corpus construction' as an alternative logic of sampling
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INFO 272. Qualitative Research Methods. 'Corpus Construction' as an alternative logic of sampling. ‘Corpus Construction’. ‘Corpus Construction’. Defining the sites and subjects of in situ work - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
INFO 272. Qualitative Research Methods
‘Corpus Construction’
‘Corpus Construction’ Defining the sites and subjects of in situ
workMaking decisions about your field site(s) –
how a social phenomenon of interest is mapped out onto spatial terrain
Selecting people to follow, observe and/or interview
Selecting media / artifacts from the setting for further analysis
Competence and Innovation Competence (Bauer and Gaskell)
SystematicIssues of public accountability
Innovation (Becker)Challenge conventional thinking
Doing Innovative Research Starting Where You Are (Lofland
and Lofland)Commitment and CuriosityAccess and ‘getting in’
Willingness to go where others won’tThe inconvenient and
uncomfortableThe illegitimate
Approaches Total enumeration (i.e. census) Statistical random sample Snowball sample (iteration again) Convenience sample (bad)
Random vs. Systematic Random Statistical
SamplingDistribution of already
known attributesSample has a
distribution of criterion = population as a whole
Popular misconception – the greater the # in the sample, the more accurate
‘Corpus Construction’ Typifies unknown
attributes Systematic selection
to some alternative rationale (not a convenience sample)
Unknowable PopulationsMany populations of ‘individuals’ are
knowable, however…
What about ‘actions?’ What about ‘situations?’ Open systems (i.e. language) = infinite
populations
Mapping the UnknowableRepresentations
(unknown)
Varieties of:Belief
AttitudesOpinions
StereotypesIdeologies
WorldviewsHabits
Practices
Social strata, functions and categories (known)
[Bauer and Gaskell]
Mapping the Unknowable Iteration until Saturation Don’t collect too much data [logistical
limits]
Problems of Social Strata in Cross-Cultural Research
Demographic Form
Extending Selection Strategies: Sampling for ‘Innovation’ Identify the case that is likely to upset your
thinking and look for it – (the counter-example) e.g. morphine, opium, heroin addicts
If someone says it has already been studied, its probably time to study it again.
Studying the non-serious and the ‘boring’
Loose Ends: Selecting Field Sites Some work is clearly ‘sited’ Some is not (amorphous social settings) –
and therefore locating such work will be more involved
Sites may be ‘open’ or ‘closed’
Loose Ends: Collecting text, images, data Text produced in the process of research
vs. texts produced for other purposes Bauer and Gaskell’s simplified treatment of
newspapers, etc. – newspapers as… vs. Becker’s concern with the ‘sociology of
record keeping’ in media studies, the ‘active audience’
In Conclusion - Representativeness? The problem of unknowable populations Rather than ‘representativeness’ we are
seeking ‘range’ and variation in the social phenomenon under study
To what effect? Challenging notions of what is ‘natural’ or ‘universal’ about a phenomenon
To Review Population and the problem of unknowable
populations Selection for range/diversity of the social
phenomenon rather than representativeness
Selection for innovation Stopping criterion
For Thursday Read Lofland and Lofland section on
logging data Read UC guidelines for protection of
human subjects