> > Even when a qualitative researcher > > first point ... one is not a qualitative researcher ... either you are a > researcher or not a researcher
This is a good point, I think. I find it difficult to accept that a research question could be best studied if the researcher makes a restriction as to which methods be allowed. I have noticed the term mixed-method approach. Is that a new term? The approach is probably not new at all, but it seems that academic staff in some subject areas here in Sweden at least, avoid mixing methods. Rolf Dalin > > > studies one person very > >thoroughly he cannot say what people are like in general. However, he > >has created knowledge about what people may be like and how they should > >be studied to learn something important about them. > > i disagree ... just like any n=1 study ... unless you replicate this > with other n=1s ... to see if others do similar things or not ... all > you have is a lot of (perhaps very good) information about 1 person > > what you can't get from an n=1 study is the RANGE of behaviors that you > might see ACROSS people which, then, tells you something about what is > typical of people ... > > if we were interested in some population characteristic ... and opted to > take samples of size n=1 ... the sampling error you would see is the > same as the entire range of behavior of the population characteristic > you are studying so ... where does YOUR n=1 sample happen to be? you > have no idea > > >These aspects and > >points of view can be adapted in studying other people, i.e. they are > >generalizable. > > all you can pose as questions are: i wonder if what i see in this person > will be seen in other people? to answer these kinds of questions ... you > MUST examine other people ... > > so, in a real sense, the notion of generalization from one person is ... > well, of little value > > there is nothing wrong with doing in depth case studies (ie ... n=1 > studies) but, one can't have it both ways ... you can't say that you > have something meaningful ... AND that generalizes to larger groups of > people ... at the same time > > > >Kai Karma > >Sibelius Academy > >Helsinki, Finland > > > > > > > . > > > . > > > ================================================================= > > > Instructions for joining and leaving this list, remarks about the > > > problem of INAPPROPRIATE MESSAGES, and archives are available at: . > > > http://jse.stat.ncsu.edu/ . > > > ================================================================= > >. > >. > >================================================================= > >Instructions for joining and leaving this list, remarks about the > >problem of INAPPROPRIATE MESSAGES, and archives are available at: > >. http://jse.stat.ncsu.edu/ . > >================================================================= > > _________________________________________________________ > dennis roberts, educational psychology, penn state university > 208 cedar, AC 8148632401, mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://roberts.ed.psu.edu/users/droberts/drober~1.htm > > . > . > ================================================================= > Instructions for joining and leaving this list, remarks about the > problem of INAPPROPRIATE MESSAGES, and archives are available at: > . http://jse.stat.ncsu.edu/ . > ================================================================= ************************************************** Rolf Dalin Department of Information Tchnology and Media Mid Sweden University S-870 51 SUNDSVALL Sweden Phone: 060 148690, international: +46 60 148690 Fax: 060 148970, international: +46 60 148970 Mobile: 070 6740094, intnational: +46 70 6740094 mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.ite.mh.se/~roldal/ ************************************************** . . ================================================================= Instructions for joining and leaving this list, remarks about the problem of INAPPROPRIATE MESSAGES, and archives are available at: . http://jse.stat.ncsu.edu/ . =================================================================
