Please check, just in case…

Announcements

• Next week is our last “regular” class session – guest speaker.

• Make an appointment to see me about the final assignment ASAP if needed.

• PLEASE get your final assignment in on time, as grades are due Friday, December 12.

APA Tip of the Day: Attributing action – third person

“Inappropriately or illogically attributing action in an effort to be objective can be misleading. Examples of undesirable attribution include use of the third person, anthropomorphism, and use of the editorial we” [emphasis added] (APA, 2010, p. 69).

• Use I or we instead of the author or the authors, when referring to yourself.

APA Tip of the Day: Attributing action – anthropomorphism

“Inappropriately or illogically attributing action in an effort to be objective can be misleading. Examples of undesirable attribution include use of the third person, anthropomorphism, and use of the editorial we” [emphasis added] (APA, 2010, p. 69).

“Do not attribute human characteristics to animals or to inanimate sources” (p. 69)

To avoid anthropomorphism, ask yourself – can X actually do Y?

“An experiment cannot attempt to demonstrate, control unwanted variables, or interpret findings, nor can tables or figures compare (all of these can, however, show or indicate). Use a pronoun or an appropriate noun as the subject of these verbs. I or we (meaning the author or authors) can replace the experiment” (APA, 2010, p. 69).

Questions, quandaries, or

concerns?

Today’s Topic:

Characteristics of non-positivist

research

Ethnography:

“writing about people”

(LeCompte & Preissle, 1993, p. 356)

(LeCompte & Preissle, 1993, p. 3)

“Ethnographers seek to construct descriptions of total phenomena within their various contexts and to generate from these descriptions the complex interrelationships of causes and consequences that affect human behavior toward and belief about the phenomena.”

Educational ethnography provides “rich, descriptive data about the contexts, activities, and beliefs of

participants in educational settings.”

(LeCompte & Preissle, 1993, p. 8)

Characteristics of “classical” educational

ethnographies:

A small, relatively homogeneous and geographically bounded study site.

Long-term and repeated residence of the researcher at the site.

The use of participant observation as the primary data collection method, supplemented other techniques.

Characteristics, cont.: Triangulation or corroboration of data via the

use of multiple data sources. Creation of a data base, consisting primarily of

field notes. A preoccupation with the interpretive

description and explanation of the culture, life ways, an social structure of the group under investigation.

Discourse Analysis Narrative AnalysisTextual Analysis

Almost any kind of ‘text’ can be analyzed. Your text can be oral, signed, non-verbal, written, graphic, visual, linguistic, or non-linguistic.

When analyzing text, your method of analysis stems from your research

question. Your research question comes from a particular theoretical grounding within a particular field

and should be referenced to the professional literature and pre-

existing research.

Possible Data Types

• Interviews• Newspaper articles• Radio & TV programs• Oral narratives• Written journals• Natural conversations

Possible Methods of Analysis

• Thematic analysis

• Ethnography of communication

• Conversation analyses (CA)

• Collaborative biography

• Speech act theory

Example: Thematic Analysis

• “Thematic analysis, first and foremost, is about searching for patterns in data” (Shank, 2002, p. 129).

• It is a process of inductive analysis, where the “findings emerge out of the data, through the analyst’s interactions with the data” (Patton, 2002, p. 453).

Steps in Developing and Conducting a Thematic Analysis:

1. Establish a system for how you are going to about doing the thematic analysis (i.e. different colored highlighters, index cards, computer program).

2. Read and re-read the text(s).

3. Identify “salient incidents” and make notes on initial reactions and ideas.

Steps in Thematic Analysis, cont.:

4. Begin to identify initial categories.

5. Refine your categories.

6. Code (and re-code) your data.

7. Obtain “consensual validation” (member checking).

8. Re-analyze data as needed, after the member check.

Break

Small Group Activity #1:

Complete the chart you began filling out last week, adding anything from this week’s assigned readings.

Report out:

So now, what do you understand some of the key differences to be between:

–Qualitative and quantitative research,–Hypothesis-driven and naturalistic

research, or–Research stemming from positivist

versus naturalistic paradigms?

Looking ahead…

Ethics in conducting research with

individuals with disabilities

Please take a minute for the minute paper.

And don’t forget to turn your phone back on.