Qualitative Research Design

Qualitative Research Design

1. Characteristics

   • Natural setting
     • Study of behavior as it occurs naturally in specific contexts
     • Two reasons for conducting research in the field
       • Behavior and perceptions are best understood as they occur without imposed constraints and control
       • The situational context is very important in understanding behavior and perceptions from the participants point of view and meanings
   • Direct data collection
     • Researcher collects data directly from the source
   • Rich narrative descriptions
     • Detailed narratives provide in-depth understanding of contexts and behaviors
   • Process orientation
     • Focus is on why and how emotions, thinking, and behavior occur
   • Inductive data analysis
     • Generalizations are induced from synthesizing gathered information
       • By six steps
         • 1. ObtainExtensive Detailed Data
         • 2. Read Text or Notes Closely
         • 3. Code and Verify Data
         • 4. Create Categories from Codes
         • 5. Reduce Categories to Eliminate Redundancy
         • 6. Compose Conclusion, Model, Framework, or Structures
   • Participant perspectives
     • Focus is on participants’ understanding and meaning
   • Socially constructed meaning
     • Knowledge is based on experience and social interactions with others
     • Is based on participant perspectives is the belief that participants actively construct their own reality
   • Emergent research design
     • Research design evolves and changes as the study takes place

2. Validity

   • Credibility
     • When the results accurately reflect the opinions and meanings of the participants, although the term "credible" could also be used to describe the validity of the information found.
   • Inauthenticity
     • The need to provide results that are genuine, real, accurate, and complete, in original voices and other data.
   • Instrumentation
     • Instrumentation refers to the nature of data collection, the procedures used to gather information. This includes who collects data and the methods of gathering information
   • Confirmability
     • Is all about verification. The idea is that researcher findings need to be verified or confirmed in some way.
   • Context Insensitivity
     • Occurs when the researcher does not give adequate attention to how the context within which the data are gathered influences the results.
   • Inadequate Participant Perspectives
     • When participants' perspectives are rich, detailed and abundant, we can gain a deeper and more insightful understanding, and the participants' true meanings are revealed.
   • Researcher Bias
     • Occurs when you do a qualitative research proj- ect and you more or less find what you are looking for, rather than the truth
   • Inadequate Transparency
     • It refers to the need to provide explicit, clear, and complete information about all aspects of the research
     • Transparency provides the detail needed to judge the overall validity of the study
     • Is reflected in unclear, missing, or scant explanations about the whys and hows of the study
   • Sampling
     • How the nature of the individuals in the study could affect the findings.

3. Approaches

   • Ethnographic
     • Research from the culture, what customs they have, what rules they follow, etc. A very extensive and complete data collection is made on the cultural meanings of a social group, or a particular culture.
   • Case Studies
     • it is the in-depth analysis of what happens in a given group of people, i.e. events, environments, social groups - all this in real-life cases that can be investigated
   • Phenomenological
     • To describe, clarify, and interpret the everyday life experiences of participants
     • The basis of phenomenology is that what and how something is experienced by several individuals provides data that can lead to a deep understanding of common meaning
   • Grounded Theory
     • Characterized by a unique purpose to discover or generate theory from real-world data that explain central phenomena.
   • Critical Studies
     • It is derived from the socio-economic classes of societies, focusing on systems of power and control, influencing inequality, gender and race-based domination.
   • Narrative Inquiry
     • Single distinguishing characteristic that makes it easy to remember human stories
     • Is used to establish and study meaningful stories.
     • Characteristics
       • Continuity of experience
       • Use of several sources of data
       • An emphasis on context and situation
       • Exploration of identity formation
       • An emphasis on “turning points
       • Collaborative relationship between the researcher and participant(s)