Deck 15: Qualitative Research Traditions

Question 1

Most qualitative research traditions

A) have been used extensively in educational research.
B) derive from the same academic discipline.
C) are guided by similar epistemological assumptions.
D) tend to borrow from one another over time.

Answer 1

tend to borrow from one another over time.

Question 2

The majority of qualitative research traditions

A) involve the study of individuals' lived experience.
B) are derived from specific philosophical and theoretical formulations.
C) reflect postmodern conceptions of reality.
D) all of the above.

Answer 2

are derived from specific philosophical and theoretical formulations.

Question 3

The tradition of cognitive psychology focuses on the study of

A) lived experience from a positivist perspective.
B) the world as it appears to individuals when engaged in unbiased reflection.
C) the structures and processes involved in mental activity.
D) cognitive phenomena that are common to all human beings.

Answer 3

the structures and processes involved in mental activity.

Question 4

Most researchers in the cognitive psychology tradition of qualitative research believe that

A) the activity of physical structures in the human brain lead to the development of specific cognitive structures and processes.
B) principles of learning can be formulated without invoking mentalistic constructs such as memory and motivation.
C) the biggest contribution of their tradition to education has been the development of tests of intelligence, aptitude, and other constructs.
D) an individual's mental and intellectual capacities are more dependent on genetic factors than on learning and experience.

Question 5

A cognitive psychologist would tend to explain the observed differences between experts' and novices' performance of a mental task as primarily a function of the experts'

A) use of different problem templates.
B) use of protocol analysis.
C) construction of a content-specific schema tailored to the task.
D) greater level of knowledge about the domain that the task involves.

Question 6

A key criterion in selecting the participants for a phenomenological research study is that they

A) want to expand their understanding of the nature and meaning of the phenomenon being studied.
B) agree to carry out contrived tasks and share their thinking as they perform the tasks.
C) share the researcher's conceptions and values concerning the phenomenon being studied.
D) are willing to be observed for an extended time period as they carry on their daily life.

Question 7

In phenomenological research, a textural description is

A) an account of an individual's intuitive, prereflective perceptions of a phenomenon from every angle.
B) the researchers' process of analyzing commonalities among individuals' verbal accounts of their lived experience.
C) a guide used by interviewers to ask each research participant about her perceptions of the phenomenon under study.
D) a process for preparing oneself to experience a phenomenon with no preconceptions.

Question 8

Phenomenographic research most differs from phenomenology in the former's

A) interest in how reality appears to individuals.
B) analysis of how individuals' differ in their conceptions of a given aspect of reality.
C) interest in the objective nature of reality.
D) use of indepth interviews as a method of collecting data.

Question 9

Most life history researchers

A) are interested in how individuals interpret their life experiences.
B) rely mainly on interviews and observations to collect data about individuals.
C) use theories of cognitive development to make sense of individuals' interpretations of their life experiences.
D) choose to write about their own life experiences.

Question 10

If a researcher writes a life history about himself, the research report is most likely to be called a

A) case study.
B) biography.
C) memoir.
D) oral history.

Question 11

The following research traditions involve the investigation of lived experience. Match each tradition with the type of phenomenon that it investigates.

-Cognitive psychology

A) Individuals' different conceptualizations of reality
B) Individuals' life experiences from their perspective
C) Mental structures and processes used by individuals in different situations
D) Reality as it appears to individuals

Question 12

The following research traditions involve the investigation of lived experience. Match each tradition with the type of phenomenon that it investigates.

-Life history

A) Individuals' different conceptualizations of reality
B) Individuals' life experiences from their perspective
C) Mental structures and processes used by individuals in different situations
D) Reality as it appears to individuals

Question 13

The following research traditions involve the investigation of lived experience. Match each tradition with the type of phenomenon that it investigates.

-Phenomenographic research

A) Individuals' different conceptualizations of reality
B) Individuals' life experiences from their perspective
C) Mental structures and processes used by individuals in different situations
D) Reality as it appears to individuals

Question 14

The following research traditions involve the investigation of lived experience. Match each tradition with the type of phenomenon that it investigates.

-Phenomenology

A) Individuals' different conceptualizations of reality
B) Individuals' life experiences from their perspective
C) Mental structures and processes used by individuals in different situations
D) Reality as it appears to individuals

Question 15

The qualitative research traditions of symbolic interactionism and action research both involve

A) the study of how the social transactions in which individuals engage contribute to their self-identity and the social structures within which they operate.
B) the study of how individuals become affiliated with particular organizations.
C) the investigation of society and culture.
D) efforts to improve professional practice.

Question 16

The qualitative research tradition in which practitioners reflect on, and seek to improve the rationality and justice of, their work is called

A) ethnography.
B) action research.
C) symbolic interactionism.
D) cultural studies.

Question 17

The following qualitative research traditions examine societal and cultural phenomena. Match each tradition with the type of phenomenon that it studies.

-Symbolic interactionism

A) The rules that underlie everyday social interactions
B) Self-relective investigation to improve the rationality and and justice of one's work
C) How social transactions contribute to social structures and self-identity

Question 18

The following qualitative research traditions examine societal and cultural phenomena. Match each tradition with the type of phenomenon that it studies.

-Ethnomethodology

A) The rules that underlie everyday social interactions
B) Self-relective investigation to improve the rationality and and justice of one's work
C) How social transactions contribute to social structures and self-identity

Question 19

The following qualitative research traditions examine societal and cultural phenomena. Match each tradition with the type of phenomenon that it studies.

-Action research

A) The rules that underlie everyday social interactions
B) Self-relective investigation to improve the rationality and and justice of one's work
C) How social transactions contribute to social structures and self-identity

Question 20

The research tradition that probably has most influenced the basic case study method as applied to educational research is

A) cognitive psychology.
B) life history.
C) ethnography.
D) symbolic interactionism.

Question 21

In qualitative research the assumed ability of individuals to shape the conditions of their lives is called

A) cultural transmission.
B) cultural acquisition.
C) phenomenography.
D) agency.

Question 22

A particularly desirable characteristic of ethnographic research is its

A) emphasis on the researcher's etic perspective.
B) use of a reporting style that gives voice to oppressed groups.
C) adherence to the goal of the natural sciences to develop universal laws.
D) in-depth study of phenomena in their real-life context.

Question 23

A particular strength of ethnography is the researcher's

A) holistic orientation to studying a culture or aspect of a culture.
B) focus on the idiosyncrasies of various members of the culture.
C) concern for forming reciprocal relationships with those studied.
D) preference for studying deviant or primitive cultures.

Question 24

An important difference between critical theory overall and the particular branch of critical theory called cultural studies is the former's concern for the

A) investigation of the power relationships in a culture.
B) emancipation of the members of cultural groups from systematized oppression.
C) development of theories focused on large-scale social structure.
D) understanding of the values and beliefs that underlie educational practice.

Question 25

The basic assumption of all critical theories is that

A) all social inequalities need to be changed in order to make the world better place.
B) no approach to seeking the truth is privileged over any other.
C) cultural acquisition plays a minimal role in perpetuating forms of social and economic oppression.
D) the members of oppressed groups are the best equipped to challenge the institutions that maintain their oppression.

Question 26

An approach that characterizes research and theory building in the cultural studies tradition is the

A) analysis of the institutional system within which the researcher himself works.
B) emphasis on long-term ethnographic investigation of subcultures within one's society.
C) continual critique of the researcher's beliefs, the phenomena being studied and its methods of study.
D) use of language that reflects the everyday vocabulary of oppressed groups.

Question 27

Instrumental rationality in educational research involves a(n)

A) attempt to determine the purpose of controversial educational practices.
B) analysis of the power relationships that are central to the operation of educational institutions.
C) preoccupation with means or technology over ends or purposes.
D) criterion for judging the validity of research.

Question 28

Ethnomethodology differs from phenomenology in the former's concern with

A) the objective features of social reality.
B) how groups develop intersubjective interpretations of reality.
C) how social reality appears to individuals.
D) the researcher's reflections on his own influence on the phenomena being studied.

Question 29

The type of data analysis used by ethnomethodologists is most similar to

A) structural analysis.
B) reflective analysis.
C) interpretational analysis.
D) emergent analysis.

Question 30

The following research traditions involve the investigation of society and culture. Match each tradition with the type of phenomenon that it investigates.

-Cultural studies

A) Characteristic features and patterns of a culture
B) Contestation of oppressive power relationships in a culture
C) Practitioners' self-reflective efforts to improve the rationality and justice of their work
D) The influence of social interactions on social structures and individuals' self-identity.
E) The rules that underlie everyday social interactions

Question 31

The following research traditions involve the investigation of society and culture. Match each tradition with the type of phenomenon that it investigates.

-Action research

A) Characteristic features and patterns of a culture
B) Contestation of oppressive power relationships in a culture
C) Practitioners' self-reflective efforts to improve the rationality and justice of their work
D) The influence of social interactions on social structures and individuals' self-identity.
E) The rules that underlie everyday social interactions

Question 32

The following research traditions involve the investigation of society and culture. Match each tradition with the type of phenomenon that it investigates.

-Ethnography

A) Characteristic features and patterns of a culture
B) Contestation of oppressive power relationships in a culture
C) Practitioners' self-reflective efforts to improve the rationality and justice of their work
D) The influence of social interactions on social structures and individuals' self-identity.
E) The rules that underlie everyday social interactions

Question 33

The following research traditions involve the investigation of society and culture. Match each tradition with the type of phenomenon that it investigates.

-Ethnomethodology

A) Characteristic features and patterns of a culture
B) Contestation of oppressive power relationships in a culture
C) Practitioners' self-reflective efforts to improve the rationality and justice of their work
D) The influence of social interactions on social structures and individuals' self-identity.
E) The rules that underlie everyday social interactions

Question 34

The following research traditions involve the investigation of society and culture. Match each tradition with the type of phenomenon that it investigates.

-Symbolic interactionism

A) Characteristic features and patterns of a culture
B) Contestation of oppressive power relationships in a culture
C) Practitioners' self-reflective efforts to improve the rationality and justice of their work
D) The influence of social interactions on social structures and individuals' self-identity.
E) The rules that underlie everyday social interactions

Question 35

A researcher studies the terms used by students and teachers to describe cheating in class in order to determine how cheating behavior is conceptualized within the school system. This research is best considered an example of

A) cognitive psychology.
B) ethnographic content analysis.
C) semiotics.
D) cognitive ethnography.

Question 36

The study of the implicit rules governing the speech acts between two or more people is known as

A) discourse analysis.
B) conversation analysis.
C) sociolinguistics.
D) narratology.

Question 37

Sociolinguistics is the study of

A) the interpretive processes that individuals use to produce accounts of reality.
B) the effects of social characteristics such as age, socioeconomic status, and ethnicity on language use.
C) the implicit rules governing the speech acts between two or more people.
D) literary works that seek to represent and explain individuals' personal and social experience.

Question 38

The hermeneutic circle in hermeneutics refers to

A) the process of alternating between interpreting each part of a text and interpreting the text as a whole.
B) the flow of conversation between participants in a dialogue.
C) the point at which participants' separate viewpoints recede into the background and consensus emerges.
D) the fact that both the author and the reader of a text are engaged in interpretive acts.

Question 39

In semiotics the expression of an idea (e.g., H₂O) along with its meaning (e.g., water) constitute a

A) referent.
B) signifier.
C) signified.
D) sign.

Question 40

In order to examine people's conformity to and deviation from the intended meaning of signs, a semioticist would be most likely to

A) analyze nonverbal sign systems rather than verbal sign systems
B) combine fieldwork in a natural setting with a formal analysis of a sign system.
C) focus her analysis on the denotative signs used by people.
D) conduct a content analysis of the words used in people's dialogue.

Question 41

A principle that underlies structuralism as a research tradition is that

A) the individual communicator defines social reality.
B) historical analysis is central to understanding a communicative system as it exists at a given point in time.
C) communicative systems have little continuity because of the constant action of forces toward change.
D) communicative systems have self-regulating mechanisms that make them resistant to change.

Question 42

Poststructuralism is an approach to the study of systems based on the assumption that

A) a communicative system is best understood by focusing on the individual elements within it.
B) the researcher's task is to discover the most objective interpretation of a literary work or text.
C) texts include within themselves everything that is necessary for their interpretation.
D) it is not possible to find any inherent meaning or value in a given communicative system.

Question 43

The following research traditions involve the investigation of language and communication. Match each tradition with the type of phenomenon that it investigates.

-Ethnographic content analysis

A) Use of speech in the social life of members of a cultural group
B) Organized representations and explanations of human experience
C) Signs and the meanings they convey
D) The content of documents in cultural perspective
E) The process by which individuals arrive at the meaning of a text
F) The systemic properties of language, text, and other communicative phenomena

Question 44

The following research traditions involve the investigation of language and communication. Match each tradition with the type of phenomenon that it investigates.

-Ethnography of communication

A) Use of speech in the social life of members of a cultural group
B) Organized representations and explanations of human experience
C) Signs and the meanings they convey
D) The content of documents in cultural perspective
E) The process by which individuals arrive at the meaning of a text
F) The systemic properties of language, text, and other communicative phenomena

Question 45

The following research traditions involve the investigation of language and communication. Match each tradition with the type of phenomenon that it investigates.

-Hermeneutics

A) Use of speech in the social life of members of a cultural group
B) Organized representations and explanations of human experience
C) Signs and the meanings they convey
D) The content of documents in cultural perspective
E) The process by which individuals arrive at the meaning of a text
F) The systemic properties of language, text, and other communicative phenomena

Question 46

The following research traditions involve the investigation of language and communication. Match each tradition with the type of phenomenon that it investigates.

-Narrative analysis

A) Use of speech in the social life of members of a cultural group
B) Organized representations and explanations of human experience
C) Signs and the meanings they convey
D) The content of documents in cultural perspective
E) The process by which individuals arrive at the meaning of a text
F) The systemic properties of language, text, and other communicative phenomena

Question 47

The following research traditions involve the investigation of language and communication. Match each tradition with the type of phenomenon that it investigates.

-Semiotics

A) Use of speech in the social life of members of a cultural group
B) Organized representations and explanations of human experience
C) Signs and the meanings they convey
D) The content of documents in cultural perspective
E) The process by which individuals arrive at the meaning of a text
F) The systemic properties of language, text, and other communicative phenomena

Question 48

The following research traditions involve the investigation of language and communication. Match each tradition with the type of phenomenon that it investigates.

-Structuralism

A) Use of speech in the social life of members of a cultural group
B) Organized representations and explanations of human experience
C) Signs and the meanings they convey
D) The content of documents in cultural perspective
E) The process by which individuals arrive at the meaning of a text
F) The systemic properties of language, text, and other communicative phenomena

Question 49

Give two reasons why it is important for an educational researcher to become familiar with the major qualitative research traditions that have been used in educational research.

Question 50

Define the term research tradition.

Question 51

Describe four key characteristics of qualitative research traditions.

Question 52

Describe the three different types of phenomena on which different qualitative research traditions tend to focus.

Question 53

Name one type of phenomenon that educational researchers working in the tradition of cognitive psychology have investigated extensively.

Question 54

Describe four key procedures often used in planning and conducting a phenomenological investigation.

Question 55

What is the difference between a textural description and a structural description of a phenomenon that is studied through phenomenology?

Question 56

Describe one advantage of phenomenology as a qualitative research tradition for use in education.

Question 57

How would a phenomenographic researcher's approach to studying teachers' views of the reasons for students' misbehavior in class differ from a phenomenologist's approach?

Question 58

List two of the reporting formats in which a life history might be presented.

Question 59

What type of phenomena is the common focus of symbolic interactionism, ethnomethodology, and action research?

Question 60

State the goal of (a) symbolic interactionsm and (b) action research.

Question 61

Describe one method that an ethnographer uses to achieve the goal of looking at a cultural phenomenon from the perspective of an outsider and then seeking to understand the phenomenon from the perspective of insiders.

Question 62

Describe one of the key issues facing ethnography today.

Question 63

Describe one strength and one weakness of ethnography.

Question 64

What does cultural studies investigate, and what is its purpose?

Question 65

Explain the origin and meaning of the concept of troubling education and educational research.

Question 66

Explain three of the seven basic assumptions of the cultural studies tradition that were formulated by Joe Kincheloe and Peter McLaren.

Question 67

Describe one operating principle that guides ethnomethodological investigations of society and culture.

Question 68

Name and briefly describe one of the methods that can be used in narrative analysis.

Question 69

Explain the focus of ethnographic content analysis.

Question 70

Why has hermeneutics had so much influence on the general approach of qualitative researchers?

Question 71

Explain the meaning of the hermeneutic circle in the qualitative research tradition known as hermeneutics.

Question 72

Why would the qualitative research tradition of semiotics appear to have particular promise for educational researchers?

Question 73

Explain the meaning of the structuralist principle, "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts"as it applies to the study of social groups.

Question 74

How does poststructuralism differ from structuralism in its assumptions about systems?

Question 75

Select a phenomenon of interest to you within the field of education, e.g., the effect of competitive athletics programs on students' experience of attending college. Describe one way in which you could study an aspect of that phenomenon through a tradition involving the investigation of (a) lived experience, (b) society and culture, and (c) language and communication.

Question 76

Say that you are in the process of planning your master's or doctoral research study. You have decided first to select a research tradition that interests you and then to define a problem that can be studied by that tradition. Describe at least three of your personal characteristics (e.g., interests, abilities, and experience) that you might take into account in selecting the research tradition of greatest interest to you, and indicate some of the traditions that would appeal to you based on each of these characteristics.

Question 77

A teacher decides to carry out an ethnography involving the study of the school in which he works. Describe (a) one way in which the teacher could define the research problem to make the study more manageable to carry out within a reasonable time frame and (b) one way in which he could "make the familiar strange"in order to balance the emic and etic perspectives of the phenomenon he investigates.