Qualitative Research
Characteristics
concern for context and meaning
Investigates quality of relationship, activities by understanding context and explain intentionality of behaviors
naturally occurring settings
human as instrument
descriptive data
emergent design
rely more on inductive analysis but still involved deductive thinking
understand intention
assumes human behavior is context bound
focus on learning the meaning participants hold
researchers skill is the main key
must be flexible
may change or shift
interactions are not fully predictable
General steps
- Selecting participants (selectively chosen)
- Collect data
- Review of literature review
- Analyze data (interpretive rather than statistical)
- Identify research problem ( exploratory & understanding-oriented)
- Report, evaluate and interpret research
Common approaches
case study
Ethnographic studies
basic qualitative studies (interpretive)
grounded theory studies
only describe and attempt to interpret experience
shorter duration
researcher is not fully involved
main purpose to understand phenomena or experience
simple
focuses on single unit- an individual, a group/ site/ community etc.
bounded system
specific context
descriptive, heuristic and particularistic
Types
intrinsic case study
instrumental case study
multiple/ collective case study
study of where the case itself is
the primary interest in the exploration
more to know uniqueness of the case
exploratory in nature, guided by
researcher interest in the case
aim to achieve comprehensive understanding
to provide insight of an issue,
redraw generalizations, build theory
several cases selected for further understanding
and investigation of a phenomena
include multiple sources of data collected overtime
can be mixed (qualitative and quantitative)
report is written to provide both EMIC, insider, perspective as well as ETIC, outsider, perspective
inductively building a theory
starts with generative questions
develop a tentative linkage that later will evolve toward one core category
study of naturally occurring behavior within culture or entire social group
understand culture and behavior in natural setting
Data collection steps
setting boundaries
setting
participants
events
process
sample size? - stop collect data when fresh data no longer give new insights
data collection types
observation
interview
documents
audiovisual materials
roles of researcher/ observer
participants observer
non-participants observer
complete participant
takes field notes on behavior and activities in research site
gain insights and develop relationship but may become emotionally attached, difficulty to focus on detail
firsthand experience, need to deal with ethical issue
less intrusive but hard to obtain information
Descriptive data/ Emic data (seen and heard)
reflective data/ etic data (observer personal reaction)
unstructured, generally open-ended, impromptu, informal, exploratory and goes with the flow
personal interviews
focus group
telephone interviews
email/ internet interviews
semi-structured; questions and order is determined
structured; questions and order is pre-determined, asked a set of identical questions
threats for observation and interview
observer bias
halo effect
observer effect
public (newspaper, reports)
private (diaries, personal journal)
photos, art objects, videos, films, podcast
Way to reduce bias and increase validity
extend studies
additional participants
gain trust
recognize own biases
work with other researcher but individually working, compare data
allows critique and review
don't ignore outlier
triangulation
compare multiple sources of data
compare results of multiple independent investigators
compare multiple methods of data analysis
Data analysis
give meaning to data (ongoing process0
multistage process of organizing, categorizing, synthesis, interpreting and writing
messy and non linear
iterative process
general step
familiarize and organized
coding and reducing
interpret and represent