Busisiwe
“Mabusana” Shibambo
Media
Research Blog Entry No 2
Unique
No: 879121
SOURCE
NO 1
Title: Doing Social research in a global context
DDC
Wagner,
C. Kawulich, B & Garner M (2012)
Credible
source to consult when developing research project in qualitative design
Many
books have been written about qualitative research, others have critic it as
positive way of conducting a research while others argue that the technique
method of gathering data is not reliable and has a lot of loop holes. In this
study the student will support the use of qualitative research as a creditable
methodology that produces valid and trustworthy data.
Qualitative
research is informed by the topic of study and the questions asked. Wagner, C.,
Kawulich, B & Garner M (2012:125) states that qualitative research question
is not based on the right or wrong and therefore do not require statistical
information as it is not meant to be quantified.
Qualitative
research focuses on the questions of “how” and “why” because the intention is
to understand the facts rather than measuring the relationship between
variables.
Qualitative
research questions require that the researcher engage on a personal level with
participants who are the respondents to the questions and
by so doing the research gets more insight on how people construct the social
world. The
greatest strengthen of qualitative research is that it provides rich and
in-depth knowledge and clear data.
Wagner
et al (2012:126) explains that research design and methodologies are part of
qualitative research located in a research paradigm. Wagner et al 2012:126
(Lincoln & Guba) state that paradigms represent what we think about the
world but we cannot prove it.
In
chapter 10, qualitative research design is explained in detailed. The authors tried to define qualitative
research as process of understanding the social and cultural context which
shape different behavioural pattern. The world is constructed around human
perspective of view.
The
ways of collecting qualitative data rely on three basic data gathering
technique –observation, interviews and document of artifact analysis. Wagner et
al. 2012:133 indicates that each data-gathering technique is seldom used as a
standalone approach. This enables the researcher to determine the data thereby
increasing the trustworthy of the study as there is no interference.
These
sources are credible as they are experts in the field of research methodology.
They have written different books on research methodology. Kawulich B is a visiting Professor
at the University of Pretoria and has written numerous articles such as
qualitative social science and field methods journal. Professor Garner is an
Associate Professor at the University of Pretoria specialising in teaching
research method and has contributed on the success of the book (Doing
social research in a global context) in chapter 17
(Krathwohl 1993).
Wagner C is an Associate Professor
in the Psychology Department at the University of Pretoria, South Africa an
expert in Research Methodology and Teaching Research Methods.
SOURCE
NO 2
Title: Research
Design-Qualitative, Quantitative & Mixed Approaches
DCC/ISBN
978-1-4522-2609-5
Creswell
J
According to Creswell
J (2014) he states that Qualitative research is an approach for exploring and understanding
the meaning individuals or groups attribute to a social or human problem. The
process of a research involves emerging questions and procedures data typically
collected in the participant setting data analysis individually building from
particulars to general themes and the research making interpretive of the
meaning.
Those who engage in
this form of questions support a way of looking at a research that honours an
inductive style, and focus on individual meaning and the importance of
rendering the complexity of a situation.
Constructivism is
perspective typically seen as an approach to qualitative research Creswell
2014: (Lincoln & Guba) are the
latest writers to summarise the position of constructivism. Instead of starting
a theory as in postpostivism inquiries generate or inductively develop a theory
or pattern of meaning.
Creswell 2014:
(Crotty) identified several assumptions in constructivism that human beings
construct meaning as they engage with the world they are interpreting.
Qualitative research tends to use open-ended questions so that participants can
share their views.
SOURCE NO 3
Title: Mass communication research: Techniques, methods
and applications
ISBN: 978-0-70217-710-1
Du Plooy GM (2009)
According to Du Plooy
GM, (2009:30) indicates that qualitative research has been assigned many
different labels such as field research, critical research, interpretative
research, naturalism, ethnography, anti-positivist approach, alternative
approach and constructivism. Regardless of all their meaning they all intend to
interpret and construct the qualitative aspects of communication experience.
it is argued by sources that qualitative research
is not concerned with quantifying the numbers however its intention is to get
to the bottom of the problem. The researcher needs to be part of the subject
and do what they do, feel what they feel. This means the research must have
enough time for the research project in question as they will be spending time
learning about the subject.
Between the 1940s and
1970s Modernists argued that knowledge could be acquired by discovering reality
through the eyes of people who experience it. Qualitative research seeks to
understand why and how? Why are people acting or behaving there way they do and
why they do things there way they do. Du Plooy (2009:31) claims that the views
of 1970s argue that knowledge and truth of reality can only be constructed and
not discovered hence the development of critical theory.
In theoretical
assumptions Du Plooy use the Frankfurt School approach in mass media in a way
that differed from that of qualitative paradigm. As a result of the school, the
process of mass communication was seen as oppressive and manipulative.
SOURCE NO 4
Title: Strategies for ensuring trustworthiness in
qualitative research projects
Shenton AK
URL:
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org
Shenton A (2003:63)
argues that trustworthiness of qualitative research is reluctantly criticise by
many however Guba’s identifies four criteria that he believe should be
considered by qualitative researchers in pursuit of trustworthy study as
credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability. Guba’s
proposed constructs though it has been criticised by several writers such as
Silverman who argues that qualitative researchers can incorporate measures that
deal with issues while investigators such as Pitt have attempted to respond to
the issue of validity and reliability in their own studies. Naturalistic
investigators preferred to use different terminology to distance themselves
from the positivist paradigm.
Shenton A (2013:64)
asserts that positivist researchers is that of internal validity in which they
seek to ensure their study measures or test what is actually intended. Lincoln
& Guba argue that ensuring credibility is one of the most important factors
in establishing trustworthiness. Meriam indicates that positivist work often
lie in demonstrating that the results of the work at hand can be applied to a
wider population. Since the findings of a qualitative project are specified to
a small number of particular environments and individuals.
SOURCE NO 5
Title: Practical research: planning and design
Paul D. Leedy and Jeanne Ellis Ormrod
ISBN10: 1-29-209587-3
Leedy P & Ormrod
J (2016:269) states that qualitative research can be found in academic
disciplines and can be argued that inquiry in any discipline begins in
qualitative form when little information exists on a topic, when variables are
unknown, when a relevant theory base is inadequate or missing, a qualitative
study can help define what is important and what needs to be studied.
The methodology of a
qualitative study may continue to evolve over the course of investigation.
Qualitative research requires considerable preparation and planning. It
therefore requires that the researcher be well trained in observation
techniques, interview strategies and other data collection methods. In
qualitative study, the specific methods you use will ultimately be constrained
by the limits of your imagination.
A researcher may
focus on a single case because of its uniqueness and exceptional qualities that
can promote understanding or inform practice for similar situations. Qualitative
research has indeed proved to be reliable method when coming to conducting a
research on matters of why things are done in certain way.
The five sources used
above are well known in the field of teaching research and writing books on
research methodology. They argue that qualitative research can be positivist
and constructivism. It is believed that people perceive the world differently
while others are influenced by the environment. Qualitative research seeks to
investigate the causes of things to get to the bottom of why they are done on
certain way. Its focus is not to quantify but is to find the reasons.
Creswell,
J. 2014. Research design qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods approach.
London, UK: Sage
Du
Plooy, GM. 2009. Communication research:
techniques, methods and applications. Cape Town: Juta
Leedy,
P & Ormrod, J (ed). 2016. Practical research: planning and design.
Edinburgh Gate: Harlow
Wagner,
C, Kawulich, B & Garner, M (ed). 2012. Doing social research in a global
context. New York, NY
Welman,
Kruger & Mitchell. 2005. Research methodology. South Africa, SA: Oxford
University Press.
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/452e/3393e3ecc34f913e8c49d8faf19b9f89b75d.pdf
