Methodological framework

Methodological framework

1. What is?

   • methodological frameworks in qualitative research
     • Following on from the methodologies and methods, researchers need to think about their potential research participants. How will they recruit the participants, How many will they select for their research? And how can they find them?
       • The success of qualitative research also depends on sampling issues.
   • Methodology, according to Dew (2007, p. 433), refers to ‘the principles underlying particular research approaches, as distinct from “methods”
     • which are ways of collecting data.
   • Methodology determines a method for researchers to produce data for analysis (Carter & Little 2008; Hesse-Biber & Leavy 2011).

2. Importance

   • Researchers need to provide their ‘methodological justification’ by discussing the reason why they select a particular method in their research.
     • Often, researchers simply suggest the use of a specific method, for example, an in-depth interview or focus group, without giving the theoretical context or methodological framework (Avis 2003; Carter & Little 2008).
   • It is a responsibility of qualitative researchers to create methodologically convincing stories’ (Miller &Crabtree 2005, p. 626)
     • by providing a strong rationale for their research based on an informed knowledge of a methodological framework (Carpenter & Suto 2008; Carter & Little 2008).

3. Dew (2007, p. 433) contends that the methods researchers select and what they expect to get out of those methods is strongly formed by their ‘methodological position’.

4. It's crucial for qualitative researchers to have a good understanding of the methodology so that they are able to ‘interpret data sensibly and with insight, and not simply interpret data in the light of preconceptions and prejudice—and so potentially perpetrate unsatisfactory or inappropriate understandings of the phenomenon of interest’.

5. REFERENCE