Qualitative Research in Practice : Stories From the Field - Blogs Unpad
Qualitative Research in Practice : Stories From the Field - Blogs Unpad
Qualitative Research in Practice : Stories From the Field - Blogs Unpad
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Mix<strong>in</strong>g methods<br />
violence; that <strong>the</strong>y were really clear that it wasn’t <strong>the</strong><br />
women’s fault; be<strong>in</strong>g confronted with <strong>the</strong> fact that<br />
men chose to be violent, which wasn’t <strong>the</strong> explanation<br />
that <strong>the</strong> women were currently us<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong>mselves ...<br />
What I th<strong>in</strong>k is <strong>in</strong>terest<strong>in</strong>g about that was that we<br />
wouldn’t have found that out it if we hadn’t had <strong>the</strong><br />
open-ended questions <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> questionnaire, but also, I<br />
th<strong>in</strong>k it wouldn’t have been as powerful if we had<br />
done 20 or 30 <strong>in</strong>-depth <strong>in</strong>terviews. What we had was<br />
230 questionnaires where a really significant proportion<br />
of respondents were say<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> same th<strong>in</strong>g.<br />
Liz also commented generally on <strong>the</strong> use of mixed methods at <strong>the</strong><br />
Child and Woman Abuse Studies Unit.<br />
Liz:<br />
I began as a qualitative researcher and <strong>the</strong>n <strong>the</strong> second<br />
research grant we got here was to do an exploratory<br />
prevalence study of sexual abuse. That obviously had<br />
to be a quantitative study on some level and so we<br />
needed a staff member who had that expertise<br />
because I didn’t, and that person, L<strong>in</strong>da Regan, has<br />
been here ever s<strong>in</strong>ce, and so <strong>in</strong> a way it’s <strong>the</strong> l<strong>in</strong>k<strong>in</strong>g<br />
of both our skills.<br />
But equally, I th<strong>in</strong>k it’s about her understand<strong>in</strong>g<br />
<strong>the</strong> importance of mean<strong>in</strong>g, and me understand<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong><br />
importance of numbers if you are talk<strong>in</strong>g about <strong>in</strong>fluenc<strong>in</strong>g<br />
policy-makers. But also, <strong>the</strong> importance of be<strong>in</strong>g<br />
able to ascerta<strong>in</strong> whe<strong>the</strong>r th<strong>in</strong>gs really are <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> data<br />
or not, because while I absolutely accept that we<br />
br<strong>in</strong>g our subjectivity and subjective mean<strong>in</strong>gs to<br />
<strong>the</strong> work that we are do<strong>in</strong>g, at <strong>the</strong> same time I th<strong>in</strong>k<br />
we need to be rigorous about whe<strong>the</strong>r th<strong>in</strong>gs are <strong>the</strong>re<br />
or not. We had this really <strong>in</strong>terest<strong>in</strong>g experience <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
prevalence study where three of us coded 1244 questionnaires<br />
and we ended up with perceptions about<br />
what we thought was <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> data and actually it wasn’t<br />
<strong>the</strong>re to <strong>the</strong> extent that we thought it was. We thought<br />
that <strong>the</strong>re was much more abuse by bro<strong>the</strong>rs and we<br />
didn’t th<strong>in</strong>k <strong>the</strong>re was as much abuse by uncles—it<br />
was about what we noticed, what resonated with us,<br />
and actually that isn’t always [what <strong>the</strong> data are<br />
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