| |  | Callejo Gallego, Javier | Observation, interview and discussion group: the silence of three research practices read moreAbstract: Before entering into the opposition between quantitative perspective and qualitative perspective of social research, the need is discussed of considering the social research process as a social process and the empirical observation situations per se as social situations. Therefore, in social research, the object of observation and the ways of observation are made in the same stuff. As in any social situation, social norms come into play in the observation situation. Thus, the article develops the presentation of three qualitative social research practices from their design as producing different social situations which, in turn, take on the nature of immediate contexts which favor respective articulations between the practical norms of specific social groups and the dominant social norms in society at large. The practices presented are: participant observation, in-depth interview and discussion group. A different articulation among social norms which finds silence to be privileged way of observation. Hence, the conclusion is reached that the management and analysis of silence is fundamental both for distinguishing the qualitative from the quantitative perspective, the former opening up more to silence than the latter, and to distinguish one practice from another, especially for observing the effects proper of the observation during the observation processes. | 2002 |
| |  | Amezcua, Manuel | Los modos de análisis en investigación cualitativa en salud: perspectiva crítica y reflexiones en voz alta read moreAbstract: There is a consistent theoretical and methodological foundations on qualitative health research provided mainly by social sciences. However, this existent overlap between social and health aspects is a wide multidisciplinary field still underexplored. This article offers an overview of the main paradigms, methodologies and theoretical tendencies of qualitative research analyses within the health sciences context. Based on an initial classification, two opposite extremes for setting the bounds of the qualitative analysis continuum - from designs focusing on data description, which are purely exploratory, to those which go into theorizing processes so as to draw out interpretations and inferences - are discussed. Qualitative research is an important tool in the analysis of health problems from a social and cultural point of view. Adopting different procedures such as content and speech analysis, qualitative research approaches communication patterns and examines the diverse language ideologies. Sociological and anthropological traditions provide unique methodologies which allow to know the context where the phenomena appear and set out theoretical proposals in order to explain them, for example ethnomethodology or analytical induction. Lastly, some keys are suggested for developing a common area, out of which new epistemological perspectives may be set out based on different disciplines coming together. | 2002 |