Reverence in Qualitative Work
“Reverence is the virtue that keeps human beings from acting like gods.” —Paul Woodruff You may wonder what reverence has to do with research. Everything, really. Reverence, or the act of honoring the individual sitting in front of you in the interview chair, maximizes your ability to connect with that person. Connection optimizes your ability to collect meaningful data. Although …
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The Wisdom of Groups
A group of individuals is collectively smarter than any single member, claims James Surowiecki, author of The Wisdom of Crowds. But not just any group will do. Smart groups are composed of a diverse collection of independently deciding individuals who are close to the problem. Based on his research, Surowiecki has determined that groups must possess four specific and essential …
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Coder Attributes
“Any researcher who wishes to become proficient at doing qualitative analysis must learn to code well. –Anselm Strauss, Qualitative Analysis for Social Scientists As anyone who has done much qualitative coding knows, the caliber of your research depends largely on the caliber of your coding. I’ve been thinking about this lately because of a recent workshop I conducted in which …
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