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Fieldwork Study of people acting in their daily lives Access a group but remain somewhat detached Approach with key questions Teams get range of perspectives Danger of self-perception and bias Participant Observation Adopt perspectives of subject group in order to understand them Learning language, customs, behaviours, work, leisure, etc. Hanging around and learning the ropes Being an outsider can changes subjects’ behaviour Complete participation - researcher wholly concealed – ? contamination and artificiality Participant Observation Researchers can go native (internalise group lifestyle) Covert researchers can be in danger or create detrimental behaviour Researchers can be “piggy in the middle” Covert: recording observations can be difficult (e.g. need hidden cameras) Serious ethical issues with covert observation Employ analytic induction Go in with prejudices and theories Revise theory in light of evidence Generate new theories until evidence seems to fit Flexibility accorded but also required by the researcher Need to be open to disconfirming cases Grounded theory Data collected Develop categories (with inevitable theoretical priors and language) Categories checked by data Once categories seem secure and grounded in the evidence, formulate interconnection between categories Evaluation Broad range of qualitative techniques Control over the investigation; less data driven; flexibility much greater than quantitative studies Logistically difficult: Huge amounts of data produced and problems with manipulation (although Nvivo will help with this) Must be careful to collect evidence widely to avoid bias Can be ethical issues re: data collection and reporting * * * * * * * * * * * * Data Collection and Sampling Primary Data There are various methods for collecting primary (original) data Eg questionnaire, survey, interview, observation Control over investigation much greater Can more easily avoid “data-driven” research Cost can be prohibitive Pilot studies can