Introduction into Qualitative Research

Introduction into Qualitative Research

1. Qualitative measures: any measures where data recorded in non numerical format

   • not just WORDS, but images, sounds, and obersations of peoples behaviours
   • So get more experience in with qual research
     • Research as a sieve: quant fine grained, qual large grained
       • Never going to get ALL experiences in a report but...

2. typically the approach when want to:

   • generate new theories or hypotheses
     • understand a phenomenon well enough to make hunches about how it works
   • develop detailed stories to describe a phenomomenon
   • achieve deeper understanding of a phenomenon
   • improve the quality of quantitative measures

3. Qualitative traditions:

   • Enthrography
     • study of culture using qualitative research most common approach participant observation
   • Phenomonology
     • focuses on peoples subjective experiences and interpretations of the world. wants to understand how the world is experiences by others from their perspective.
   • Field Research
     • research method where researcher goes into the field to observe the phenomenon in its natural state. usually takes extensive field notes that are subsequently coded and analysed for major themes.
   • Grounded Theory
     • purpose is to develop a theory about the phenomena of interest that is rooted/grounded in observation. also method for achieving that theory

4. Qualitative Methods:

   • Participant Observation
     • Researcher becomes partcipant in culture or context being observed. most common and most demanding can take months or years for researcher to become accepted as natural part of context
   • Direct Observation
     • Observing to gatheri information about phenomonon. Different to participant ob: 1. maintains distance so avoid bias 2. more detached perspective 3. more structured 4. doesnt take as long
   • Unstructured Interviewing
     • interviewing method that using no predetermined interview protocol or survey. interview questions emerge and evolve as interview proceeds. hard to analyse data when synthesizing respondents as each interview unique
   • Case Studies
     • intensive study of a specific individual, event, organisation or specific context. used a lot in business, law and policy analysis. uses combination of methods - no single way to conduct case study
   • Focus Groups
     • enable researchers to obtain detailed information about attitudes, opinions and preferencesof selected groups of participants. used to generate ideas on topic and achieve consensus in group. commonly used as first stage development of surveys
   • Unobtrusive Methods
     • indirect measures
       • an unobtrusive measure that occurs naturally in a research context. researcher is able to collect data without respondent being aware. i.e. popularity
     • content analysis
       • thematic analysis of text
         • identification of themes or major ideas in a document or set of documents
           • can be field notes, newspaper articles, technical papers, organisational memos
       • indexing
         • automated methods for indexing documents Keys Words In Context = automated computer system
       • analysis of text documents. can be quantitative or qualitative. major purpose is to identify patterns in text
     • methods of collecting data that do not interfere with the respondents lives

5. Assessing Qualitative Research

   • Credibility (internal validity)
     • establishing that the results are believable from the participants perspective
   • Transferability (external validity)
     • degree to which the results can be generalised or transferred to other contexts or settings. judgement on how sensible it is to transfer is done by person wanting to apply results to other context
   • Dependability (reliability)
     • researcher is responsible for describing the changes that occur in the setting and how those changes may affect the conclusions made
   • Confirmability (objectivity)
     • degree to which the results could be confirmed or corroborated by others. data audit and triangulation useful tools to demonstrateconfirmability

6. 12 Major Characteristics of Qual Research- from Patton readiing

   • Design Structure
     • 1. naturalistic inquiry
       • studying real world situations at they unfold naturally- no maniplation or control
     • 2. emergent design flexibility
       • openness to adapting inquiry as understanding deepens or situations change
     • 3. purposeful sampling
       • cases for study are chose because they are information rich and will offer insight not generalisation on phenomena
   • Data-collection and Fieldwork Strategies
     • 4. qualitative data
       • observations that yield detailed description
     • 5. personal experience and engagement
       • researcher has direct contact with participants or context
     • 6. empathetic neutrality and mindfulness
       • empathetic stance in interviewing - no jusdgement, open, sensitive and respectful. mindfulness meaning being fully present in observations
     • 7. dynamic systems
       • mindful and attentive to system and situation dynamics- assumes change as ongoing
   • Analysis Strategies
     • 11. context sensitivity
     • 12. voice, perspective and relexivity
     • 10. holistic perpective
       • whole phenomenon under study is understood as a complex system not reduced to a few discrete variables
     • 8. unique case orientation
       • assumes each case is special and unique
     • 9. inductive analysis and creative systems
       • immersion in the details and specifics of data to find patterns, themes and relationships