Statistical Analysis of Sensitive Topics in Group and Individual Interviews
Tóm tắt
The relative strengths of focus groups and individualinterviews have been more the subject of speculationthan systematic research. This study statisticallytests the notion that participants in focus groups andindividual interviews equally raise sensitive topicsfor discussion. Ninety-seven year-round residents fromthe Chelém Lagoon region in Yucatán, Mexicoparticipated in 1 of 12 focus groups or 19 individualin-depth interviews. A professional moderator usingthe same discussion guide concerning the sharedmangrove ecosystem conducted the sessions. The 31sessions resulted in more than 500 pages oftranscripts which were systematically and iterativelycoded using a grounded theory approach. The codedqualitative data were transformed into summaryvariables that allowed for statistical analysis andtesting of the research hypothesis. The studyillustrates that the individual interviews were 18times more likely to raise socially sensitivediscussion topics than the focus groups. Additionally,the study found the two qualitative methods to revealcomplementary, not substitute, sets of information.
Tài liệu tham khảo
Agar, M. H. & MacDonald, J. (1995). Focus groups and ethnography. Human Organization 54: 78–86.
Belson, W. A. (1981). The Design and Understanding of Survey Questions. London: Gower.
Bryman, A. (1988). Quantity and Quality in Social Research. London: Unwin Hyman.
Carson, R. T., Hanemann, W. M., Kopp, R. J., Krosnick, A., Mitchell, R. C., Presser, S., Ruud, P. A. & Smith, V. K. (1994). Prospective interim lost use value due to DDT and PCB contamination in the southern California Bight. La Jolla, California: Natural Resource Damage Assessment, Inc.
De Jong, M. & Schellens, P. J. (1998). Focus groups or individual interview? A comparison of text evaluation approaches. Technical Communication 45: 77–88.
Fleiss, J. L. (1981). Statistical Methods for Rates and Proportions. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Foddy, W. (1996). The in-depth testing of survey questions: A critical appraisal of methods. Quality & Quantity 30: 361–370.
Fredricks, M. & Miller, S. I. (1997). Some brief notes on the “unfinished business” of qualitative inquiry. Quality & Quantity 31: 1–13.
Gray, J. H. & Denstein, I. L. (1998). Integrating quantitative and qualitative analysis using latent and manifest variables. Quality & Quantity 32: 419–431.
Hoehn, J. P. & Krieger, D. J. (1994). Cairo water and wastewater economic assessment project. East Lansing, Michigan: Michigan State University.
Instituto Nacional de Estadística Geografía e Informática (INEGI). (1992). Yucatán-resultados definitivos: Datos por AGEB urbana. XI censo general de poblacion vivienad, 1990. Aguascalientes, Mexico: Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática.
Kaplowitz, M. D. (1999). Conflicting wetland agendas in the Yucatan. International Review of Comparative Public Policy 11: 141–156.
Kaplowitz, M. D. (2000). Identifying ecosystem services using multiple methods: Lessons from the mangrove wetlands of Yucatan, Mexico. Agriculture and Human Values 17: 169–179.
Kitzinger, J. (1994a). The methodology of focus groups: The importance of interaction between research participants. Sociology of Health and Illness 16: 103–121.
Kitzinger, J. (1994b). Focus groups: Method or madness. In: M. Boulton (ed.), Challenge and Innovation: Methodological Advances in Social Research on HIV/AIDS. New York: Taylor and Francis.
Knodel, J. (1997). A case for nonanthropological qualitative methods for demographers. Population and Development Review 23: 847–853.
Krippendorff, K. (1980). Content Analysis: An Introduction to Its Methodology. Beverly Hills, California: Sage Publications.
Krueger, R. A. (1994). Focus groups: A Practical Guide for Applied Research. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications.
Merton, R. K., Fiske, M. & Kendall, P. L. (1990). The Focused Interview. New York: Free Press.
Mitchell, R. C. & Carson, R. T. (1989). Using Surveys to Value Public Goods: The Contingent Valuation Method. Washington, D.C.: Resources for the Future.
Morgan, D. (1997). Focus Groups as Qualitative Research. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications.
Morgan, D. L. (1996). Focus groups. In: J. Hagan & K. S. Cook (eds), Annual Review of Sociology. Palo Alto: Annual Reviews, pp. 129–152.
Morgan, D. L., Krueger, R. A., Scannell, A. U. & King, J. A. (1998). Focus Group Kit. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications.
Oppenheim, A. N. (1992). Questionnaire Design, Interviewing and Attitude Measurement. New York: Pinter Publishers.
Schwarz, N. (1997). Cognition, communication, and survey measurement. In: R. J. Kopp, W. Pommerehne & N. Schwarz (eds), Determining the Value of Non-Marketed Goods. Boston: Kluwer-Nijhoff.
Smith, V. K. (1993). Nonmarket valuation of environmental resources: An interpretive appraisal. Land Economics 69: 1–26.
Strauss, A. & Corbin, J. (1990). Basic of Qualitative Research: Grounded Theory Procedures and Techniques. Newbury Park, California: Sage Publications.
Sudman, S., Bradburn, N. B. & Schwarz, N. (1996). Thinking About Answers: The Application of Cognitive Processes to Survey Methodology. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Weber, R. P. (1990). Basic content analysis. In: M. S. Lewis-Beck (ed.), Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences. Newbury Park, California: Sage.
Weiss, R. S. (1994). Learning from Strangers: The Art and Method of Qualitative Interview Studies. New York: The Free Press.
Wight, D. (1994). Boys' thoughts and talk about sex in a working class locality of Glasgow. Sociological Review 42: 702–737.