ARAŞTIRMA YÖNTEMLERİ - Deneme Sınavı - 2

Ethnography is a design rooted in social research tradition, and it analyzes the routines regulating daily lives of individuals that form a social group from those individuals’ point of views. As usual, the researcher should first decide if ethnography is the most appropriate design to examine her/his research question during the planning stage. Ethnography design would be the right choice if the research aim is to explore the principles that regulate daily routines such as language, religion, tradition, power relations, and sovereignty of a specific cultural group. The correct answer is B.

Mixed-methods research has many advantages. But it does not lead to more consistency in research findings. The correct answer is C.

Mixed method is a research approach where both quantitative and qualitative data sets are gathered and integrated so as to find answers to research questions. Mixed method approach accommodates philosophical assumptions of both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The correct answer is A.

Grounded theory is a design mostly employed to develop a theory that would explain processes, actions, and interactions among people. In grounded theory, the researcher strives to explore social processes, behavioral patterns, and acceptance among participants, and the meanings they form. The correct answer is D.

Sensitivity to natural environment refers to the condition that the focal phenomenon/phenomena or event(s) of a qualitative research has/have to be examined in their natural environment, or context. This specifically means that any phenomenon or event studied via qualitative research can never be manipulated. The correct answer is B.

Research studies conducted via quantitative research methods are inclined to see the facts through the same eyes all the time, and thus, fail to explain social phenomena that are constantly in a state of change. Yet, it should be remembered that social phenomena cannot be universal, are never fixed, and can change in time. The correct answer is C.

Case studies are frequently utilized especially within IR and comparative political sciences. The reason for this is the flexible structure of case study design, which offers analysis of all sub-fields within the field of IR. The correct answer is A.

Ethnography researcher enters in the natural environment where the group lives and participates in daily routines together with the members of that culture during a time labeled as fieldwork. Sharing the same culture with the members, researchers conduct studies where they interact with others for a considerable amount of time with minimum intervention in order to develop noticeable study models. In this way, the researcher observes the cultural components in their real settings. The correct answer is D.

There are three components in narrative inquiry: temporal context, social context, and space. These components may help deepen the understanding of a specific story; in the meantime, they are also regarded as the common parts of all stories. In this sense, personal experiences of the shapers in a story and their interactions with others constitute character dimension. Temporal context of a story, or time frame (past-present-future), builds the time dimension, and the physical environment where a story takes place forms place dimension. The correct answer is B.

Grounded theory is defined as a process in which the researcher digs out a general abstract theory about a process, action, or interaction grounded in participants’ standpoint. As can be followed from the definition, grounded theory makes use of processes and interactions grounded in participants’ narratives, perceptions, and experiences in order to develop a theory that can explain the phenomenon on a wider conceptual level. The correct answer is E.

The correct ordering of the steps taken during the process of qualitative research are as follows: 

I) Identifying the research focus or problem

II) Selecting participants

III) Data collection techniques

IV) Data analysis

V) Reporting

The correct answer is D.

Despite its many advantages, documents do not provide first-hand experience of event as they are written, visual or vocal sources of research. The correct answer is C.

A qualitative research may never make sure if a document that is not used at a given time will be necessary in future. Thus, it is crucial not to get rid of any documents as they might be relevant at a later time. The correct answer is A.

Credibility (consistency) is a criterion for rigor. Credibility means that data collected during a research process will yield the same results if recollected and undergone the same steps. The correct answer is E.

-Experimental designs provide the researcher with the opportunity to determine the independent variable’s effect.

-The researcher should assign the participants in each group randomly. Subjects cannot decide which group they are going to be in.

-Classical experimental design employs randomization to assign participants to
groups whereas quasi-experimental design makes use of non-randomized procedures.

-Research studies contain two types of populations: target population and
accessible population. Target population is the one that is almost impossible to reach out.

-It is only the accessible population that is defined in the scientific reports of research studies, and it is referred as research population.

Unlike quantitative approach, there is no need for hypotheses to develop research question(s) in a qualitative research study (Creswell, 2003). Likewise, the aim is not to figure out variables and the relations among them. In addition, questions directed to determine specific features such as cause-effect, relation, and difference are not used in qualitative research. The overall aim of qualitative
research is to comprehensively understand perceptions and processes.

Phenomenology is a qualitative research design focusing on perceptions and meanings that individuals develop based on their experiences.

-While qualitative research studies utilize a rather small-scale sample outlined purposefully, quantitative endeavors mostly employ probabilitybased sampling strategies (Patton, 2002).

- Unlike quantitative research, no statistical process is run to determine the significance of the data set. 

-Unlike quantitative research, formulas are not used for data analysis in qualitative research. Instead, the researcher tries to unfold the meanings and patterns embedded in the data set through her/his perspective.

The Convergent Design: This design aims to integrate the results obtained
from both qualitative and quantitative data analyses. Researchers adopting this design collect both qualitative and quantitative data simultaneously. In other words, collection of neither qualitative nor quantitative data is prioritized.