Qualitative heuristics

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Qualitative heuristics is a sociological and psychological methodology designed by Gerhard Kleining , which deals with the “development and application of discovery processes in a rule-based form”. It conceives the research process as a dialogue between research person and research object, with active and receptive characteristics, experiment and observation as basic methods as well as the research strategies of maximization / minimization , testing of limits and adaptation .

It is based on and differentiates itself from the spontaneous and one-sided everyday heuristics through its systematics. In contrast to hermeneutic methodologies , it aims at the discovery of new things and not at a new interpretation of the familiar. It is not related to "closed", well-defined tasks like the heuristics of computer science and economics. It bundles and optimizes discovery methods from scientific-empirical and philosophical heuristics as well as heuristic procedures from psychology and sociology and can be used for research in qualitative social research and qualitative psychology.

history

Everyday heuristics are regarded as essential, socially determined knowledge and experience techniques as the basis of every scientific heuristic. The scientific heuristic has a history that goes back to antiquity:

  • Pappus of Alexandria (around 300) described the reverse search as a heuristic in problem solving .
  • Raimundus Lullus (1232–1316) designed a mechanical apparatus to solve all scientific problems through a systematic combination of basic philosophical concepts.
  • Joachim Jungius (1587–1657) probably used the term heuristic for the first time and saw heuristic knowledge as the highest level of knowledge, since it deals with unsolved problems and new procedures.
  • René Descartes (1596–1650) established heuristic rules for scientific knowledge in " Discours de la méthode ":
    1. To accept nothing without an evidence check.
    2. Break complex tasks down into simple ones.
    3. To start with the easiest
    4. Include general overviews.
  • Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716) described two methods in his “ ars inveniendi ” - the axiom-based “via demonstrativa” with which his calculus results and the combinatorial “via indicativa”

The qualitative heuristic refers to - or has a certain similarity to - the following modern discovery methods:

Heuristic methodology

All scientific methods are forms of conflict between a subject (research person) and an object (research subject).

Four rules

The heuristic methodology is characterized by four rules that determine the subject-object relationship between research person and research object more precisely:

  1. Openness of the researcher
    She should be willing to change her prior understanding of the subject if it doesn't match the data. Pre-determined hypotheses are not tested as in deductive-nomological research, but structures are explored.
  2. Openness of the research subject
    In contrast to deductive-nomological research, in which the research object is defined at the beginning, in heuristic research it is regarded as provisional, since the goal is to discover something new. The subject of research can change in the course of the research.
  3. Maximum structural variation of the perspectives in data collection:
    The object should be viewed from different positions in order to grasp its essential characteristics. It makes sense to vary the factors that are suspected to have an influence on the object or its exploration. In addition to subject-specific factors - often only discovered in the course of the research process - these include the research methods, the subjects examined (e.g. their gender, age, social status, personality), the research questions and possibly also the researcher himself.
  4. Analysis for similarities
    The data analysis is to be aligned in such a way that the similarities such as analogies or negated structures of the different perspectives are identified. The intention is to find a common structure for all determined data. The abstraction helps to accomplish this merging.

Dialogue principle

The research process is a dialogue between the researcher and the research subject. It is set in motion by asking the object. This "answers", which leads to new questions and answers.

The research process is dialectical and leads from the particular (the concrete data) to the general (the structure recognized by the analysis), which contains the particular as the enlightened particular.

Research strategies

The research strategies of maximizing / minimizing , testing the limits and adapting determine the course of the research.

Maximize-Minimize explores the structural features of the object by exploring its extremes. It also determines the intensity of the research activity during exploration, which is to be adapted to the respective research situation: Is active, intervening or rather receptive, cautious behavior appropriate?

Testing the boundaries determines the boundaries of the object, where its structure changes to arbitrariness. How far do the similarities go, where and when are they no longer valid?

Adaptation includes, on the one hand, an adaptation of the researcher's thoughts and ideas to the facts that become known about the research object in the course of the research process, and, on the other hand, an adaptation of the techniques to the object, its characteristics, which must not be damaged or even destroyed.

Sampling strategy

The rule of maximum structural variation of the perspectives results in the sampling strategy, which, unlike in deductive-nomological studies, is not the random failure, but the extreme group sample . The maximum number of factors included - in extreme groups - can have a significant impact on the subject.

Analysis with 100% criterion

Similarities are sought and not differences, as in quantitative-nomological approaches. This search takes place in a dialogical manner in that the researcher asks questions about similarities in the data. Commonality is not just identity or similarity, but also opposition, negation. The desired overall structure emerges from the first commonalities that connect parts of the data in a dialectical process of structuring and restructuring. The “100% rule” applies to them. As in a solved puzzle, every date must have its place in it.

Quality criteria

The quality criteria of reliability , validity and validity are - unlike in quantitative research - when the research is carried out correctly, necessarily. The subjective is assumed and the process of research leads to intersubjectivity .

At the beginning of the research process, however, the results are often not very reliable . A survey of women z. B. may produce different results than interviewing men on the same topic. On the other hand, if the dimensions in which these gender differences exist are contained in the structure identified by the analysis, then reliability is given.

The validity also arises in the research process when the object is varied as much as possible structurally - its essential aspects are included - and the data are analyzed for commonality according to the "100% rule".

The validity of the results of qualitative heuristic research is limited by the social and spatiotemporal character of their objects. The range of validity depends on how narrowly or broadly the object is represented in the data.

Heuristic research methods

All research methods can be traced back to the basic methods of experiment and observation . They contain receptive and active parts to varying degrees . Research methods arise through abstraction from everyday heuristics and from scientific heuristics, including natural science, which calls into question the separation between natural and human sciences laid down by Wilhelm Dilthey and qualitative heuristics.

Many qualitative methods can be used heuristically, as was shown by Kleining for many common methods. Special qualitative heuristic methods - partly rediscovered, partly newly developed - are:

  • The Heuristic text analysis that watching questions bypasses stellend and experimenting strukturexplorierend with texts.
  • The qualitative experiment that explores and clarifies the structure of a research object with interventions in it.
  • The receptive interview , in which the researcher supports spontaneous communications from the people examined by listening carefully and encouraging reactions without asking any questions.
  • The Dialogic introspection , which is a further development of the introspection of the Würzburg school.

Present heuristic investigations

The qualitative heuristic was used in a variety of psychological and sociological studies and was also used in literary studies. An overview can be found at. Kleining himself demonstrated qualitative heuristics in various social science fields and in literature analyzes.

swell

  1. ↑ Gerhard Kleining: Qualitative-heuristic social research. Writings on theory and practice. Fechner, Hamburg 1994, ISBN 3-929215-02-0 , urn : nbn: de: 0168-ssoar-7731
  2. ^ Gerhard Kleining: Textbook Entdeckende Sozialforschung. Volume I. From Hermeneutics to Qualitative Heuristics. Beltz Psychologie Verlags Union, Weinheim 1995, ISBN 3-621-27285-2 , p. 225.
  3. ↑ Gerhard Kleining: (1995, p. 340ff.).
  4. ↑ a b Gerhard Kleining: (1995, p. 341).
  5. ^ Gerhard Kleining: (1995, pp. 343-344).
  6. ↑ Ernst Mach: Knowledge and Error. Sketches for the psychology of research. Publishing house Dr. Müller, 2006, ISBN 3-86550-575-9 . (First 1883).
  7. ^ Gerhard Kleining: (1995, pp. 344-347).
  8. ↑ Friedrich Schleiermacher: Dialectics. Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt a. M. 2001, ISBN 3-518-29129-7 . (First lectures 1811–1834).
  9. ↑ Georg, Friedrich, Wilhelm Hegel: Phenomenology of the Spirit. In: Georg, Friedrich, Wilhelm Hegel, works in 20 volumes. Volume 3 . Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt a. M., 1986, ISBN 3-518-28203-4 . (First 1807).
  10. ^ Gerhard Kleining: (1995, pp. 346-347).
  11. ^ Gerhard Kleining: (1995, pp. 347-350).
  12. ↑ Thomas Burkart: The qualitative experiment in developmental psychology - using the example of Jean Piaget. In: Günter Mey (Ed.): Handbook Qualitative Developmental Psychology . Kölner Studien Verlag, Cologne 2005, ISBN 3-936010-06-4 , pp. 477-625.
  13. ↑ Gerhard Kleining: (1995, pp. 350-352).
  14. ^ Gerhard Kleining: (1995, p. 351).
  15. ^ Barney G. Glaser, Anselm L. Strauss: The Discovery of Grounded Theory. Strategies for Qualitative Research. Adine, New York 1967. (German as: Grounded Theory. Strategies qualitative research . Huber, Bern 2005, ISBN 3-456-84212-0 ).
  16. ^ Gerhard Kleining: (1995, pp. 227-231).
  17. ^ Gerhard Kleining: The qualitative-heuristic approach to theory. In: Leo Gürtler, Mechthild Kiegelmann, Günter L. Huber (Eds.): Areas of qualitative psychology - Special focus on design . Ingeborg Huber Verlag, Tübingen 2005, pp. 27–34.
  18. ^ Gerhard Kleining: (1995, p. 266).
  19. ^ Gerhard Kleining, Thomas Burkart: Group-based Dialogic Introspection and its Use in Qualitative Media Research. In M. Kiegelmann (Ed.): Qualitative Research in Psychology . Ingeborg Huber, Schwangau 2001, pp. 217-239.
  20. ^ Gerhard Kleining: (1995, pp. 318-325).
  21. ^ Wilhelm Dilthey: Introduction to the humanities. Attempt to lay the foundations for the study of society and history. In: Collected Writings. 1st, 8th edition. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1990, ISBN 3-525-30301-7 . (first 1883).
  22. ↑ Gerhard Kleining: Qualitative Social Research Part II: The Research Process . Distance University - Comprehensive University Hagen, Faculty of Education, Social Sciences and Humanities, Hagen 1999.
  23. ^ Gerhard Kleining: Text analysis as a heuristic. In: Applied Social Research. Volume 16, 1990, pp. 23-29. (Also in: Gerhard Kleining: Qualitative-heuristic social research. Writings on theory and practice . Fechner, Hamburg 1994, pp. 178–187).
  24. ↑ Gerhard Kleining: The qualitative experiment. In: Cologne journal for sociology and social psychology. Volume 38, 1986, pp. 724-750. (Also in: Gerhard Kleining: Qualitative-heuristic social research. Writings on theory and practice . Fechner, Hamburg 1994, pp. 148–177).
  25. ^ Gerhard Kleining: The receptive interview. In: Gerhard Kleining: Qualitative-heuristic social research. Writings on theory and practice . Fechner, Hamburg 1994, pp. 123-147.
  26. ↑ http://www.introspektion.net/html/methodologie.html
  27. ↑ http://www.heureka-hamburg.de/html/literatur_heuristik.html#LitBebeispiele
  28. ^ Gerhard Kleining: (1994, part III).

literature

  • Thomas Burkart, Gerhard Kleining: Generalization through qualitative heuristics. In: Leo Gürtler, Mechthild Kiegelmann, Günter L. Huber (eds.). Generalization in qualitative psychology . Ingeborg Huber Verlag, Tübingen 2007, pp. 37-52, ISBN 978-3-9810087-1-5 .
  • Friedrich Krotz: Developing new theories. An introduction to grounded theory, heuristic social research and ethnography using examples from communication research. Herbert von Halem Verlag, Cologne 2005, ISBN 3-931606-64-3 .
  • Gerhard Kleining: Outline of a methodology of qualitative social research. In: Cologne journal for sociology and social psychology. Volume 34, 1982, pp. 224–253: urn : nbn: de: 0168-ssoar-8619
  • Gerhard Kleining: The qualitative experiment. In: Cologne journal for sociology and social psychology. Volume 38, 1986, pp. 724-750: urn : nbn: de: 0168-ssoar-8631 . (also in: Gerhard Kleining: Qualitativ-Heuristische Sozialforschung. Writings on theory and practice . Fechner, Hamburg 1994, ISBN 3-929215-02-0 , pp. 148–177, urn : nbn: de: 0168-ssoar-7731 ) .
  • Gerhard Kleining: The receptive interview. In: Gerhard Kleining: Qualitative-heuristic social research. Writings on theory and practice . Fechner, Hamburg 1994, ISBN 3-929215-02-0 , pp. 123-147, urn : nbn: de: 0168-ssoar-7731 .
  • Gerhard Kleining: Text analysis as a heuristic. In: Applied Social Research. Volume 16, 1990, pp. 23-29. (Also in: Gerhard Kleining: Qualitative-Heuristische Sozialforschung. Writings on Theory and Practice . Fechner, Hamburg 1994, pp. 178–187, urn : nbn: de: 0168-ssoar-7731 ).
  • Gerhard Kleining: Methodology and history of qualitative social research. In: Uwe Flick et al. (Hrsg.): Handbuch Qualitative Sozialforschung . Beltz, Psychologie Verlags Union, Munich 1991, ISBN 3-929215-02-0 , pp. 11-22.
  • Gerhard Kleining: Qualitative-heuristic social research. Writings on theory and practice. Fechner, Hamburg 1994, ISBN 3-929215-02-0 , urn : nbn: de: 0168-ssoar-7731 .
  • Gerhard Kleining: Textbook Discovery Social Research. Volume I. From Hermeneutics to Qualitative Heuristics. Beltz Psychologie Verlags Union, Weinheim 1995, ISBN 3-621-27285-2 .
  • Gerhard Kleining: Qualitative Social Research Part II: The Research Process. Distance University - Comprehensive University Hagen , Faculty of Education, Social Sciences and Humanities, Hagen 1999.
  • Gerhard Kleining, Thomas Burkart: Group-based Dialogic Introspection and its Use in Qualitative Media Research. In M. Kiegelmann (Ed.): Qualitative Research in Psychology . Ingeborg Huber, Schwangau 2001, ISBN 3-9806975-6-8 , pp. 217-239.
  • Gerhard Kleining, Harald Witt: Qualitative-heuristic research as a discovery methodology for psychology and social sciences: The rediscovery of the method of introspection as an example. In: Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung , Volume 1, 1, 2000, urn : nbn: de: 0114-fqs0001136 .
  • Gerhard Kleining, Harald Witt: Discovery as Basic Methodology of Qualitative and Quantitative Research. In: Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung , Volume 2, 1, 2001, urn : nbn: de: 0114-fqs0101164 .
  • Ernst Mach: knowledge and error. Sketches for the psychology of research. Reprint of the fifth edition. Publishing house Dr. Müller, 2006, ISBN 3-86550-575-9 . (First 1883)
  • Harald Witt: Research strategies in quantitative and qualitative social research. In: Forum Qualitative Social Research. (On-line Journal). Volume 2, 1, 2001, urn : nbn: de: 0114-fqs010189 .

Web links