Introduction to Data Analysis in Qualitative Research by Shkedi Asher

Author:Shkedi, Asher [Shkedi, Asher]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-03-29T16:00:00+00:00

Figure 2B: Gorilla in the Ball Game

This phenomenon, although surprising, is very typical of how human beings perceive the world. People are made to see what they expect to see, and find it hard to expect to see something they’ve never seen or have not expected. New things, different and strange, are just not noticed. Most people do not consciously see something unless they look at it in a very focused manner. Ordinary people are blind to what they are watching without intently focusing. People are not attracted to innovations, but they are also not exposed to many innovations, not necessarily because innovations do not exist in their immediate environment or are not shown to them. In many cases, people simply do not notice innovation, at least not immediately. (Grandin & Johnson, 2005; Harris, 2006).

As we have seen, human beings cannot consciously experience the raw data that exists outside of them, but only the image created by their minds. Do we, as qualitative researchers, not notice data and events that are significant to the phenomenon under study? The answer is definitely yes. The appropriate qualitative research methodology has to suggest research analytical tools to ensure that these biases will be reduced to a minimum.

The Tendency to Find Causality and Intent

Attributing any action to linear causality is a habit that the human mind is specifically addicted to. Human beings deal with linear causality in a way that is seen as almost obsessive, even inventing ridiculous myths in an attempt to preserve a linear causality (Ridley, 2003). Many people, especially children (as well as members of primitive tribes) ascribe causality of human behavior to weather upheavals, movement of waves and water currents, falling rocks and other natural phenomena. Most of us, in fact, tend to take much the same attitude toward cars, usually when they disappoint us. Often, if our car gets stuck instead of checking out the engine for failure, we immediately and unconsciously attribute it to the car’s intention. We talk to the car, and hope to cajole it to start to move. It seems that humans have a psychological bias to personify inanimate objects and view them as agents of action (Dawkins, 2006). The source of this fact reveals a tendency to assume the other’s intentions, and sometimes fear them. We find it difficult to see something that is not driven by the causality caused by the person’s behavior.

Just as every action is attributed to causality, so all is attributed to a purpose. It is believed that there are evolutionary reasons deep-rooted in our past for the conception of causality and intentions, and this tendency has survival value as a brain mechanism for decision-making in critical circumstances. When we see a lion in the distance, it is better not to stop and consider predictions about its expected behavior, but to relate to this lion’s intention to eat us, and the appropriate reflex to flee. Similarly, when we encounter strange people, we often discover a tendency to attribute bad intentions

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