The Issue of Sample Size in Qualitative Research - Assignment Example

Research Introduction Research is the work done in a systematic way, and its aim is to increase the level of knowledge. The knowledge includes that of the man, the culture as well as the society at large. Research is done to find the new kind of data or to extend a certain kind of data that already exists. Research done follows a strategic process that is followed to the end till the intended results are achieved. In research, there are two main type of research and they are practical research and theoretical research. Qualitative, quantitative, correlation and quasi-experimental are all types of research methodology. 6.1 1. Discuss the issue of sample size in qualitative research. Qualitative research is research that usually aims at gathering the deepest review or understanding of the way human beings behave as well as the reasons behind their behavior. Qualitative research gets to look at the why and the how involved in the making of decisions and not only the what, where and the when of occurrence. The analysis of human beings in the natural settings means that different situations lead to different actions that clearly mean that the size of the sample will be determined by the different kind of situation. In additional, the higher the number of samples, the lower the risks of errors. For instance, students in school will have different opinions about the school when they are in class, in the field or in the competitions which shows that the size of samples will be divided to fit the opinions of different students in all the three instances (Lincoln, 2011). 2. How might a qualitative researcher determine an appropriate sample size? When a researcher goes out to do research, he/ she need to have some goals that he/she has set to achieve. For the researcher to determine the kind of size that is good enough to have, he/she needs to look at the time given for the completion of the research (Holstein, 2010). The kind of results that he gets at the beginning of the project also should contribute to the number in sample size that is required to be able to gather all the relevant information needed. Lastly, if the institution requires a certain number of sample sizes, the researcher will not have any other option that to comply with the demand. For instance, if a researcher sets to find the reasons behind workers strike in an institution, he might follow the guidelines of the project. He might also find that the reason for the strike was not only salary but also the mistreating of workers and this would automatically lead the researcher to dig more and this would be by sampling a greater number of members. And in all these, the researcher will be looking at the time he has to complete it as well as the getting the best out of the workers so as to acquire the evidence needed. 3. What influence does sample size have on transferability? Transferability is the act of changing taking a research that has already been done by explaining all the content in it. All the information in it gets to be transferred into another context, and it gets to be viewed in another perspective. The person who is seeing through the transfer gets to be questionable of the content. The researcher involved here find themselves in a position that all the content that they have depending on the findings that they have need to be generalized to fit the population and the content also needs to be proved useful and credible enough for the sampled population. The sample size also influences transferability in that the generalization of the content in how much the research findings can be extended and how much of the conclusion needs to be done. In a research is done on government expenditure in any country, the research need to be able to address all the aspects of bodies that are attached to the government thus if at any time transferability is done, the content within need to be maintained despite the change in context (Mannay,2010). 6.2 I. How might a researcher affect the results of face-to-face interviews? Face-to-face interview is a kind of interview that is done when the researcher gets to be in the face to face the situation and usually there is recorded evidence to prove that the conversation took place. At any given chance, he gets to ask questions that are not understood in the same way. The researcher might also change the topic of the interview or get biased on some certain point of the conversation. People have different understanding and if the questions asked get to be similar yet different, the answers to the questions gets to be different and thus making the results of the research or the conclusion of the interview to be different. In any case that the interviewer is doing research on wildlife animals and ways to protect the wildlife at large, the researcher needs to avoid the inclusion of politics in the conversation. II. What can be done to mitigate issues that might arise from these problems? When having an interview, problems may arise depending with the topic of discussion, as well as the change of the atmosphere, during the interview. The research always needs not to interfere or suggest possible answers of the questions so that the information he gets will not be distorted in any way(Adler, 2011). The researcher also needs to explain all the questions that he might be asking. He also needs to interpret all the questions that the person being interviewed is to answer so that the answers being given will be misrepresented in any way. The researcher also should also be prepared with all the questions following an order. During the interview, the researcher needs to control all his opinions in the conversation and also avoid being emotional carried away. He also needs to avoid being biased and allow the interviewee to answer the questions as they are. Being biased will for sure cause questions of the credibility of the researcher as it means he can go further to alter the results at the end so as to meet his own needs and thoughts (McMullen, 2011). 6.3 1) What are some ways a researcher might mitigate the effect of ethical issues such as researcher’s bias, confidentiality, and influence of the data collection process on the sample in a qualitative research. In research, researcher at times gets to interfere with the research itself. Some become bias on the field while some also get to influence the data collection process. In order to soften all these kind of problems, the researcher should not for instance force the people to go deep to the secrets that they have within them and this is a (McMullen, 2011)violation of their rights thus should avoid it. He should also be "neutral" in the research and mingle with the people fairly in order to be able to gain all the information. Being biased may even cause the people to hold back information that is valuable, and these automatically gets to affect the process of data collection. Any changes being made during this process should all be to improve data collection and not to interfere with the data collection. 6.4 i. Discuss some ethical considerations that are inherent when doing qualitative research. When a researcher goes out to perform a qualitative research, he gets to deal with human beings and the things that affect their lives or the things that influence their actions. The researcher has to consider if the actions are good or bad depending with the situations the people are into, the researcher is bound to either support the actions or be against the actions and also, the researcher will also be made to believe or deny things the he finds to be worthy or not worth in the research. If the researcher goes in a traditional society, he will get to meet people and will be involved in the actions that they do, and he is likely to advocate the actions or be against them. ii. How might these considerations be addressed? The ethical considerations that researchers face can be addressed both at a personal level and at a cultural level. In respect to a person, one have to weigh and see the effects that the actions that one taking is affecting once life. How also human acts when they learn about things that may change their lives also matters as the actions may harmful to their lives. Researchers need to understand the culture, the people themselves and their actions and strive to get the best information possible that is available. The ethical considerations should be taken as a way to best understand the people as people have different things in life that they have to live up to. Conclusion Research is one of the best ways to gather information that will be of use to the world from the diverse society. Research involves interaction with other people in order to gain information required. He also has to be prepared and be also well informed of the role of the researcher so as to have a successful research. The researcher also needs to behave ethically during the research in a way that he won't interfere with the kind data that he gets to collect. These means that the researcher needs to be in his best to see the research project through. References A Data Collector’s Field Guide (2010) Qualitative Research Methods. techsociety.com. Retrieved 7 October 2010. Adler, P.A. and Adler, P. (2011) The Tender Cut: Inside the Hidden World of Self-Injury. New York: New York CA/Dehli: Sage.Introducing Research Methodology – A Beginners’ Guide to Doing A Research Project. Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (2011). The SAGE Handbook of qualitative research ( 4th ed.). Los Angeles: Sage Publications. Gubrium, J. F. and J. A. Holstein (2010).Analyzing Narrative Reality.Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Holstein, J. A. and J. F. Gubrium, eds. (2012).Varieties of Narrative Analysis.Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.  Mannay, D. (2010).Making the familiar strange: Can visual research methods render the familiar setting more perceptible? Qualitative Research, 10 (1), pp. 91-111 Saladana, Johnny (2012). The coding manual for qualitative researchers.Sage. Wertz, Charmaz, McMullen.(2011)Five Ways of Doing Qualitative Analysis: Phenomenological Psychology. 16-18. The Guilford Press: March 30, 2011. 1st ed. Print. Wertz, Charmaz, McMullen.(2011) Five Ways of Doing Qualitative Analysis: Phenomenological Psychology, Grounded Theory, Discourse Analysis, Narrative Research, and Intuitive Inquiry 16-18. The Guilford Press: March 30, 2011. Read More