Approaches to research design Biranda Ford, 14.1.18

Research design = Having a plan

Five models: Quantitative Qualitative Mixed Methods Arts-Based Community-Based Participatory Research Approaches

PATRICIA LEAVY, The Guildford Press, 2017 Research Design: Quantitative, Qualitative, Mixed Methods, Arts-Based, and Community-Based Participatory Research Approaches PATRICIA LEAVY, The Guildford Press, 2017

Choices, choices... Topic Purpose Philosophy/theory Ethics Your experience/ background Your skills

Everyday ways of knowing Authorities: parents, family, teachers, institutions, professional experts, media, etc Cultural beliefs Personal / sensory experiences

Ways of knowing through research Exploration: new topic, gaps in literature Description: accounts of people, groups, events, situations, often from perspective of people living a particular experience. (e.g. Clifford Geertz, ‘thick description’) Explanation: relationships, causes, effects, correlations Community change or action: change, action, or intervention to suit the aims of stakeholders or provoke policy change (can involve explanation, description, evaluation) Evaluation: assess the impact of programmes/policy (type of explanation) Provoke, evoke, unsettle: disrupt stereotypes, question ideologies (to evoke meanings, can explore and describe)

Quantitative research deductive (‘top down’, start with theory/ general statement/ hypothesis. Move from general ‘the theory’, to specific research observations.) proving/ disproving existing theories measures variables and tests relationships between variables in order to reveal patterns, correlations, or causal relationships. linear methods of data collection and analysis that result in statistical data. values: neutrality, objectivity, and the acquisition of a sizeable scope of knowledge (e.g. a statistical overview from a large sample). appropriate when your primary purpose is to explain or evaluate.

Qualitative research inductive (move from specific observations to generalisation/ theory building) research generates meaning/ brings into existence a way of looking at the world learn about social phenomenon by looking at meanings people ascribe to activities, situations, events, or artefacts. values: importance of people’s subjective experiences and meaning- making processes and acquiring a depth of understanding (i.e. detailed information from a small sample). appropriate when your primary purpose is to explore, describe, or explain.

Mixed methods research (MMR) involves collecting, analyzing, and in some way integrating both quantitative and qualitative data in a single project. phases of a research project are integrated or synergistic, with the quantitative phase influencing the qualitative phase, or vice versa. MMR: ‘comprehensive understanding’ vs ‘ there is no God- view in research’ appropriate to describe, explain, or evaluate. Also routinely used in applied social and behavioural science research, including to prompt community change or social action.

Arts-based research (ABR) adapts the tenets of the creative arts in a research project. aims to address research questions in holistic and engaged ways, theory and practice intertwined. generative researchers place the inquiry process at the centre of their practice. draws on literary writing, music, dance, performance, visual art, film, and other artistic mediums. values aesthetic understanding, evocation, and provocation. appropriate to explore, describe, or evoke, provoke, or unsettle.

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) CBPR is a way of approaching research that shapes how we use methods (it is not a method in itself). Involves collaborative partnerships between researchers and nonacademic stakeholders (e.g., community members/ community-based organizations) attempt by researchers to actively involve the communities they aim to serve in every aspect of the research process, from the identification of a problem to the distribution of research findings. highly collaborative and problem-centred approach to research that requires the sharing of power. appropriate when your purpose is to promote community change or action.

Research paradigms: what do we believe? Research praxis: what do we do?

Research paradigms Positivist - there is a measurable, observable reality outside of our experience. (E.g. scientific method) Interpretivist/ constructivist - there is no external reality outside of our ability to perceive the world. We make meaning in our everyday interactions. (E.g. phenomenology, narrative research, ethnography)

Research paradigms Critical - looks at power relations, dominant discourses, social justice issues. Interest in the experiences and perspectives of the marginalised. (E.g. feminist, critical race, queer, poststructuralist theories). Transformative - draws on critical theory, critical pedagogy, feminist, critical race, and indigenous theories and promotes human rights, social justice, and social- action-oriented perspectives. Understood as an engaged, politically and socially responsible enterprise with the power to transform and emancipate.

Research paradigms Pragmatic - no allegiance to a particular set of rules or theories, suggests that different tools may be useful in different research contexts (E.g. Dewey). Researchers value utility and what works in the context of a particular research question. Arts-Based - suggests that the arts are able to access that which is otherwise out of reach. Values non-verbal ways of knowing, e.g. sensory, emotional, perceptual, kinesthetic, and imaginal knowledge. Research draws on theories of embodiment and phenomenology and may include a range of additional perspectives such as interpretive/ constructivist theories and critical theories.

Research Praxis four key elements of research: genre/ design methods/ practices theory methodology.