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Qualitative research: another way of knowledge production

in environmental psychology

Dr. Esther Wiesenfeld Institute of Psychology

Central University of Venezuela

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OBJETIVE OF THE WORKSHOP:

•PRESENT SOME BASIC NOTIONS, ASSUMPTIONS,

CHARACTERISTICS AND DESIGN COMPONENTS OF QR

• ILLUSTRATE THEM WITH AN EXAMPLE OF A QR RESEARCH

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ONTOLOGY: WHAT IS THE NATURE OF THE “KNOWAVLE”? OR, WHAT

IS THE NATURE OF “REALITY”?

EPISTEMOLOGY: WHAT IS THE NATURE OF THE RELATIONSHIP

BETWEEN THE KNOWER (THE INQUIRER) AND THE KNOW (OR

KNOWABLE)?

METHODOLOGY: HOW SHOULD THE INQUIRER GO ABOUT FINDING

OUT KNOWLEDGE?

PARADIGM DIMENSIONS

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Item Positivism Constructivism

Ontology Naïve realism- “real” reality but apprehendable

Relativism – local and specific constructed realities

Epistemology Dualist/objetivist; findings true Transactional/ subjectivist; created findings

Methodology Experimental/ manipulative; verification of hypotheses; chiefly quantitative methods

Hermeneútical/ dialectical

BASIC BELIEFS OF ALTERNATIVE INQUIRY PARADIGMS

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CHARACTERISTICS OF SC

1. Denies objectivity of psychological theories.

2. Rejects existence of external reality, independent of our mode of

accessing it

3. Rejects objectivity as a privileged way for studying reality

4. Acknowledges that experience is richer than words

5. Holistic approach to phenomena

6. Admits ambiguity versus certainty in understanding phenomena

7. Relativist ontology

8. Transactional subjectivist epistemology

9. Qualitative methodology (hermeneutic)

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NOTION OF REALITY

1. SC which meanings are elaborated in social practice through interaction and

discursive practices

2. Meaning: Social system that allows organizing experience, knowledge, social

transactions and to interpret them by means of cultural symbols such as

language, narratives, life patterns,. It articulates with particularities of the

situation

3. Reality does not posses qualities of its own, but the ones we construct based

on our experiences in it

4. The reading we make of reality incorporates in it its constitutive

characteristics (we confer what we interpret , based on our social practices)

5. What we take as natural objects are objectivations derived from sociohistoric

practices in a particular context

6. Interpretations (constructions) are historic

7. ................................ multiple

8. ................................ relative

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OBJECTIVE OF CONSTRUCTIONISM

Deconstruct dominant discourses

Enrich constructions through dialog

Incorporate silent voices

Systematize knowledge of everyday life

Social emancipation

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QR DEFINITIONS

LINCOLN (1992)

…qualitative methods are generally those nonquantitative methods that

attempt to grasp phenomena in some holistic way or to understand a

phenomenon within its own context or to emphasise the inmersion in and

comprehension of human meaning ascribed to some set of circumstances or

phenomena, or all these three (p.376).

DENZIN & LINCOLN (1994)

“Qualitative research is multimethod in focus, involving a interpretative,

naturalistic approach to its subject matter. This means that qualitative

researchers study things in their natural setting, attempting to make sense of,

or interpret, phenomena in terms of the meanings people bring to them” (p.2).

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ARRANGEMENT OF ELEMENTS WHICH GOVERN FUNCTIONING OF RESEARCH

ITS THE LOGIC AND COHERENCE OF THE STUDY OF RESEARCH COMPONENTS AND WAYS THEY RELATE

STRUCTURE WHICH UNDERLIES AND INTERCONNECTS RESEARCH COMPONENTS AND THE IMPLICATIONS OF EACH COMPONENT FOR THE REST

DEFINITIONS OF DESIGN

DESIGN

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Conceptualcontext

Purpose Personalcontext

Objectives Evaluationcriteria

Methods

Research questions/topic

Adapted from Maxwell (1996).

QR DESIGN AS INTERACTION

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When moving is more than changing homes:

Relocation from the perspective of homeless due to Venezuelan 1999 landslides

Esther Wiesenfeld (Central University of Venezuela)

Anabel Amaro (National Fund for Urban Development) ewiesen@reacciun.ve

EXAMPLE :

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INTRODUCTION

Every year during the rainy season, Venezuela undergoes landslides and

floods, resulting in material and human losses, especially in squatter

settlements. The 1999 tragedy, however, was unprecedented in the country’s

history.

The rain left tens of thousands of families homeless while a similar number

of people were killed. Different agencies implemented, disorganized at first,

actions to mobilize the victims to temporary shelters, and eventually, to a

final relocation in housing complexes.

EXAMPLE (Cont.) :

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PERSONAL CONTEXT :

1. PROFESSIONAL DEMANDS OF COAUTHOR (AND MASTER STUDENT) AMARO FOR

EVALUATING NEW SETTLEMENTS BUILT FOR HOMELESS DUE TO 1999 FLOODS

2. MY RESEARCH LINE FOR MANY YEARS

FAMILIARIZATION WITH AFFECTED POPULATION: EXPERIENCE OF BOTH AUTHORS

WITH HOMELESS POPULATIONS, PARTICULARLY HAVING BEEN INVOLVED IN

ATTENTION TO VICTIMS AND THEIR ORGANIZATION IN TEMPORARY SHELTERS, AS

WELLL AS FUTURE RELOCATION.

FAMILARIZATION WITH RESEARCH TOPIC: PREVIOUS STUDIES WITH POPULATIONS

SIMILAR TO MOST HOMELESS FAMILIES, LIVING IN SQUATTER SETTLEMENTS,

PARTICULARLY ON THE MEANING OF BECOMING HOMELESS, WORKING TOGETHER

WITH THEM IN SELF HELP BUILDING PROJECTS, ETC.

EXAMPLE (Cont.) :

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3. ACADEMIC DEMANDS: MASTER THESIS

4. SOCIAL DEMANDS

EVENTS: PROTEST AND DEMANDS TO GOVERNMENT FROM

RELOCATED FAMILIES DUE TO INADEQUATE LIVING CONDITIONS IN

NEW SETTLEMENTS

PERSONAL CONTEXT :

EXAMPLE (Cont.) :

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BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Results of studies on housing post occupancy evaluation and

on the meanings of home suggest that physical and

environmental features of the house and the neighborhood are

necessary –though not sufficient- conditions to guarantee

residential satisfaction and the evolvement of a sense of home.

EXAMPLE (Cont.) :

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BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY (cont.)

 Community participation (CP), has been a key factor for

strengthening social bonds in the communities, through the

inclusion of their members in different actions that, apart from

solving their specific problems, promote their personal and social

identity, their sense of belonging to a community, attachment,

individual and group empowerment, and the development of

sustainable communities.

EXAMPLE (Cont.) :

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BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY (cont.)

Several projects conducted in Venezuela in self-help built squatter

settlements, like the neighborhoods most hit by the 1999 tragedy, support

the notion that, parallel to the participation in the construction of housing

and services, dwellers develop and grow stronger as persons and as

communities, creating emotional bonds with their neighbors and their

milieu.

There is little information in our context on the experience of definite

relocations, especially in circumstances as the 1999 natural disaster.

EXAMPLE (Cont.) :

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THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK:

SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIVISM (SC)

SC is a metatheoretical perspective that conceives of reality as

constructions derived from experiences and exchanges of people

interacting in a given historical context. The resulting knowledge is used to

promote social change, with the leading role of groups or communities.

EXAMPLE (Cont.) :

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CONCEPTUAL CONTEXT

IN QR CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK SERVES TO LEARN HOW THE TOPIC

HAS BEEN DEALT WITH IN THE LITERATURE: TO EXAMINE THE

APPROACHES FROM WHICH KNOWLEDGE HAS BEEN DEVELOPED.

SEEKS TO OPEN THE RESEARCH TOPIC INCORPORATING ACTOR´S

PERSPECTIVE

EXAMPLE (Cont.) :

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PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

• Understand the experience lived by homeless, from 1999

Venezuelan landslides relocated in housing programs

developed by FONDUR (National Fund for Urban

Development), before, during and after the natural disaster,

including the final relocation. The latter is the focus of this

presentation.

EXAMPLE (Cont.) :

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PURPOSE OF THE STUDY (cont.)

• Promote, alongside collecting information, processes of critical

reflection, which trigger actions and eventual transformations in

the adverse living conditions identified by the victims.

• Derive recommendations for disaster victims´ care and

relocation, compatible with their needs and lifestyles.

EXAMPLE (Cont.) :

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Knowledge about the topic

Experience with the topic

Doubts, fears, crises with the topic

History of relation with the topic

Personal context

DESIGN OF QRComponents in QR design

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Conversation on the topic

What is being dealt with ?

Who is talking?

From which perspectives are

they talking ?

What do they say ? What would you criticise about

the conversation?

Critical organization of concepts, project and research data, of conversations with other researchers or participants. Conceptual

context is constructed; it is not an authority.

DESIGN OF QR (Cont.):

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Purpose of the study (Justification of research guides design decisions)

Understand meanings, interpret events, actions... (participants

perspectives)

Understand particular contexts

Understand processesIdentify unanticipated

phenomena and influences

DESIGN OF QRComponents in QR design

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• Understand the meaning for participants in the study, of the events, situations and actions they are involved with and the accounts that they give of their lives and experiences (meaning understood as affection, cognition, intentions and any other information related to participants´perspectives.)

• Understanding the particular context within which the participants act, and the influence that this context has on their actions.

• Identifying unanticipated phenomena and influences, and generating new grounded theories about the alter. (exploratory studies)

• Understanding the process by which events and actions take place:• Developing causal explanations (local causality, events and processes which lead to specific results)

1 RESEARCH PURPOSES (Understand what is happening and why):

• Generating results and theories that are understandable and experientially credible , both to

the people you are studying and to others.

• Conducting formative evaluations (helping improve practice, rather than evaluating the merit

of a program or product)

• Engaging in collaborative or action research with practitioners or research participants

2 PRACTICAL PURPOSES (Fulfill goals, needs, change situations)

PURPOSES OF STUDY:

3 PERSONAL PURPOSES(Understand personal processes and motivations in carrying out the study)

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The study was conducted in three residential settlements built or purchased by FONDUR.

CONTEXT OF THE STUDY

EXAMPLE (Cont.) :

  NSV DA (Sector I)

SA (Sector II)

Number of houses

100 111 200

Plot 

120 

180 

144.4 

Sqm (House)

44.33 44.41 42

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CONTEXT

All the houses laid out in these sectors have

two bedrooms, one bathroom, and one space

combining living room, dining room and

kitchen.

EXAMPLE (Cont.) :

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RELATION WITH PARTICIPANTS OF THE STUDY GETTING ACQUAINTED

SEVERAL VISITS TO THE SETTLEMENTS, DONE WITH THE

PURPOSE OF SUPERVISING HOUSING CONDITIONS AND

NEIGHBORHOOD FACILITIES ALLOWED FAMILIARIZATION WITH

THE RESIDENTS, DEVELOPMENT OF TRUST WITH THE

RESEARCHERS. INFORMATION EXCHANGED IN THESE VISITS

ORIENTED RESEARCHERS IN THE FORMULATION OF THE

RESEARCH PROBLEM.

EXAMPLE (Cont.) :

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Rapport and negotiation.

Negotiation on anonymity, privacy, utility of research for participants, researcher´s involvement.

DESIGN OF QR

Components of QR

Methods.1) Relation with participants.

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RESEARCH QUESTION

WHAT ARE THE MEANINGS CONSTRUCTED BY THE VICTIMS

OF THE 1999 VENEZUELAN FLOODS ON THEIR EXPERIENCE

OF RELOCATION IN NEW SETTLEMENTS?

EXAMPLE (Cont.) :

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Research (or “problem”) questions

Molding : Purpose, conceptual context and personal context.

Concept of research question

Does not refer to variables´ relations Questions: Processes vs. Variance.

Origin: In the field, experience, literature

Start as general and then focus

DESIGN OF QRComponents to take into account in QR

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DESIGN OF QR

Components in QR

Changes throughout research

Research objectives (purpose

specification).

General statements on

desired achievements

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EXAMPLE (Cont.) :

Gender NSV DA SA Total

Male 9 

5  

1 

15 

Female  2 5

 

7 

14 

Total 11

10 

8 

29  

Nº OF INFORMANTS BY SETTLEMENT

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Sampling for participants selection.

DESIGN OF QRComponents in QR design

Methods2) Sampling.

Decisions regarding units of analysis.

Selected units:

Sampling for context selection

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intentional sampling

- Adequacy to diversity of

constructions

- It is emergent

- Serial selection.

- Periodic change of sample

- Redundancy.

QR DESIGNComponents in QR design

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DATA GATHERING METHODS

The information was collected through semi-structured interviews (i) and

focus groups (fg).

The main topic in the interview was the residential experience in the

current settlement. In the three focus groups the theme was the

description and discussion of the problems in their respective settlements

and what it meant to them to be relocated.

EXAMPLE (Cont.) :

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INFORMANTS OF THE STUDY

  NSV DA SA Total

i 6(6m)

5 (1m,4f)

3(3f)

14 (7m, 7f)

Fg (#inf)

5(3m,2f)

5(4m,1f)

5(1m,4f)

15 (8m,7f)

Total 11 (9m,2f)

10(5m,5f)

8(1m,7f)

29(15m,14f)

 

EXAMPLE (Cont.) :

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•Narrative way.Own vocabulary

•Subject´s temporal sequence•New constructions•Documentation of group history for its diffusion

DESIGN IN QRComponents in QR design

Methods. 3) Information gathering.

Related to research questions

Related to context.

Related to empowerment value in QR

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Related to context of study

DESIGN OF QRComponents in QR design

Methods.Selection

Related to questions•Interview (individual meaning of an experience or description of an event)

•Focus group (group meaning of an experience, a decision to be made)

•Life history (evolution of a process, an experience)

•Observations (interactions in communication or others)

•Analysis of documents (for identifying norms, politics, decisions)

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In traditional research: hypothesis verification through different methods.

Denzin (1970/1978) introduces it in QR

Types of triangulation: data, researchers, theories, methods.

Alternative sense of triangulation: for increasing knowledge on the topic, various constructions of the topic.

DESIGN OF QRComponents in QR design

MethodsTriangulation

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RESULTS ANALYSIS

Information was analyzed in accordance with general guidelines for

inductive data analysis, suggested by Lincoln and Guba (1985). To that

end, we and systematized, categorized and interpreted the information

units (words, phrases, concepts, paragraphs) identified in the

participants’ report.

These categories are illustrated by excerpts of information provided by

participants.

EXAMPLE (Cont.) :

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Decision and general analysis strategy.

DESIGN OF QRComponents in QR design

4) Data analysis

Simultaneous data gathering and analysis

Selected units of analysis- Relation between units and context- Relation context- results

Description of analysis strategy

Methods

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Characteristics

Natural contextHolistic

Multiple reality

Interactive

IdeographicReflexive

Congruence context/method/reality

Qualitative Research

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Differentiating characteristics of Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches

Quantitative Qualitative

Natural science perspective(Naturwissenschaften)

Human science perspective(Geisteswissenschaften)

Positivism Phenomenology, Idealism, and Constructivism

One true reality, measurableMultiple realities, socially constructed, andcontext dependent

Comte, Durkheim, Mill Husserl, Deutscher, Weber, Dilthey.

Deductive Inductive

Theory driven Theory generating

Hipothesis testing Hypothesis generating

Predicting Verstehen (Understanding)

Quantification Description

Understanding laws and causes Seeking meaning

Outcome oriented, answering questions Discovery oriented, asking questions

Objective and detached researcher Involved and interactive researcher

Experimental designs and standardizedinstruments

In-depth interviews, participant observations,and “researcher as instruments”

Third-person written reports First-person written report

Internal validity, external validity, reliability,and objetivity

Credibility, transferability, dependability, andconfirmability

Multitrait--- multimethod Triangulation

Methods and procedures are predeterminedand followed rigorously throughhout study

Methods and procedures are fluid and evolving.

Source: From Handbook of Racial/Ethnic Minority Counseling Research (2nd ed.), by J.G. Ponteroto and J.M. Casas, in preparation, Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas.

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Some differences between quantitative and qualitative research

Source: A. Bryman (1998) Quantity and Quality in Social Research. London: Unwin Hyman, p.94

Quantitative Qualitative

Role of Qualitative Research Exploratory Means for exploring actors´interpretations

Relationship betweenresearcher and subject

Distant Close

Researcher´s position vis the subject

External Internal

Relationship between theory/Concepts and research

Confirmation Emergent

Research strategy Structured Unstructured

Scope of findings Nomotetic Ideographic

Image of social reality Static and external to actor Procesual and sociallyconstructed by actor

Nature of data Hard, Reliable Rich, deep.

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Contextual factors which influence research design

Personal and Political

Goal

Participant´s Concern

Funding

Ethical Standards

Personal Style

Perceived Problems

Purpose

Methods

Researcher Skills

Personal Experience

Conceptual Context

Validity

Research Paradigm

Existing Theory

Pilot and Prior Research

Thought Experiments

Data and Conclusions

Research Questions

Setting