus on local advertisements, obituaries, classifieds, etc.