Patterns Simon & Garfunkel midi

Throughout my readings in qualitative analysis, I noticed that the methods and many of the introduced tools were used to discern patterns of behavior. I have started to appreciate how this complexity can be captured and, using these techniques, an attempt made to understand them. I feel that the computer, especially many of the new web services, can help the researcher become more efficient in the collection of this information.

One of the projects from this class that I have started is trying to make a folder on the desktop or a web page aware of the contents of a document. Content analysis has suggested a number of possibilities and I think this could be a useful direction. Imagine an outlook folder that calls you on your phone if message from a depressed friend or relative is received.

Interesting ideas from this very fascinating class!

PhotoVoice is a very interesting and novel idea. As our guest spoke, I wondered how this information would be saved, retrieved and used. I also started to hear the Paul Simon’s song Kodachrome my head!

I found an interesting article Chabot: retrieval from a relational database of images Ogle, V.E.; Stonebraker, M.; Computer Volume 28, Issue 9, Sept. 1995 Page(s):40 - 48 that referenced the QBlC (Query by Image Content) project at IBM. This project uses image analysis to process queries for an image database. I think it would be of interest to tie the Photo database in with other qualitative ideas presented by our guest speaker.

Complex items such as the verbal or text experiences that the individuals collecting the images felt could be connected to their photographs. I wonder if similarities between certain images and certain experiences exist. If others in similar communities would present comparable images this could be used to tie together larger groups, which would be a greater force for social change.

Last week (March 14, 2006), I was able to attend the GCRC conference in Washington, which has a focus on working with Clinical Investigators who perform research in the clinical research enterprise. During one of the meetings, I was able to discuss qualitative analysis techniques with a member from MITRE, which has been charged with tracking development within Clinical research informatics. It was very interesting to see some of techniques (such as interviewing, focus questions, and group discussions) that we have been discussing in use. This is a very interesting company and one that I think a person who has qualitative research experience might want to explore.

Chapter 10: Focus Group Research: (AL: Practical information)
In the news as “opinion pools”

Known for their use as marketing tools.

Primarily a tool for data collection: Collecting informal communication.

Focus groups are flexible.

Practical aspects:
Moderator should have some basic interviewing skills.
Have an understanding of group dynamics.
Make people comfortable (i.e., food, lighting, comfortable chairs, etc.)

Advantages:
Collect data quickly.
Group interaction.
Great for sensitive topics.
Allow other to build upon the responses of others.
Free flow of discussion.
Safe familiar environment.

Data Analysis:
Content Analysis: systematic and comprehensive summary or overview of the data set as a whole.
Look for recurrent instances of some kind.
Coding.
Descriptive counts are used a summary feature.
Frequency counts as a quantitative outcome.
Illustrative quotes for the qualitative outcome.



Ethnographic Analysis: more detailed look at an issue.
Grounded views of the participant rather than the analyst’s view.
Data presented as accounts of social phenomena.
Quotes are used.
Due weight given to what was said.
Focus is on how to prioritize participant’s orientations.
Contextual, interpretive accounts of their participants responses.
A way to observe in many ways: “We can ‘see’ how people tell stories, joke, agree, debate…”(AL: more of a multi-media way of collecting information)



Summary:
Discussions in conducting and analyzing a focus group. Useful for “Complex problems”, where discussion is the normal tool we use to examine the problem.

Focus groups lend themselves to content analytic or ethnographic methods. Results are presented as numerical tables, prose accounts with quotations, to detailed interpretive accounts of a focal point. (AL: much like the commentaries in the KORAN, BIBLE, TORA or Sun Tzu's classic book, The Art of War).

9. Group Discussion techniques. (Sung to the tune of of some Lyrics from "Hair")

Group processes are fundamental to human communication (AL: absolutely! This has been shown throughout record history both for our species and for other social species on this planet) and the management of organizations. (AL: I would go further and say group process is fundamental to the survival of organizations).

Advantages:
Variety of perspectives and explanations may be obtained, even from a single data-gathering session.
We function as a social species and our behavior reflects this in the group discussion environment.
Individuals like them.

Disadvantages:
One can dominate (Al: Alpha wolf concept).

Aim is to encourage the participants to talk on issues related to the research project.

Focus Groups in information settings:
Small group (AL: interesting the number suggested is 6 to 12, look how frequently these number appears in the historical literature).
Normally prepare a set of questions that are clear and unambiguous (AL: not that simple to do!).
Facilitator need to be comfortable with talking to a group.
Prepared questions are supplemented with follow-up or probe questions.

Recording the data:
The chapter suggests the standard way of recording discussions (tape recorder, notes taken during the meeting, notes made immediately after the meeting, notes taken by someone else).

Advantages of focus groups:
Speed. Little time commitment from the participants.
Transparency. What is being done is in the open, accessible to all. This increases comfort with this tool.
Interaction: Everyone participates.
Flexibility: immediate feedback or clarification.
Open-endedness. Group can explore a topic.
Ability to note non-verbal communication. Very important,

Disadvantages:
Getting people together. Hard to get people to come to a session. (AL: Why do we have a natural aversion to meet?).
Dominating personalities: one group/person will dominate (AL: Alpha individual, useful during a crisis, not useful for complex problems.)
Wanting to be agreeable: Natural tendency to agree. (AL: Natural behavior. Wanting to be part of the group, not appearing to be at odds with the group may have survival benefits).
Finding a typical group. Sample must be representative. (AL: Again hard to do, since individuals tend to cluster around a dominate individual/organization).


Storytelling:
Knowledge management using these techniques, although the author suggests that there are problems with recording this information. (AL: I think this goes way back in our human history. Dance, story-telling, morality plays were ways of recording storytelling our culture).

Nominal Group Technique (NGT) (AL: love these acronyms! Make it an acronym; make it acceptable to a professional group! My mind always races to the song from HAIR
LBJ took the IRT Down to 4th Street USA
When he got there
What did he see?
The youth of America on LSD;
LBJ IRT ;
USA LSD ;
LSD LBJ ;
FBI CIA ;
FBI CIA ;
LSD LBJ …
).
Put question to group:
Written down by individual silently.
Reported by everyone in the group and noted on a board or chart for all participants to see (no discussion).
Discussed, clarified and evaluated.
Voted on to establish relative importance, from which a group ranking can be derived. (AL: I see these rules as a way of removing the disadvantages of a focus group.)

Focus is on group ownership. (AL: I see, the group prevents any one user from dominating or controlling! Make the rules a little confusing, force participation by calling on people in no particular order, and encourage them to come up with new ideas. I would imagine that the non-verbal communication would increase dramatically. In my opinion, this technique works because it breaks the hidden hierarchical (pecking order) rules that we follow as a species).

Uses of NGT:
Gives the benefit of both group and individual participation.

Advantages NGT:
It uses individual knowledge, expertise and judgment.
It makes use of a group’s ability to suggest a variety of ideas and assess them (AL: We keep coming back to “Wisdom of the Crowds”).
Fast.
Generates a numeric priority ranking.
It uses terminology of participants.
Lowers the dominance of a single member or group.

Disadvantage NGT:
One issue at a time.
Should have 5 to 12 individuals.
All individuals must start together.
Combining the results of multiple NGT experiences is difficult.
Quality may vary.

Preparing:
Make it short (AL: Good advice with any group)
Make it simple (AL: not that easy if the group is heterogeneous, “What is truth” Whose truth?).
Directly related to the question being investigated.
keep it open ended.

How do we solve complex questions?

When I have a complex problem or a concern with my children (getting them to finish their homework, improving their grades in school), I tend to follow a pretty straight forward pattern. I let my wife handle it. What she does is consult a very wide range of peer members (teachers, family members, child care physicians, fellow workers, neighbors, etc) who give advice. She takes all this information and plots a course of action.

Quantitative research, in my opinion, follows the concept of “Occam’s razor” which is to simplify everything and reduce complexity. The statistical tools that we use in the quantitative world are designed to do this; complexity is reduced to a simpler model.

Our guest speaker E.S gave a very interesting presentation on some of the aspects of child care research, a very complex area of research. As the discussion progressed, I again saw why qualitative analysis was useful for difficult questions. It provides a mechanism to handle dialog. Dialog is complex; it branches outward and takes sudden turns. The tools needed to understand this complexity have to be able to absorb a great deal of information and organize them in some manner.

With my background in statistics, I have a pretty good idea of where quantitative research came from and why it works. The readings are helping but I see that I need to go further. How were complex questions answered in the past, what tools were used, why were they used?

In historical literature, we have the idea of groups handling complex problems through group discussion (e.g., King Arthur and the round table, the king and his advisors, the twelve apostles, Indian nation). These discussions (stories, edicts, parables, songs-dance) were documented by using a tools designed to handle complexity, a form of “documentation of interviews”. This is an area I need to look further into.

As for our guest speaker, I would say that quantitative tools will not be able to fully answer these questions. I see a need for a mixed-mode approach; in fact, I see a mixed-mode approach to many of the complex problems I face in my projects at the University. I have taken steps to try to capture the complexity, rather than reduce it, through the use of more free text fields in the surveys and questionnaires we create.

Random thoughts on a cold Saturday.

So my sons were taking part with their Troop in the Klondike Derby event at Twin Echo Scout Camp this last Saturday. This event is a Boy Scout event with boys from the surrounding area, and involves fire building, shelter building, knot making and many other outdoor games. The boys, of course, had a great time and I had the wonderful opportunity of using my qualitative knowledge to observer some human behavior.

I had noticed that working as a group; the boys were tying and presenting their knots correctly. As individuals during the actual knot tying contest, the boys were not doing as well. The explanation came to me in a flash from article “Wisdom of the crowds” (1) from one of our lectures. As a group the boys were able to observe and correct each other quickly. Working as individuals they were not able to tap into that powerful knowledge base and did not do as well. This will lead to a change in the way we train the boys.


Wikipedia contributors (2006). The Wisdom of Crowds. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 18:40, February 15, 2006 from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Wisdom_of_Crowds&oldid=39398657.

February 15, 2006
(H & M) Analytic Ethnography

The author suggests that “ analytic ethnography” refers to research processes and products where an investigator (a) strives to provide propositional answers to social and organizational questions; (b) does so in an unfettered or naturalistic manner; (c) uses personal insight to gain this information; (d) uses the entire research period to gain this knowledge; (e) looks for truthfulness in the answers; (f) seeks new information; (g) has an eye to creating an analysis that is conceptually elaborated, descriptively detailed and concept-data interpenetrated. (AL: I think the author means that an attempt is made to understand complex social questions by trying to put oneself into the event, and trying to look at the underlying generic processes that form that behavior.)


Generic Propositions:
Type, Frequency, Magnitude, Structure, Process, Cause, Conseqauence, Agency

Unfettered inquiry:
Go where the information takes you.

Deep Familiarity:
Immerse yourself in the subject.

Emergent Analysis:
Let the knowledge(memos, coding, etc.) lead you to the answer.

True Content:
Look for “Truth”

New Content:
Look for new directions.

Developed treatment:
Give detailed thought to the subject.

Failing:
Labor intensive.
Theory produces knowledge.
Results may be scattered.

(S) Chapter 2 Ethnography

Three types (a) Integrative, individual based; (b) Narrative, first-person narrative; (c) Combinative, interactions between people.

Use:
Need for an empirical approach.
Open to elements that cannot be codified.
Looking phenomena seen in the field.

Integrative ethnography:
Look at observations and integrate them into the cultural whole.
(AL: focus on empathy with people. How do we control bias?)

Narrative Integration:
Using the ethnographic text.

Ethnographic Casebook.
Aggregation of events collected in an ethnographic study.

Measuring what is possible:
“Each new study observes new scenes and helps enlarge the spectrum of skills, arrangements and forms of actions explored by earlier studies” (AL: How many studies do we need? Rule of thumb? 30 Studies).

Ethnography in the public space of its readers.
Explain to the public, behaviors the public may not have observed.

Chapter3 .Building Bridges

How does qualitative research bridge the different approaches to social life(AL: From looking at events from Macro to micro?).

Discourse and ethnography:
Conversation analysis. Focus is how everyday life is organized within and through language. (AL: interesting, this does focus on an area that is not well used within the more “typical” research systems I have seen).

Ethnomethodological concerns and strategies.
Observe social settings and interactions.

Qualitative methods as analytic bridges:
The analyses are theory-constructing activities that use “unconventional’ methods.
More about asking questions than receiving answers.

------
Ethnography (from the Greek ethnos = nation and graphein = writing) refers to the qualitative description of human social phenomena, based on fieldwork.(1)


Wikipedia contributors (2006). Ethnography. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 17:45, February 15, 2006 from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ethnography&oldid=38788959.

February 8, 2006 readings, summaries and thoughts.

Chapter 10 Historical Investigation
Sidney J Shep.

Thoughts:
The Historical Investigation reminds me of a case-control study (historical design with the danger of recall bias, selection bias). The focus is on finding and understanding historical information, but the methods used suggest that the investigator and historical information are “bonded together”. Case-Control and retrospective cohort designs suggest that the investigator distance themselves from the gathering of information and try to be as objective as possible.


The primary focus of this chapter is to suggest that a historical investigation develops a historical perspective which gives an understanding to present data events. The historical investigation focus is not on “lessons learned”.


This chapter states that there are many approaches to historical research. Historiography ( the study of the writing of history) and its sub-branches, political, constitutional, social, economic, labor, urban, rural, history of international relations…(AL: Quite a number of sub-branches)

Characteristics of historical investigation:
Difficult to recreate the conditions of the past. David Kingery- All history is fiction; we can never “know” the past.
E.H. Carr-History is a continuous process of interaction between the historian and his facts.
Historians bring their own pre-existing interpretive frameworks.
Historians balance temporal and spatial dislocation by using empathy and imagination to interpret. (AL: when does interpretation become story telling?)
Four Phases:
Identifying and locating relevant sources. (primary-raw and secondary - interpreted after primary sources)(official- institution sponsored and non-official – soldiers diary - sources)(Formally archived material, professional organizations, individual or family).
Assessing the nature and value of these sources.(is the source authentic?, when, who, why, what -- standard reporting questions) ( written notes, create a timeline, provide sufficient detail, review and reorganize notes)
Interpreting the evidence found in the sources. ( Need to understand WHY events occurred) (Use power of abstraction, imagination, empathy, intuition [AL: What about those of use who do not have the skill set of intuition?], self-awareness, skilled in logical argument and written communication)
Communicating the interpretation in written form (AL: what about those who have stronger visual or verbal interpretation skills?)

Chapter 4 Analyzing documentary realities:

Thoughts:
Do not take a document as a factual representation of events; it has been flavored by the author and the environment that the author is in.

Summary:
Documentary realities are not accurate portrayals but suggest a type of reality. Focus more on the form and function of the text. (Day to day documentation).
Focus is also on the Rhetorical features (how spoken or written text persuades their readers and hearers (AL: and viewers).
Look carefully on the documents production (authorship) and consumption (readership).
Intertextuality (The way text is entangled with other text, the text is not in isolation!)

Document realities:
Documents are “social facts”; they are not surrogates for other types of data. Not to be treated as primary data but as data in their own right.

Particular occupations have their own distinctive registers (theater review, law review)

Look at the style that the report is written in.

Examine the kinds of language used.

Intertextuality, documents weaved from other texts.

Documents are addressed to a certain type of readership.

Chapter 5:

Doing things with documents:

Thoughts:
Documents are dynamic not static.

Summary:
Documents have a three-fold role; receptacle (instructions, commands, wishes), agent (others may manipulate it) and resource that will be mobilized for further action.
Treat the document as topic rather than as resource.
Documents are manipulated in organized settings for many different ends.
Documents have effects. They are produced and then become productive.
The reader will interpret the documents, so the content is not fixed by can be dynamic.

Chapter 6
Internet communication as a tool for qualitative research.

Thoughts:
The internet (AL: note the small “i”, since I feel that the current Internet will evolve into a utility like electricity or water) will be a rich source of information. (AL: The internet will move from the computer to the “real world”).

(AL: Interesting how behaviors in the “real-world” are mirrored in cyberspace. Why would the females in the opening paragraph of the chapter feel they were powerless to do anything about the incorrect behavior of one of the users? If the user names were anonymous, why did the author assume the online character was male [author brings up the concept of transgender on page 99] ? If the inappropriate individual could be tracked down, identified and a determination made of gender, then why were the females powerless?)

(AL: the internet “feels” like the user is anonymous, in reality they are not. Log files, used for billing, associate each computer with a unique IP address. Although the actual user may not be known, the registered owner is. This is similar to how we “know” the user of a car on a particular day through the registered license owner of the vehicle. If a robbery occurs with a vehicle, the police can track the owner down and ask the owner to identify the user of the vehicle. A public setting, such as a library, normally has a computer check out card, which could serve the same purpose. Even in a public library setting you can at least identify the user as a library patron, where applications that can flag users in real-time could be used to alert administrators of improper use. The individual computer also has logs that identify the web pages visited and activity performed. Even if the logs are erased, undelete programs could bring them back).




Summary:
The Internet is defined variously as a communication medium, a global network of connections, and a scene of social construction.
The shape and nature of Internet communication is defined in context, negotiated by users that may adapt hardware and software to suit their individual or community needs.
Internet communication affords qualitative researchers creative potential because of its geographic dispersion, multi modality, and chrono malleability (asynchronous and synchronous communication).
The researcher’s own conceptualization of the Internet will influence how it is woven into the research project, with significant consequences on the outcomes.
As social life becomes more saturated with Internet-based media for communication, researchers will be able to creatively design projects that utilize these media to observe culture, interact with participants, or collect artifacts.
Each new technology bears a double edge for qualitative researchers and users; as it highlights or enables certain aspects and qualities of interaction, it hides or constrains others.
Internet framework:
Medium for communication.(tool, place, existing within the world
Network of computers.
Context of social construction. (Relationships and communities, meaning and identity).
Internet as tool.
Instantaneous network of interaction.
Internet as multi-modal (synchronous, asynchronous, anonymous, non-anonymous).
Push (weather report) vs. pull (CNN lookup) technology.

SharePoint email blog

Mary Jo,
>
> I am checking with L Y who is the Director of the Office of
> Clinical Research, Health Sciences University of Pittsburgh. L
> emailed me and asked me if the students who wanted access were medical
> students. I explained to her that the students were from the School of
> Library Science, so I am hoping that Health Sciences will allow the
> SharePoint use. I am waiting for her return email answer.
>
>
> Now, if this service is only for medical student, then I can offer my
> SharePoint server (My group- Clinical Pharmacology- also uses the same
> technology) to you for your use.
>
> As soon as I get an answer back I will email you.
>
> AL
>
>
>
>
>
> Hi Al --
>
> I tried to find some reference to this on the PItt websit today, but
> no luck. Is there a particular point where students can sign in - or
> use it in some way?
>
> thanks a lot,
> M J