Constructionism A variety of epistemologies in which the social reality is seen as the result of constructive processes (activities of the members or processes in their minds).
Continuous design Approaches to research design that emphasize the ongoing development of the design throughout the research process.
Conversation analysisStudy of language (use) for formal aspects (how is a conversation started or ended, how are turns from one speaker to the other organized).
CorpusA set of materials or data for analyzing it (e.g. a corpus of news- paper texts for a discourse analysis).
Credibility Criterion for evaluating qualitative research based on pro- longed engagement in the field.
Deception of research participantsGiving participants wrong information about the aims of the research or their role in it.
Discourse analysisStudies of how language is used in certain contexts, for example how specific identities, practices, knowledge or meanings are produced by describing something in just that way compared to other ways.
DisseminationPublishing results or reporting them back to participants or fields under study.
Episodic interview This interview combines question/answer sequences with narratives (of episodes).
EpistemologyTheories of knowledge and perception in science.
EthnographyResearch strategy combining different methods, but based on participation, observation and writing about a field under study.
Ethnomethodology Theoretical approach interested in analyzing the methods people use in their everyday life to make communication and routines work.
Evaluation Use of research methods for estimating and deciding about the success of an intervention.
Extended participation Staying long enough in a field under study to understand processes and routines in this field. Used as a quality criterion in ethnography.
External generalizationTransfer of results beyond the people, fields, etc., that were studied.
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Flexible designApproach to adapt research designs to the concrete field and the development of the project.
Focus group A group that is invited to discuss the issue of a study for research purposes.
Foreshadowed problems Sometimes used in ethnography instead of for- mulating a research question. What will the researchers identify and study as a problem in the field?
Formative theory A more general theory (in grounded theory research) referring to more than one area.
Gatekeepers People regulating formally or informally the access to a research field (or to the medical system, for example).
GeneralizationTransfer of research results to situations and populations that were not part of the research situation.
Grounded theoryTheories developed from analyzing empirical material or from studying a field or process.
IndicationDecision about when exactly (under which conditions) a spe- cific method (or combination of methods) should be used.
Informed consentParticipants in a study are informed that they are studied and given the chance to say no to the research.
InquiryAnother word for research.
Institutional review boardsA committee that reviews research proposals for how far they meet ethical guidelines and standards.
Internal generalization Transfer of findings or interpretations to the cases under study as a whole.
Interview trainingRole-play for simulating an interview in a group of observers and analyzing it afterwards for the interviewer’s non-verbal behaviour, use of questions, relation to the interviewee and mistakes in general.
Iterative design Approach to finalize a research design step by step according to the experiences in the field.
Longitudinal studiesA design in which the researchers come back repeat- edly after some time to the field and the participants to do interviews sev- eral times again in order to analyze development and changes.
Member checkAssessment of results (or of data) by asking the participants for their consensus.
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Milgram experimentAn experiment in which people were brought in a (simulated) situation where they hurt other people following instructions of an experimenter.
Mixed methodologiesAn approach of combining qualitative and quanti- tative methods on a rather pragmatic level.
Multi-sited ethnographyHere, ethnography is applied to several fields aim- ing at comparing these fields.
Narrative interview Participants are asked to tell the story of their lives (or their illness, for example) as a whole, without being interrupted with ques- tions by the interviewer.
Naturalistic approachResearch going into the life world of people to study them in their ‘natural’ contexts.
Negative caseCase (or more generally, empirical material) not fitting in or supporting a model or other forms of findings.
New public healthOrientation in the health system towards prevention and social circumstances of illness.
ObjectivityThe degree to which a research situation (the application of methods and their outcome) is independent from the single researcher.
Operating costsRefers to the costs you need on a very basic level when you do a qualitative project (technical equipment, consumption of mate- rials, etc.).
Paradigmatic core of qualitative researchCommon features of different approaches and research programs summarized under the label ‘qualita- tive research’.
Participant observation The researcher becomes a member of the field under study in order to do observation.
Participatory researchThe people who are studied are not only ‘objects’
of research, but are actively involved in doing and perhaps planning the research.
PhenomenologyCareful description and analyses of consciousness, with a focus on the subjects’ life world.
Positivism A philosophy of science that bases the latter on the observation of data. The observation of data should be separated from the interpretation of their meanings. Truth is to be found by following general rules of method, largely independent of the content and context of the investigation.
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ProbeAsking again in a deeper way during an interview.
Reliability One of the standard criteria in standardized/quantitative research, measured for example by repeating a test and assessing whether the results are the same in both cases.
RepresentativenessEither understood in a statistical way: is the population represented in the sample in the distribution of features (age, gender, employment, etc.)? Or in a theoretical way: are the study and its results covering the theoretically relevant aspects of the issue?
Research designA systematic plan for a research project, including who to integrate in the research (sampling), who or what to compare for which dimensions, etc.
Research diariesThe researchers continuously note their impressions and what happens during field contacts or in preparing the study, or during analysis of the data.
Research perspectives Major approaches in qualitative research, under which the variety of methods can be summarized.
Research programAn approach that includes more than a method, such as a concept of reality, an overall strategy, a specific tradition, etc.
Research proposalResearch plan developed for applying for funding or in a PhD or master’s program.
Research questionWhat is it exactly that you want to find out?
RigourDegree of consistency and consequence in applying a method or in doing an analysis.
SamplingSelection of cases or materials for the study from a larger popu- lation or variety of possibilities.
Shortcut strategiesPragmatic ways of using specific methods in situations of applied research, where it may be difficult to use these methods in their full versions (for example, in the context of qualitative evaluation).
SiteSpecific field for studying a process or issue in general, such as an insti- tution, a community, an area, etc.
Social representation A concept for describing the knowledge of social groups about scientific findings or other issues.
StandardizationThe degree of controlling a research situation by defining and delimiting as many features of it as are necessary or possible.
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Standards for qualitative researchAttempts to define minimal requirements of quality or common procedures to apply in any form of qualitative research.
Strategic samplingA more directed way of selecting cases and examples in ethnographic research.
Substantive theoryA more specific theory (in grounded theory research) referring to one area.
Symbolic interactionism A background theory in qualitative research based on the assumption that people act and interact on the basis of the meaning of objects and their interpretation.
Theoretical sampling The sampling procedure in grounded theory research, where cases, groups or materials are sampled according to their relevance for the theory that is developed and on the background of what is already the state of knowledge after collecting and analyzing a certain number of cases.
Transcription Transformation of recorded materials (conversations, inter- views, visual materials, etc.) into text in order to analyze it.
Transparency The degree of how far a reader of a research study is enabled to understand how the research went on in concrete terms.
TriangulationThe combination of different methods, theories, data and/or researchers in the study of one issue.
Tuskegee Syphilis StudyAn experiment in which a population of people infected with syphilis were neither informed about their illness nor given any treatment in order to study the uninfluenced course of this disease.
ValidityOne of the standard criteria in standardized/quantitative research, analyzed for example by looking for confounding influences (internal valid- ity) or for transferability to situations beyond the current research situation (external validity).
Vulnerable populationPeople in a specific situation (social discrimination, risks, illness) that makes a specific sensitiveness necessary when studying them.
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