Deck 12: Qualitative Data and Research Methods in Public Health

Question 1

Qualitative research is useful when little is known about a topic and it therefore is difficult to create a survey or questionnaire with possible response options.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Grounded theory is a quantitative method designed to test a whether a qualitatively- developed theory is valid.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Which of the following statements is true about sampling participants for qualitative research?

A) Sampling is not done in qualitative research because it is not intended to represent a population.
B) Sampling is done by word of mouth alone, called referral sampling.
C) Researchers may select specific types of individuals to sample purposive sampling) or may ask participants to suggest others to participate referral sampling).
D) Qualitative research participants are sampled in the same way as quantitative research participants, primarily through probability sampling in which all members of a population have a known probability of being selected.

Answer 3

Researchers may select specific types of individuals to sample purposive sampling) or may ask participants to suggest others to participate referral sampling).

Question 4

Which qualitative research approach uses the data collected to develop an explanation or theory based on the experiences of the study participants?

A) Ethnography
B) Grounded theory
C) Photovoice
D) Narrative analysis

Question 5

If a researcher asks a study participant about his motivations for engaging in a particular behavior and records his answer as a text response in field notes, the researcher is conducting quantitative research.

Question 6

Which of the following statements is true about participants with unusual data points outliers) in public health research?

A) A qualitative follow-up interview with participants considered outliers may provide insight into a specific subgroup's experiences.
B) Quantitative analysis typically relies only on data produced from participants considered outliers.
C) Participants considered outliers should always be excluded from analyses since they do not represent the population from which they were sampled.
D) Outlier data exists because of interviewer errors and should be considered a source of bias.

Question 7

Which of the following is used to enhance the credibility of a qualitative study?

A) Interview guide
B) Axial coding
C) Peer debriefing
D) Field notes

Question 8

Which qualitative research approach uses subject-produced images to provide the perspective of the participants to others and to encourage dialogue?

A) Ethnography
B) Grounded theory
C) Photovoice
D) Narrative analysis

Question 9

Qualitative researchers often make notes or memos about their feelings and reactions while analyzing data. These notes can help others reconstruct the process and serve as an):

A) Audit trail
B) Interview guide
C) Field note
D) Theory

Question 10

Which of the following phrases describes qualitative rather than quantitative) research?

A) Is numbers-based
B) Utilizes deductive reasoning
C) Usually is conducted under controlled laboratory settings
D) Seeks to capture the lived experience phenomenological)

Question 11

Which of the following terms refers to the process of reading qualitative data, identifying major themes, and labeling and defining categories that emerge?

A) Audit trailing
B) Interview guide
C) Fieldwork
D) Coding

Question 12

Although qualitative research involves rich text and information, the researcher must work to remain objective during the process so that her own opinions or ideas about how the data fit together do not threaten the validity of the study.

Question 13

Because qualitative data do not require statistical analysis, the work of assessing and coding data is all done by hand without computer software to aid in the process.

Question 14

A mixed methods approach is one in which the researcher combines two different statistical methods to analyze the data.

Question 15

Which of the following data collection methods or tools would be used for qualitative data collection?

A) A telephone survey with questions that allowed respondents to answer on a scale of one to five.
B) An unstructured, in-depth interview conducted in a participant's home.
C) A form listing possible symptoms that clinical trial participants were told to complete after taking each dose of trial medication.
D) Vital statistics records used to classify women as having or not having adequate prenatal care.

Question 16

Which qualitative research approach has its history in anthropology, seeks to understand a community's culture, and often involves a researcher going to live with a cultural group or community to learn about and describe it?

A) Ethnography
B) Grounded theory
C) Photovoice
D) Narrative analysis

Question 17

The aspects of causal inference used to evaluate quantitative research strength of association, dose response, etc.) also can be applied to qualitative research.

Question 18

Qualitative research may use artwork, photographs, and other non-written or nonverbal items as data sources.

Question 19

The approach to doing ethnography has shifted in recent years as people have become less isolated from a community focus - describing a remote culture - to a problem focus
- describing how an organization or community deals with a specific issue.

Question 20

When using images in qualitative research, the subject or researcher may take the photographs, or the researcher may use pre-existing images like a family photo or newspaper article in his work.