The purpose of this paper is to identify several methodological elements in the following article: Ostrove, J. M. (2003). Belonging and wanting: Meanings of social class and background for women's constructions of their college experiences. Journal of Social Issues, 59(4), 771-784.
Nature of Research Approach and Design
Ostrove (2003) used a mixed method strategy (see: Creswell, 1998) involving both quantitative and qualitative traditions. The qualitative aspect of the study examined whether several dependent measures (sense of alienation, tradition/expectations and social mobility) significantly differed as a function of differences in social class (working class vs. middle class vs. upper class).
The qualitative element of the design consisted of using content analysis to find