a theoretical perspective (with associated methodology) concerned with people's lived experiences
See: Phenomenology
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Main glossary
a theoretical perspective (with associated methodology) concerned with people's lived experiences
See: Phenomenology
a diagram ('tree digram') showing relative closeness across a range of entities – as used in biology to show how species are related
(e.g., see: The repertory grid technique)
a way of thinking about a topic, usually used when choosing a particular viewpoint for making sense of a research focus and for analysing data collected
When researching complex phenomena there may be multiple relevant perspectives, and one may be selected according to the purpose and priorities of a study.
Visit page: Theoretical perspectives
is permission given by a participant to a researcher: to provide documents, to be observed, to be interviewed, and so forth.
Consent is seen as an ethical issue in research with people, and generally it is expected that voluntary, informed, consent is obtained before a study commences
Read about research ethics
Read about voluntary informed consent
is observation that is undertaken without the awareness of those being observed, as opposed to overt observation
is research that is not informed by an specify hypothesis and is intended to be open to whatever may be found to be important in the research context
Discovery (or exploratory) research is seen as a 'paradigmatic' position.
It is often contrasted with confirmatory research.
Visit web-page: Paradigms
notes (descriptions, sketches, etc.) taken by a researcher observing in a research context (whilst doing 'fieldwork') such as in lecture hall, or school staffroom, or playground, etcetera, as data to support the answering of research questions
traditionally notes were taken down in a notebook, but digital alternatives are often used.
is research designed to test a specific hypothesis, conceptual framework or model
Confirmatory research is seen as a 'paradigmatic' position
It is often contrasted with discovery or exploratory research.
Read about: 'Paradigms'
Read about 'Confirmatory research'
is associated with 'scientific' approaches where it is assumed that research comes to reliable knowledge by 'objective' methods such as experiment and observation and logical analysis.
Positivism is often seen as a 'paradigmatic' position.
Positivistic research is often contrasted with interpretivist research.
See: Paradigms
is sampling of new data that is informed by the analysis of data already collected, as part of an emergent research design
The concept is used in particular in grounded theory methodology
See: Grounded theory
originally triangulation applied to locating something by taking bearing from different sites (plotting the direction of the object from different directions should lead to lines crossing at one point)
in research the term is used metaphorically to mean using multiple sources of data to help answer a research question
often the term refers to the use of different kind of data (methodological triangulation), but it could be the same types of data collected at different times, or from different informers
See: Triangulation
Strictly the term refers to studies that draw upon very different paradigmatic assumptions and so employs a mix of data collection and analysis techniques that are based on very different (ontological and/or epistemological) commitments.
However, sometimes the term is used is a more trivial sense for any study using multiple techniques or any study collecting both qualitative and quantitative data.
Visit web-page: Mixed methods