A researcher reviews the twenty years that a breast cancer clinic has been in operation in a small Midwestern city

Question

The researcher interviews many of the women who have been treated in the clinic during this period and reviews the records of the clinic, along with its survival rates and the emergence of several of its innovative support programs for women and their families. The researcher ultimately writes a story of the clinic over those twenty years. What type of research is this?
a. Phenomenologic research
b. Grounded theory research
c. Ethnographic research
d. Historicism

Answer 1

ANS: D
Phenomenologic research examines the lived experiences of participants and the meanings those experiences hold for them, drawing its results only from the participants' views. Grounded theory research defines under-researched concepts and explains them within a social framework, building on both observation and the perceptions of the persons who are familiar with the concepts, and sometimes generating theory; it emphasizes interaction, observation, and development of relationships among concepts. Ethnography defines shared characteristics of members of a culture or participants who share in a common characteristic, and explains commonalities, often within a cultural framework, using observation, interview, and other data collection strategies; through the use of ethnographic research, different cultures are described, compared, and contrasted to add to our understanding of the impact of culture on the human experience. Historicism tells the story of past events, reconstructing these from other historical references, interviews, artifacts, art, and other sources that reflect the time of interest.