Qualitative Research Design
This week we talked about designing a qualitative research study. We talked about the steps involved in creating a study, and we also talked heavily about our positionality/reflexivity and how this influences our research.
In class we did an activity where we had a google document with 5 columns. As a heading for the first column we put some aspect of our identity (I put single female). In the next column we put some immediate causes from our identity (things that people expect are true because of who I am, like people might expect me to have a certain career, dress a certain way, want to get married or have a certain type of dating life, etc. as a single female). The third column we labeled immediate effects (how these views of other people effect me (I feel like I am of lesser worth if I don't act/dress a certain way, I feel like I have to have a boyfriend, etc.). The fourth column was labeled "prior causes" and we filled this column with a list of things we felt caused the immediate causes. For example, a cause would be that a lot of people ask me about my dating life/expect me to be dating. A prior causes might be that they care about my life and just want to know how I'm doing or that they were married young and expect others to be as well. Finally we made a column titled "later effects". This is this would, in particular, describe how I identify might affect my research project (what things might you take into consideration/not take into consideration because of this, who might you feel you relate more to in the study, etc).
This project was really enlightening to me because it made me aware of all of the negative and positive affects just one aspect of how I identify--as a single female--has in my life, and how these might creep into my research as well. This is definitely an activity I want to remember for the future. For my research, yes, but also just for life in general.
post-class I made a mind-map (It didn't turn out as neat as I was hoping!) of the steps in designing a qualitative research study that I hope to remember for my project in this class as well as for my master's research project.
In class we did an activity where we had a google document with 5 columns. As a heading for the first column we put some aspect of our identity (I put single female). In the next column we put some immediate causes from our identity (things that people expect are true because of who I am, like people might expect me to have a certain career, dress a certain way, want to get married or have a certain type of dating life, etc. as a single female). The third column we labeled immediate effects (how these views of other people effect me (I feel like I am of lesser worth if I don't act/dress a certain way, I feel like I have to have a boyfriend, etc.). The fourth column was labeled "prior causes" and we filled this column with a list of things we felt caused the immediate causes. For example, a cause would be that a lot of people ask me about my dating life/expect me to be dating. A prior causes might be that they care about my life and just want to know how I'm doing or that they were married young and expect others to be as well. Finally we made a column titled "later effects". This is this would, in particular, describe how I identify might affect my research project (what things might you take into consideration/not take into consideration because of this, who might you feel you relate more to in the study, etc).
This project was really enlightening to me because it made me aware of all of the negative and positive affects just one aspect of how I identify--as a single female--has in my life, and how these might creep into my research as well. This is definitely an activity I want to remember for the future. For my research, yes, but also just for life in general.
post-class I made a mind-map (It didn't turn out as neat as I was hoping!) of the steps in designing a qualitative research study that I hope to remember for my project in this class as well as for my master's research project.
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