FPG Projects Advancing Research Methods

Integrating Qualitative and Quantitative Methods in Longitudinal Measurement Analysis

Understanding the complex factors that influence maternal and child health and development requires a matching complexity and integration of methods at multiple levels. Advances in both quantitative and qualitative methods have enhanced our ability to measure developmental outcomes, describe patterns of change, and identify factors associated with change. However, the integration of both approaches in applied research has lagged behind their use individually. The methods provide complementary information, and, indeed, the weaknesses of one method can be offset by the strengths of the other. To oversimplify, qualitative data can provide in-depth information about developmental processes and their contexts, but usually include observations of only a small number of individuals so generalization of findings is suspect. Quantitative data can describe developmental trajectories and identify correlates of change in a manner that facilitates generalization, but is less useful for describing process or the meanings that underlie health behaviors and attitudes. Integration of these methods should provide greater breadth and depth of understanding. This study extends these projects by providing additional methodological time and expertise to integrate methods in both measurement and analysis phases within and across projects, and to conduct an ethnographic study of the process of integrating methods across the three projects to identify characteristics of research designs and teams that facilitate integration.

Communication of Young Males with Fragile X Syndrome

Growth curve methods will be used to quantify patterns of change over time in the overall level and rate of communication development, determine the extent to which group differences occur, and determine for males with fragile X if variation in communication development can be accounted for by their genotype.

Family Resource Allocation in Urban and Rural Communities

Using ethnography and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology, investigators are conducting a novel, in-depth, comparative study of resource allocation in low-income families residing in large urban, small town, and rural communities. They are integrating ethnographic methods and data on families and communities with GIS technology to inform an understanding of intergenerational resource allocation in urban and rural communities. The project takes an interdisciplinary approach, including sociologists, anthropologists, and geographers as research team members. Findings will have a broad appeal to disciplines represented by the research team, as well as to scholars in demography, human development, and life course/family studies. Integration of ethnographic and GIS methods and data represents significant innovation in the field and has the potential to lead to new insights and contextually-sensitive understandings of resource allocation among lower-income families.