FICHA DE LEITURATaís Steffenello Ghisleni

1. REFERÊNCIASTRAUSS, Anselm L. Qualitative analysis for social scientists. USA: Cambridge, 1987. Prefácio; Cap. 1 ecap. 3.

2. OBJETIVOS DA OBRAEstudar a pesquisa qualitativa, explicando, com exemplos, o funcionamento de alguns métodos e técnicas.Comentar como é feito o tratamento dos dados nesta pesquisa.

3. ARGUMENTOS PRINCIPAIS DO AUTOR O pesquisador quantitativo costuma ser fraco no contexto e o qualitativo fraco nas comparações,

porque estuda situações individuais. As análises qualitativas muitas vezes são mais do que úteis, são indispensáveis. A análise qualitativa ocorre em níveis: 1) explicitação, 2) abstração e 3) sistematização.

As regras existem e devem ser usadas, mas também é possível modifica-las, se for o caso. quebrar paradigmas.

A teoria fundamentada como um novo estilo de fazer pesquisa qualitativa. A codificação é um processo difícil. Existem sete regras empíricas sobre o processo de codificação: 1)

descobrir categorias e nomeá-las, mesmo que provisoriamente; 2) relacionar essas categoriasespecificamente ou com possíveis variáveis de condições, consequências, estratégias e interações; 3)relacionar categorias e subcategorias, todos uns aos outros; 4) fazer tudo com uma base de dadosespecífica e dar referência a eles; 5) sublinhando para facilitar a digitalização e classificação; 6) depoisda categoria principal ser escolhida relacioná-la com todas as outras categorias e subcategorias; 7)posteriormente as categorias menores ou independentes podem ser destacadas como mais ou menosirrelevantes.

4. RELAÇÕES COM OUTROS AUTORESPodemos relacionar de forma geral com a maioria dos autores que caracterizam as pesquisas qualitativas.

5. CITAÇÕES DESTACADAS“ Qualitative researchers tend to lay considerable emphasis on situational and often structural contexts, incontrast to many quantitative researchers, whose work is multivariate but often weak on context. Qualitativeresearchers tend, however, to be weak on crosscomparisons because they often study only single situations,organizations, and institutions” (STRAUSS, 1987, p.2).

“ Among social scientists a distinction is commonly drawn between quantitative and qualitative research ”(STRAUSS, 1987, p.2).

“ Qualitative researchers tend to lay considerable emphasis on situational and often structural contexts, incontrast to many quantitative researchers, whose work is multivariate but often weak on context. Qualitativeresearchers tend, however, to be weak on crosscomparisons because they often study only single situations,organizations, and institutions” (STRAUSS, 1987, p.3).

More important for our purposes here is that improved qualitative analysis requires more explicitly formulated,reliable, and valid methods than currently exist.  Analysis is synonymous with interpretation of data” (STRAUSS,1987, p.4).

The methodological thrust of the grounded theory approach to qualitative data is toward the development of theory, without any particular commitment to specific kinds of data, lines of research, or theoretical interests.So, it is not really a specific method or technique. Rather, it is a style of doing qualitative analysis that includesa number of distinct features, such as theoretical sampling, and certain methodological guidelines, such as themaking of constant comparisons and the use of a coding paradigm, to ensure conceptual development anddensity” (STRAUSS, 1987, p.5).

Of course, theory is generated and tested even by researchers whose analytic methods remain relativelyimplicit, but the grounded theory style qf analysis is based on the premise that theory at various levels of generality is indispensable for deeper knowledge of social phe nomena (Glaser and Strauss 1967; Glaser 1978”(STRAUSS, 1987, p.6).

“One of our deepest convictions is that social phenomena are complex phenomena” (STRAUSS, 1987, p.7).

 

“This is why grounded theory methodology emphasizes the need for developing many concepts and their linkages in order to capture a great deal of the variation that characterizes the central phenomena studiedduring any particular research project” (STRAUSS, 1987, p.7).

“Our guidelines for developing theory are not merely a kind of laundry list of suggestions, however: they arestronger than that, for they emphasize that certain operations must be carried out. Coding must be done, andgenerally done early and continually. Analytic memos must be done early and continually in conjunction withthe coding. And a few concepts, loosely strung together, cannot satisfy the requirements for formulating socialtheory” (STRAUSS, 1987, p.8).

“We should note also that research work consists of more than sets of tasks or a clear formulation of the goalsof those tasks. It involves the organization of work - the articulation of tasks (itself a type of work) including themanagement of physical, social, and personal resources necessary for getting the research work done,whether working alone, with someone else, or in a team” (STRAUSS, 1987, p.9).

“In fact, it is important to understand that various kinds of experience are central to all these modes of activity— induction, deduction, and verification — that enter into inquiry” (STRAUSS, 1987, p.12).

“Our approach to the qualitative analysis of data is termed grounded theory "because of its emphasis on thegeneration of theory and the data in which that theory is grounded” (STRAUSS, 1987, p.22).

“Once the core category or categories have been committed to, then the researcher will be seeking to relateother categories to them, thereby gradually densifying the theory” (STRAUSS, 1987, p.24).

"Grounded theory is based on a concept-indicator  model, which directs the conceptual  coding of a set of empirical indicators. The latter are actual data, such as behavioral actions and events, observed or described indocuments and in the words of interviewees and informants. These data are indicators of a concept the analystderives from them, at first provisionally but later with more certainty" (STRAUSS, 1987, p.25).

“Data collection never entirely ceases because coding and memoing continue to raise fresh questions that canonly be addressed by the gathering of new data or the examining of previous data" (STRAUSS, 1987, p.27).

"The goal of grounded theory is to generate a theory that accounts for a pattern of behavior which is relevantand problematic for those involved. The generation of theory occurs around a core category (and sometimesmore)" (STRAUSS, 1987, p.35).

Coding is the most difficult operation for inexperienced researchers to understand and to master, as notedearlier. Even when understood theoretically, the actual procedures are still baffling for some people, despitewatching an instructor or some other experienced researcher do the coding. What is needed, apparently, areexamples of coding steps, and visualizations of actual codes. Finally, considerable practice at coding isrequisite" (STRAUSS, 1987, p.56).

Often in contemporary qualitative research the emphasis on interactions (and on immediately contextualaspects in relation to interactions) is so strong that it overwhelms or prevents attention to the larger structuralconditions" (STRAUSS, 1987, p.78).

The rule of thumb for the researcher is to be alert for what in the collected data bears on the more microscopicas well as the more structural. For both levels, the researcher should also be developing categories, followingthe usual coding paradigm. Analysis should relate those categories (as always). And, as always, the emerginganalysis should guide the further data collection, through theoretical sampling, as it bears on the hypothesizedrelationships among the major categories being developed throughout the course of the research" (STRAUSS,1987, p.80).

6. COMENTÁRIOS E JUSTIFICATIVA DE UM POSSÍVEL USO DA OBRA NO PROJETO DE PESQUISAConcordo com o autor quando o mesmo afirma que as pesquisas qualitativas precisam ser desenvolvidas etransmitidas de forma mais ampla para os pesquisadores das ciências sociais. E que ela tem sua validade,mesmo com a enorme variação entre os fenômenos, a subjetividade do pesquisador e a inexistência de regrasrígidas.Foi interessante conhecer a teoria fundamentada, ou seja, o estilo proposto pelo autor para fazer análisequalitativa garantindo a densidade teórica. E a teoria complexa reforça a importância do contexto e as relaçõesentre os conteúdos e conceitos.O principal que podemos tirar do texto é que as regras estão aí para serem observadas, mas que tambémpodem ser modificadas se o contexto exigir que isto aconteça.