{

Pre-Release Material Review

Hauari & Hollingworth: Understanding fathering: Masculinity, diversity and change

Reliability Validity Positivism Interpretivism Representativeness Validity Sample Generalisability Quantitative/Qualitative

Key Concepts Check

The extent to which a method/procedure produces similar results under constant conditions (or on all occasions).To maximise reliability, a method should: Be tightly structured Be used consistently

Reliability

The extent to which a method measures or describes what it is supposed to. Does it give the ‘true picture’ of what is being studied?To maximise validity, a method should: Be flexibly structured to suit the

respondent Be able to check the truth of responses Avoid influencing the respondent during

research

Validity

Representativeness: The extent to which the individual/group being studied is typical of the target population (e.g. is it large enough? Diverse enough? How was it gathered?)Generalisability: If the individual/group is typical, then you can make generalisations from the results (you can apply the results to the target population).

Representativeness/Generalisability

1. What were the aims of the study?2. What methods were used?3. How representative were the sample?4. For each method: Issues with

reliability?5. For each method: Issues with validity?6. What practical/ethical issues

were/might have been faced?7. What were the findings of the study?

Read through the case study…

Their hypothesis was that Britain is in the process of a parenting revolution.In particular, the role of father is being transformed to a more multi-dimensional role due to growing expectations on fathers.

The aim was to gain an understanding of what ‘being a father’ meant to parents and children in deprived areas.

1. The Aims

Semi-structured Interviews Time Diaries

This is a mixed-method, qualitative approach – suggesting the researchers are from an interpretivist perspective.

Mixed methods are used for either/both methodological pluralism (building a more detailed picture of the lives of respondents) or triangulation (cross-referencing data from more than one method - usually quantitative and qualitative).

Line 41 suggests the use of triangulation (one method – the time diaries – being used to check the validity of the other – the interviews).

2. The Methods

Purposive sampling from a sampling frame (they picked the families that best matched the criteria…could be biased?)

Sample is relatively small (29 families) which may make it difficult to generalise.

Diverse range of ethnic groups and regions, but tended to pick only 1 ethnic group per region (again, difficult to generalise…)

Limited to 2-parent families and children of particular age-range (data cannot be generalised to more diverse family types).

3. Representativeness

Semi-structured interviews lack reliability as they have flexibility in question order and depth of response requested (although more reliable than unstructured interviews).

Time Diaries lack reliability as a person’s life is rarely repeated week-by-week, especially children and especially during school holidays and weekends (when some of the diaries were kept).

4. Reliability

People lie… Social desirability: People say what they think the

interviewer wants to hear or what they think is the ‘right’ thing to say (e.g. fathers want to sound like good fathers)

Interviewer Effect: The presence of the interviewer can impact participants…

In the interviews with children, was a parent/guardian present? If so, this would have effected responses…

The interviews were cross-referenced with the time diaries to help check validity.

5. Validity: Semi-Structured Interviews

People can lie… People can omit things that make them look

bad and extend/exaggerate things that make them look good…

…Reliant on memory (diaries probably completed at the end of each day) and estimation (‘guessing’ how much time spent on each task).

The main purpose of the diaries seems to be a tool to help ensure greater validity of

the interviews

5. Validity: Time Diaries

Interviews and time-diaries are time-consuming (time limits on them can help with this).

Requires a time-commitment from respondents. Data from mixed methods research can be more

difficult to interpret than if a single method was used

Because the sample was based in different areas, researchers may have need to travel and carefully co-ordinate time…all this costs money.

6a. Practical Issues

The use of children in the research raised ethical issues. Children were being asked about their relationships with their parents…making them consider these things could have had a lasting effect. Questions would need to be carefully phrased.

Confidentiality; Informed Consent etc.

To what extent might cultural differences between groups in the sample have effected the results? Were these considered?

6b. Ethical Issues

The findings were: All fathers were expected to be involved in

raising the children Fathers retained a traditional disciplinary role Emphasis was placed on fathers ‘being there’

for their children and spending ‘quality time’ with them.

Do the findings match the aims? Were there other ways the researchers could have achieved

the same (or better) outcome?

7. The Findings

Using the pre-release material and your wider sociological knowledge,

outline and evaluate the use of mixed methods in studying the role of fathers

[52]

Task