School of Sociology and Social Policy

Thinking Critically About Analysis

13 September 2010 | 9.30 am - 5.00 pm | Conference

Beech Grove House, University of Leeds

This one day event, for postgraduate and postdoctoral researchers, will focus on processes of analysis in social research methods.  Leading academics will present ideas about what analysis can mean in different methodological contexts, particularly in relation to substantive findings and theoretical insights.  This will involve moving beyond identifying 'techniques' or procedures, by focusing on how processes of data analysis might enhance our conceptual understanding of the social world.  The event will offer a training opportunity for all who are interested in critical engagement in research methodology, and in research practice. 

Presentations, workshops and a plenary session will enable delegates to think critically about data analysis in social research, and in practice.  Within the practical, group based, workshops delegates will explore specific issues and, where relevant, share insights from their own research and experience.  The workshops will provide an opportunity for delegates to critically evaluate broad themes around research methods and analysis.  Delegates will be asked to sign up to a workshop prior to the event.

Presentation & Workshop Information

Prof Ray Pawson - Naming and Shaming: Evidence and Inference

Dr Nick Emmel - From sampling and choosing cases to analysis in qualitative research

Sampling is variously understood across the traditions of qualitative research.  Case studies may be defined as objects to study or as casing, a methodological strategy in the research.  In this session I will consider methodological considerations of sampling and casing in qualitative research with particular reference to the ways in which these decisions shape and inform analysis.  I will discuss two features of sampling.  First, sampling as revisited in several ways throughout a research project.  Second, sampling decisions as casting long and short shadows through the research.  I will show how these may happen through an investigation of the 5Cs of casing in qualitative research.  Together, I will argue, sampling decisions and casing provide the foundations from which claims can be make in a qualitative enquiry.

Participants will be asked to reflect on a piece of qualitative research they have undertaken or are undertaking.  Working in groups and together you will be asked to consider the following:

• The sampling strategy you considered in your research
• The justifications for this sampling strategy when discussing methods in the research
• The methodological strategies used for analysis
• The relationships between sampling and analysis of the research
• And finally, reflection on the ways in which links can be drawn between sampling decisions, methodologies for analysis, and claims made from the research

Dr Sarah Irwin - Pattern and process through qualitative evidence.  Working across survey and qualitative data

A long standing question within qualitative research is if, and how, we generalise from qualitative data and the grounds on which we do so.  In this presentation I explore the question of what data is taken to 'stand for', alongside issues relating to the theoretical claims we mount on qualitative research data.  I consider some of these questions with reference to a specific case study example of parenting and social class.  I explore substantive findings from the qualitative data analysis and simultaneously reflect on the process of analysis and the scope for a sociologically meaningful dialogue between qualitative evidence and survey data.  I also address tensions which arise in interpreting pattern and process within qualitative analysis.  In complex social worlds observation of pattern often entails simplification.  Does this search for order add to, or subtract from, our understanding of complexity?

In the workshop participants will be provided with primary research data.  You will be asked to reflect on the scope for meaningful dialogue between types of (extensive and intensive) evidence and if (and how) such dialogue can enhance our understanding and explanation of both patterns and process.

Dr Teela Sanders & Dr Rachela Colosi

This presentation will use several previous ethnographic projects to examine the process from 'watching' the social world, to making sense of the worlds that the social actors inhabit.  How does a researcher, by definition an outsider, come to understand how someone else lives and experiences the world: their day to day lives, routines, behaviours, and their views of the world?  Using my ethnographic experiences I chart the processes of access, trust, rapport, conflict, and relationships that are the building blocks to accumulating varied and immense levels of data.  Moreover, the processes through which I unpacked and understood these data are stripped away to reveal how analysis happens intially at the level of 'human nvivo'.  Finally, the outputs of ethnographic data are described in relation to how they contribute to original knowledge so that stories are taken from the field to the policy arena.

This workshop will explore whether and why ethnography is a dying method; the difficulties of access and how to overcome them; how to negotiate relationships and the 'research bargain'; the collection of data and what to do with it.

Dr Angharad Beckett - Exploring mind-mapping as a research tool: from application to analysis

During this session we will explore mind-mapping as a research tool: from application to analysis.

The best way to explore the potential for mind mapping (also known as concept-mapping) as a research tool is to see it in action.  For this reason, during this workshop we will trial the use of mind-mapping as part of one-to-one and focus group interviews.  We will explore the nature of the data produced and consider the choice of methods available for analysing this data.  Should anyone be unsure about what is meant by a mind-map, please see some examples drawn by primary-age children during a research project managed by Angharad Beckett (can be viewed in the DEEPS Project End of Award Report)

 

Delegates will be asked to sign up to a workshop prior to the event. Please see the booking form for details. The cost of the event is £15. The cost includes tea, coffee and lunch.

Travel Expenses

Social Policy Association members can claim travel expenses of up to £40 per person, available on a first-come, first-served basis. Please see registration form for details. To become a member visit the Social Policy Association website.

See Also

• Programme details