SW 690/610 Know what is involved in culturally competent research, interviewing Cultural competence in research appropriately taking into account

nt cultural values and differences when it comes to deciding what to investigate, how we investigate and how we interpret o The results of studies that do not include persons from diverse backgrounds are not generalizable to the diverse backgrounds. o Acculturation: is the process by which a group or individual changes after coming into contact with the majority culture, taking on the language, values, attitudes and lifestyle preferences of the majority culture. o Become well-read in the culture that you intend to study Become culturally competent. o Understand the historical experience of the culture o Understand traditions, values, family systems, socioeconomic issues, and attitudes toward social services and social services o Avoid ethnocentrism o Learn to communicate o Involve representatives from culture of interest in formulation of the research questions and in the design and implementation of the research study o Obtain approval/endorsement of persons with influence in the community. o Address confidentiality issues o Use community members as research staff o Provide compensation that is sufficient but not so much that it could be considered coercive o Attend to transportation and/or child-care barriers o Select a site that is convenient and safe If interviewing, use trained culturally sensitive interviewers o Match ethnicities, while ensuring that interviewer is competent. o If language is an issue, you will need bilingual staff. Make sure the participant understand the questions and range of responses. o Pay attention to the impact of cultural factors on individual participation. o Use anonymous enrollment with stigmatized populations o Use special sampling techniques o Find potential participants in places they are apt to be o Nurture referral sources o Build rapport over time, make reminder calls o Use Anchor points (information about various places you may find a participant) o Track participants whereabouts Phone Mail Agency Field Threats o Interaction between interviewer and participant Speak the language of the participant Matching ethnicity of respondent & interviewer Skill of the interviewer o Using language that is not understood

 Bilingual interviewers Back translation Pretesting o Cultural bias Consider whether cultural values, attitudes, lifestyles alter the accuracy and/or meaning of the measures Measurement equivalence Seek measurement equivalence Linguistic Conceptual - measures mean the same across cultures Metric - do the numbers mean the same thing in different cultures? For example, if the cut-off point on the Beck depression inventory is 20 for white Caucasians, it is also 20 for Somalia? Assess measurement equivalence Correlation between scores of members of different cultures Check scores of individuals from the same culture who are at different levels of acculturation If not convinced of equivalence, then test the validity of the instrument in the culture of interest Be familiar with survey research Survey Research Most appropriate for describing a population that is too large to observe directly. An important aspect of describing a population is accurately identifying the representativeness of the sample for the population being described. You only are able to describe the population represented by the sample. Survey Methods Self-administered questionnaires Response rate the proportion of people completing the questionnaire 50% adequate for analysis 60% considered good 70% or above considered very good Note: the primary issue is whether the respondents differ in a systematic way from the non-respondents. Increasing response rate by In-person vs mailed Cover letter Monitoring returns Follow-up The problem of duplicates Confidentiality vs Anonymity Incentives Interview surveys Response rate expect it to be 85% or higher Role ask probes? Reduce confusion? Observe? Probe: a technique used in interviewing to solicit a more complete answer to a question; this non-directive phrase or question is used to encourage a respondent to elaborate on an answer

Remember that the person doing the interview is a part of the instrument. Train anyone that is interviewing to reduce instrumentation errors. Provide specifications (what to do in case) General guidelines Appearance & demeanor Familiarity with the questions to be asked Following question wording exactly Recording responses exactly Telephone surveys Response rates have been falling Average dropped to 60% in mid-90s, probably lower now. Advantages Quicker and cheaper than in-person (no travel time), easier to probe than a mailed survey. Disadvantages Reaching a representative sample Getting someone to respond Keeping a person engaged Computer-assisted Telephone Interviews Similar to telephone interviews but with the addition of entering responses directly into a database. Is helpful with complex interview schedules that have multiple contingencies On-line surveys Response rate appears to be similar to mail surveys Easy to distribute to large numbers of geographically dispersed individuals When the respondent receives the invitation to participate seems to make a difference in participation. Representativeness is an issue, but, is probably becoming less as time passes. Survey Research Strengths and Weaknesses Useful for descriptive studies Large samples are feasible which can make the findings from them more generalizable. However, establishing causality is more difficult. Because you want to ask the question the same way to all respondents, it may be necessary to simplify the questions for complex issues. As a result, you may lose important information. Survey research is generally strong on reliability, but weak on validity What is qualitative research and how is it different from quantitative? Qualitative Research What is well suited to qualitative research methods? Inquiry that is best understood in the context of its natural environment Inquiry that focuses on understanding processes over time Qualitative Analysis - The non-numerical examination and interpretation of observations for the purpose of discovering underlying meanings and patterns of relationships in qualitative research - Emphasizes deeper human experience and is intended to generate theoretically rich observations not easily reduced to numbers - Answer will come back in words (text) Qualitative Data

1. Explores and seeks to understand the meaning individuals or groups ascribe to a social or human problem. 2. Involves emerging questions and procedures, data typically collected in the participant's setting, data analysis inductively building from particulars to general themes, and the research making interpretations of the meaning of the data. 3. Those who engage in this form of inquiry have assumptions about testing theories deductively, building in protections against bias, controlling for alternative explanations, and being about to generalize and replicate the findings. 4. Generally tap more depth of meaning but have less reliability and field research results cannot be generalized as safely as those on rigorous sampling and standardized questionnaires. Qualitative Research Preparing Review literature Key Informants -- Talk with people that know something about the topic bearing in mind that they have their own perspectives. Make initial contacts and recognize that first impressions matter. Establish rapport. Explain your purpose. Approaches Naturalism (observing persons in their everyday setting going about their lives) Ethnography (focus is on describing, not explaining) A qualitative research approach that focuses on providing a detailed and accurate description of a culture from the viewpoint of an insider rather than the way the researcher understands things Involves naturalistic observations and holistic understanding of cultures or subcultures. Grounded Theory Begin with observations, look for patterns, themes, or common categories. Preconceived ideas or expectations held in check Allow for the unexpected to emerge Develop concepts & working hypotheses Reiterate the process to further develop Participatory Action Research Researcher is a resource to those being studied Those being studied define the research topic, they design the method for studying the topic, they provide meaning to the results. Case study Chief purpose is description, but attempts at explanation are acceptable Distinguishing characteristic is a focus on a single case that may use of several sources of data Client logs Life history Researchers ask open-ended questions to discover how participants understand the significant events & meanings in their own lives. Feminist Methods Aims to generate findings that can be used to improve the well being of women in a historically male-dominated environment Focus Groups

Groups used for interviewing; it is based on structured, semi-structured or unstructured interviews; it allows the researcher interviewer to question several individuals systematically and simultaneously. Role of the Observer Complete Participant Dont reveal the research purpose. Recognize that participants actions have an effect. Participant as Observer Reveal that you are undertaking research, but then participate as fully as any other member. (Youth reporter in Almost Famous) Observer as participant Reveal that you are undertaking research, interact with participants, but do not participate as a participant. (Embedded reporter) Complete Observer Do not interact with participants, but strictly observe (wiretaps and surveillance) Relations to Participants ETIC perspective: Maintain an outsiders objectivity that allows one to raise questions about the culture being observed that would not occur to an insider. EMIC perspective: Adopt the attitudes, beliefs, points of view shared by the culture being observed. See things from their point of view. Adopting Both perspectives: Reflexivity is often seen as the extent to which the researchers own characteristics influence what is observed and interpreted Qualitative Interviewing Interviewer has a general plan of inquiry, but, does not necessarily follow a specific set of questions that need to be addressed in a specific order. Informal conversation Unplanned, unplanned interaction that occurs in the natural course events Ask questions that flow naturally from the direction of the conversation, use paraphrasing, ask for examples Recognize you are trying to learn something, so try to direct the conversation back to the topic when it goes astray But, dont guide to the point of passing up on an oppor tunity to learn something else of interest General interview guide approach General outline of topics to be covered in the interview Standardized open-ended interview Appropriate when you are concerned about instrumentation errors. Recording Observations Verbatim recording is ideal. Tape recorders can be used and augmented with notes Notes Record both empirical observations (know) and interpretations (think). Provide structure in advance for notes if feasible Record as soon after the observation as feasible. Start with key words or phrases and then go back and do in detail. Generally speaking, the more detail the better.

Quantitative Data Analysis

Quantitative approach to scientific inquiry: attempt to produce precise and generalizable findings more appropriate for nomothetic aims (or general, more universally true explanations for phenomenon) Produces data in the form of numbers

Quantitative Data: 1. A means for testing objective theories by examining the relationship among variables. 2. Variables can be measured; typically on measuring instruments, so that numbered data can be analyzed using statistical procedures. 3. The final written report has a set structure consisting of introduction, literature and theory, methods, results, and discussion. 4. Those who engage in this form of inquiry have assumptions about testing theories deductively, building in protections against bias, controlling for alternative explanations, and being able to generalize and replicate the findings. 5. Variables have attributes. The attributes of a given variable are represented by numerical code. Levels of measurement Nominal Categorical Distinct; exhaustive The lowest level of measurement and is used to measure variable whose attributes are different in kind. Ordinal Able to rank-order Not able to meaningfully add or subtract values Distant between points is not equal Higher level of measurement than nominal and is used to measure those variables whose attributes can be rank ordered. Interval Able to rank-order Distance between values is constant Able to meaningfully add or subtract Do not include zero point Measures variables in which the distance, or interval, separating their attributes does having meaning. In SW, these measures are most commonly used in connection with standardized measuring instruments. Ratio Able to rank-order Distance between values is constant Able to meaningfully add or subtract Zero point exists and is meaningful. True zero point Highest level of measurement. Data Cleaning Possible code cleaning: a simple form of data cleaning (ex: gender 1 for male, 2 for female); refers to the process of checking to see that only those codes assigned to

particular attributes possible codes appear in the data files. This process guards against one kind of data-processing error. Descriptive statistics: is a method for presenting quantitative descriptions in a manageable form. Univariate analysis: basic descriptive statistics for analyzing and presenting data about a single variable. Bivariate analysis: depending on how many variables are examined simultaneously; examines relationships between two variables, and it typically does for explanatory purposes. (1) Divides cases into subgroups in terms of their attributes on some independent variable (2) Describes each subgroup in terms of some dependent variable (3) Compares the dependent variable descriptions of the subgroups (4) Interprets any observed differences as a statistical association between the independent and dependent variables. As a rule of thumb in interpreting bivariate percentage tables: (1) If the table is percentage down, the read across in making the subgroup comparisons (2) If it is percentage across, the read down in making subgroup comparisons. Multivariate analysis: is a method of analyzing the simultaneous relationships among several variables; it may be used to more fully understand the relationships between the two variables. Several techniques allow researchers to summarize their original data to make them more manageable while maintaining as much of the original detail as possible (for data concerning a single variable): Frequency distribution: shows the number of cases that have each attribute of a given variable. Averages (mean, median, mode): reduce data to an easily manageable form, but they do not convey the original datas detail. Means are susceptible to extreme values; when a small number of extreme values distort the mean the median can more accurately portray the average. Grouped data: are created through the combination of attributes of a variable. Measures of dispersion: give a summary indication of the distribution of cases around an average value.(Standard deviation is one commonly used)

1. Perceptions of reality: Quantitative: Ethnic minorities share similar experiences within the public social service system. These experiences can be described objectively; that is, a single reality exists outside any one person. Qualitative: Individual and ethnic group experiences within the public social service system are unique. There experiences can only be described subjectively: that is, a single and unique reality exists within each person. 2. Ways of "knowing": Quantitative: The experience of ethnic minorities within public social services is made known by closely

examining specific parts of their experiences. Scientific principles, rules, and test of sound reasoning are used to guide the research process. Qualitative: The experience of ethnic minorities within the public social services is made known by capturing the whole experiences of a few cases. Parts of their experiences are considered only in relation to the whole of them. Sources of knowledge are illustrated through stories, diagrams, and pictures that are shared by the people with their unique life experiences. 3. Value Bases: Quantitative: The researchers suspend all their values related to ethnic minorities and social services from the steps taken within the research study. The research participant "deposits" data, which are screened, organized, and analyzed by the researchers who do not attribute any personal meaning to the research participants or to the data they provide. Qualitative: The research is the research process, and any person values, beliefs, and experiences of the research will influence the research process. The researcher learns from the research participants, and their interaction is mutual. 4. Applications: Quantitative: Research results are generalized to the population from which the sample is draw (e.g., other minority groups, other social services programs). The research findings tell us, on the average the experience that ethnic minorities have within the public social service system. Qualitative: Research results tell a story of a few individuals' or one group's experience within the public social service system. The research findings provide n in-depth understanding of a few people. The life context of each research participant is key to understanding the stories he or she tells. 5. Both approaches can be used to study any particular social problem. The quantitative approach is more effective than the qualitative approach in reaching a specific and precise understanding of one aspect (or part) of an already well-defined social problem. The qualitative approach aims to answer research questions that provide you with a more comprehensive understanding of a social problem from an intensive study of a few people and is conducted within the context of the research participant's natural environments.

Qualitative sampling designs Qualitative Sampling Methods Non-probability methods that are appropriate - Selecting a sample with procedures that do not involve random selection Availability Sampling (aka Convenience Sampling) A nonprobability sampling method where available or convenient elements are included in the sample Quota sampling A non-probability sampling method of gathering representative data from a group. As opposed to random sampling, quota sampling requires that representative individuals be

chosen out of a specific subgroup. For example, a researcher might ask for a sample of 100 females, or 100 individuals between the ages of 20-30. Snowball sampling Involves identifying some members of the population and then having those individuals contact others in the population. Useful strategy to adopt with less accessible population like the homeless. Deviant case sampling A type of nonprobability sampling in which cases selected for observation are those that are not thought to fit the regular patter (For example: the deviant cases might exhibit a much greater or lesser extent of something) Intensity sampling A qualitative sampling technique like deviant case sampling in which cases are selected that are more or less intense than usual, but not so unusual that hey would be deviant Critical incident sampling Technique is particularly useful for generating hypotheses about social work practice effectiveness. It is one in which something of special importance seemed to happensomething either positive or negative that might offer valuable new insights about how we can improve practice. o apply this technique would be ask direct service practitioners to identify the cases that in their judgment turned out to be their best successes or worst failures Maximum variation sampling Strategy aims to capture the diversity of a phenomenon within a small sample to be studied intensively. By observing a phenomenon under heterogeneous conditions, we are likely to generate more useful insights about it. Homogeneous sample Suppose you are interested in studying how case managers attempt to handle role overload you probably would restrict your sample to programs in which the case managers caseload sizes were usually large. Theoretical sampling Begins by selecting new cases that seem to be similar to those that generated previously detected concepts and hypotheses, but that once the researcher perceives that no new insights are being generated from observing similar cases, a different type of case is selected, and the same process is repeated until the observation of different types of cases seems to be generating now new insights. Combines homogenous sampling and deviant case sampling. Purposive sampling (aka Judgmental Sample) Selecting a sample of observations that the researcher believes will tied the model Comprehensive understanding of the subject of the study Based on the researchers intuitive feel for the subject, which comes from the extended observation and reflection

Other Sampling Methods Probability Sampling General term for sampling performed in accord with probability theory, typically involving some random-selection mechanism Sampling Frame - list from where elements of population were selected Defining the Sample Components and the Population A sample is a subset of a population

Sampling units the people from whom data are actually collected A key issue is defining a sample precisely so that it is clear what population the sample is supposed to represent Evaluating the Samples Generalizability Can the findings from a sample be generalized to the population from which the sample was drawn? Sampling error the difference between the characteristics of a sample and the characteristics of the population from which the sample was selected Target population the population to which generalizations are made

Strengths/limitations of qualitative research and its purpose Strengths & Weaknesses Strengths Depth of understanding (high for the specific case) Flexible Cost Weaknesses Subjectivity and generalizability (low generalizability) Hard to replicate Full understanding limits generalizability Selectivity bias How to assess Qualitative Research Studies Meeting positivist standards Reactivity (Acting differently because you are being studied) Researcher bias (finding /observing things that you expect to find Respondent bias (tell the story that you want heard) Approaches to minimize problems Prolonged engagement without going native Observer has to participate with participant over one period of time (not in depth) Triangulation Using more than one method of collecting and/or analyzing data (ex: 2 people doing an observation then comparing notes or participation) Peer debriefing and support (see if your colleagues can spot some obvious errors) Researcher has to leave environment periodically to speak to peers so they wont get totally immersed. Negative cases analysis (evidence that contradictory evidence is sought Specifically seeking out examples that do not support the theory you are studying (seeks to prevent selective observation from occurring) Member checking (ask respondents/participants if researcher has it right. Checking out your theory or observation with your members (feedback) to see if youre correct Auditing Keeping track of everything done or written (backing up your stuff) Meeting social constructivist standards Recognize that reality is constructed by a persons experiences / observations. Make clear how the experiences of the researcher are just one subjective reality.

So, check to see if the researcher is incorporating other possible subjective realities Is enough information provided to judge the applicability of the findings to other situations or populations

Strengths and limitations of doing different types of unobtrusive data collection, measures, etc. Obtrusive participants know they are being observed. May be predisposed to behave in socially desirable ways and in ways that meet experimenters expectancies. Unobtrusive participants do not know they are being observed. The participants are nonreactive. Using existing data for a research study is unobtrusive. Unobtrusive Expedience (cheap and fast) Retrospective (able to study past) Main Types of Unobtrusive Research Secondary Analysis of existing data Taking data that was collected and analyzed for one study and using it for another study. What is the difference between the unit of analysis and the unit of observation? Unit of analysis The individual units about which or whom descriptive statements are made. Unit of observation The individual units from which information is obtained. Advantages Cheaper than collecting on your own. Institutional Review Boards are apt to provide an expedited review May be able to use subjects from hard to reach populations Facilitates time-series research Disadvantages Have to go with data as it is Data that is missing cannot be retrieved Recorded events may have missed a lot of unrecorded events Data recorded by one site may be different from data recorded by another site Inadequate documentation Do you know what the variables you are using represent? Do you know how attributes are coded for the variables? Can you manage to use the data in an intelligent way? For large datasets, it will often involve complex sampling strategies and with thousands of records. You will need to spend time understanding how the data was collected and organized, so that you can extract meaningful data for your study. Common Problems in Reliability Changes in recording procedures

Accuracy of data may be affected by changes in recording procedures Comparability of definitions For example, do different communities classify the same behavior by youths the same way, or has the same community been consistent over time in the way that it classifies the same behavior. Examples are: Center for Disease Control (CDC), Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR), Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, University of California Berkeley-Library, California Adolescent Health Collaborative (CAHC) Content Analysis Coding the content of books, movies, conversations, etc. for purposes of analysis. Method for transforming qualitative material into quantitative data. Well suited for studying communication Sampling techniques Simple random Procedures for sample selection are strictly based on chance Each case has an equal chance of being selected Systematic random Procedures are applied to pic the first case from a list and then every nth case on the list is selected Ideal when cases are arranged sequentially and a tabngible list of names is not available. More accurate than simple random sampling Sampling interval is the standard distance between elements selected in the sample. Sampling interval = population size /sample size Sampling ratio is the proportion of elements in the population that selected. Sampling ratio = sample size/ population size Stratified Procedures are applied to strata (subgroups defined by a particular characteristic of the sample) A method for obtaining a greater degree of representativeness for decreasing the probable sampling error. Ensure that appropriate number of elements is drawn from homogenous subsets of that population. Proportionate sampling: reduces sampling error in the samples distribution of a particular variable Disproportionate sampling: permits over sampling of minority groups to allow for meaningful group comparisons Cluster

A form of probability sampling that involves randomly sampling a larger unit containing the elements of interest and then sampling from these larger units the elements to be included in the final sample A multistage sampling procedure in which natural groups are sampled initially, which the member of each selected group being sub-sampled afterward Procedures to follow when coding in context analysis Remember that the operational definition of a variable is composed of its attributes. The attributes should be mutually exclusive and exhaustive. If you plan to do any quantitative analysis, your coding procedures will need to produce numerical data. Clearly distinguish between the unit of observation and the unit of analysis Usually, you should be sure to include the base from which counting is done. The base is the total number of units observed. Coding in Context Analysis Manifest content Visible surface content. High on reliability, less likely to be as high in terms of validity. Latent content Underlying meaning. Reliability is more difficult to obtain, but validity is apt to be higher. Usually best to use a combination of both. Develop the coding categories by following both an inductive and deductive process. Carefully pretest Strengths: Economical and relatively quick Easy to go back and correct mistakes Able to examine change over time Unobtrusive Weaknesses Limited to recorded communications Records may have changed over time. Historical/Comparative Analysis Analysis of historical data for the purpose of comparing different periods of time. The focus on discovering patterns that recur. Historical records are examined to seek common patterns that recur in different times and places. Source materials are often categorized as primary or secondary. Primary are first hand accounts. Secondary sources are based on primary sources. Hypotheses are treated differently in that hypotheses are typically revised and reformulated throughout the examination process. The process of analysis used for historical and comparative analysis is often referred to as versteben understanding, or hermeneutics.

Types of coding Coding The process whereby raw data are transformed into a standardized form that is suitable for machine processing and analyzing Process of converting categorical / ordinal data categories to numerical representations for purposes of data analysis. Usually best when coding to maintain as much detail as possible. Remember coding categories should be mutually exclusive and exhaustive Types Coding units The concept is the organizing principle for qualitative data. The uniformity is necessary in a quantitative analysis. Coding as a physical act Whenever assigned two codes to a passage, Imagine placing duplicate copies of the a passage in two different folders representing the two codes. Creating codes Open coding: is the part of analysis that pertains specifically to the naming and categorizing of phenomena through close examination of data. Memoing Writing memos or notes to yourself and others involved in the project. Concept mapping Thinking out relationships among concepts more clearly by putting the concepts in a graphical format. Researchers find it useful to place major concepts on one sheet of paper whereas others spread their thoughts across several sheets, blackboards, magnetic boards, computer pages, or other media. Codebook Construction A document that describes the locations of variables and lists the assignments of codes to the attributes composing those variables Used in quantitative data.

The different paradigms discussed in the chapters and how they differ ethnographically Paradigms A paradigm is a general model for understanding. Organizes our observations and make sense of them Different points of view yield different explanations Less fixed and more open to question and modification than ideologies Evolve over time based on new discoveries and understandings Framework for understanding aspects of life Types Contemporary Positivism Emphasizes the pursuit of objectivity in our quest to observe and understand reality. Emphasizes objectivity, precision, and generalizability in research One objective reality Reality unchanged

Researcher puts aside own values Social and physical sciences are unity Passive roles for research subjects Many research subjects involved Data obtained through observations and measurements Data are quantitative in nature Deductive logic applied Casual information obtained Seeks to explain or predict Tests hypotheses High generalizability of finding Interpretivism Focuses on gaining an empathic understanding of how people feel inside, seeking to interpret individuals everyday experiences, their deeper meanings and feelings and the idiosyncratic reasons for their behaviors In-depth subjective understanding of peoples lives Many subjective realities Admittedly subjective Reality changed Researcher recognizes own values Active roles for research participants few research participants involved. Data obtained through observations and asking questions Data are qualitative in nature. Inductive logic applied Descriptive information obtained Seeks to understand Produces hypotheses Researcher is measuring instrument Limited generalizability of findings Social Constructivism A paradigm that emphasizes multiple subjective relativities and the impossibility being completely objective Postmodernism An extreme form of social constructivism that rejects the notion of objective social reality Critical Social Science Focuses on oppression and uses research methods to empower oppressed groups Feminist Paradigm A research paradigm like the critical social paradigm, distinguished by its commitment to research procedures to address issues of concern to women and empower women.