Deck 10: Field Research

Question 1

How does participant as observer and complete participant roles differ for field research?

Answer 1

With participant as observer, people being studied know the identity/purpose of the researcher.

Question 2

How can having a sponsor help you get access to an organization for research?

Answer 2

That person can recommend who to contact and/or possibly vouch for you.

Question 3

Name one type of sampling that is often used in qualitative research.

Answer 3

Convenience or snowball

Question 4

If an ethnographic researcher worries that he/she might wind up seeing crimes in progress or hear about crimes being planned, what should he/she do early in the research?

Question 5

Critics of Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) claim that they hamper social science ethnographic research because they were originally designed to judge the dangers of what other type of research?

Question 6

What are mnemonics?

Question 7

What is the term for the researcher's presence in the field impacting the behavior of offenders on the street?

Question 8

How would reactivity of offenders impact the validity of field-observations?

Question 9

Why is reliability a potential problem with ethnographic research?

Question 10

How well does ethnographic research do with generalizability?

Question 11

Why are structured field observations important?

Question 12

Which role did Wright and colleagues (1992) adopt when they went out into the field to interview drug dealers?

A) Complete participant
B) Observer as participant
C) Participant as observer
D) Complete observer

Question 13

Which role did Bourgois (2002) and Whyte (1943) adopt when they went into the field to study drug dealers and people in "Cornerville" respectively?

A) Complete participant
B) Observer as participant
C) Participant as observer
D) Complete observer

Question 14

Mina decides that she wants to do observation for a class project. She spends hours sitting on a bench, noting how many dog owners clean up after their pets and how many do not. What role is Mina adopting?

A) Complete participant
B) Observer as participant
C) Participant as observer
D) Complete observer

Question 15

What agency provides the only type of legal protection that researchers have for maintaining confidentiality?

A) National Institute of Health
B) National Institute of Justice
C) National Research Foundation.
D) None of the above

Question 16

Field researchers who are unable to take frequent notes might work to memorize what is happening around them by using this tool to remember things by using acronyms.

A) Covert participation
B) Mnemonics
C) Pseudonyms
D) Codebooks

Question 17

If there are multiple researchers filling out fieldwork observation forms, the research team needs to be careful to train people and periodically check for ___________.

A) Validity
B) Criterion validity
C) Split-half reliability
D) Inter-rater reliability

Question 18

Ethnographic research is very strong in ______________

A) Inter-rater reliability
B) Validity
C) Statistical conclusion validity
D) Test-retest reliability

Question 19

The impact(s) of ethnographic research on the researcher include(s):

A) Time and money
B) Personal danger
C) Ethical Dilemmas
D) All of the above

Question 20

Complete participants are up-front with research participants about their true identity.

Question 21

Qualitative research tends to include more depth than breadth.

Question 22

One of the primary goals of qualitative research is generalizability.

Question 23

Systematic random sampling is commonly employed in qualitative studies.

Question 24

Ethnographic researchers often struggle with note-taking when out in the field, because they don't want to arouse suspicion or make it seem like they aren't paying attention while hanging out with groups.

Question 25

Field researchers should always make video or audio recordings of their interviews.

Question 26

Structured field observations are high in reliability.

Question 27

Reactivity might negatively impact the validity of structured field observations.

Question 28

Ethnographic research is very generalizable.

Question 29

Researchers are always required by law to report criminal activity to the police.

Question 30

Using a sponsor is the preferred way to approach an agency or organization about doing research.

Question 31

When participating in ethnographic work, it is important that you get a random sample of participants.

Question 32

Explain why some qualitative researchers believe that researchers should be up-front with potential participants about their identity and purpose as soon as possible?

Question 33

What are the pros and cons to ethnographic researchers witnessing and engaging in small-scale criminal activity during a research project?

Question 34

What kind of ethical concerns are associated with covert research participation? How should we decide if this type of research be permitted?

Question 35

What type of ethical dilemmas might ethnographic researchers encounter and how are these dilemmas mitigated?

Question 36

_________ means "understanding" in German.

Question 37

Abandoning the task of observation and analysis in favor of having fun and becoming too familiar with the group one is studying is known as ___________.

Question 38

Ethnographic research tends to be high in ___________but low in _________.

Question 39

A ________ is a person who is a respected member of a subculture who can help to introduce researchers to the group.

Question 40

To protect the identity of informants, researchers writing about what they observed or learned during research use __________ instead of real names.

Question 41

When conducting qualitative research, researchers should take a(n) ______________ approach, and generate their theories with data.