copyright © allyn & bacon 2008 qualitative research designs chapter 11 this multimedia product...

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008

Qualitative Research Designs

Chapter 11

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Qualitative Research

Three assumptions that differentiate qualitative and quantitative studies– Epistemology

Qualitative researchers believe there are multiple realities represented by the participants’ perspectives

Quantitative researchers believe a single, objective reality exists



Three assumptions (continued)– Context

Qualitative researchers believe context is critical to understanding the phenomena being studied

Quantitative researchers do not believe context is an important factor

– Researcher bias Qualitative researchers believe the researcher’s biases and

perspectives must be understood to interpret the results Quantitative researchers believe researcher bias is controlled

through the control of internal validity threats



Characteristics of qualitative research– Natural settings - field research

Behavior is studied as it occurs naturally Beliefs related to a natural setting

– Behavior is understood bests as it occurs without external constraints or control

– The situational context is very important to understanding behavior



Characteristics of qualitative research– Data collection

Data is collected directly from the source– Observations– Interviews– Document analysis

– Rich narrative descriptions– Process orientation

How and why behaviors occur



Characteristics of qualitative research– Inductive data analysis– Participant perspectives define what is “real”– Emerging research design

The design plans change as data is collected, analyzed, and understood


Ethnography

An ethnography is an in-depth description and interpretation of cultural patterns and meanings within a culture or social group– Culture - shared patterns of beliefs, normative

expectations, behaviors, and meanings– Shared, not individualistic


Ethnography

Problem statements– Foreshadowed problem - a general framework for

beginning a qualitative study– Specific question - a question(s) that emerges

from the interactive relationship between the problem and data

Often found embedded in the data analysis Changing nature of questions often necessitates

changes in the design (i.e., an emergent design)


Ethnography

Identifying and entering the research site– Access to all parts of the site

Participants Documents Physical location

– Rapport - need to be “integrated” within the site to gain the trust of the participants

– Often site entry takes a long time


Ethnography

Selecting participants– Use of purposeful sampling strategies to select

“information rich” participants– Purposeful sampling strategies

Maximum variation - selecting individuals or cases to represent extremes

– Very positive or very negative attitudes– Highest and lowest achieving students)

Snowball (i.e., network) - initially selected participants recommend others for involvement


Ethnography

– Purposeful sampling strategies Sampling by case - selecting individuals or cases for their

unique characteristics– Extreme– Typical– Unique– Reputation

Key informant - selecting an individual(s) particularly knowledgeable about the setting and or topic

Comprehensive - selecting all relevant individuals or cases


Ethnography

Three primary methods for obtaining data– Observation– Interview– Document analysis


Ethnography

Observation– Unstructured in nature– Comprehensive - continuous and total over an extended

period of time– Participant-observer role of the researcher

Continuum between complete participant and complete observer

– Passive participant– Moderate participant– Active participant– Complete participant

Rare for an ethnographer to be a complete participant


Ethnography

Observation (continued)– Use of field notes to record observations

Two types of information– Descriptions of what occurred– Reflections of what the descriptions mean (i.e.,

speculations, emerging themes, patterns, problems) Accuracy Extensive nature of notes


Ethnography

Interviews– Unstructured in nature– Begins with a general idea of what needs to be asked and

moves to specific questions based on what the respondent says

– Types of interviews Key informant Life history Focus group

– Tape recording and transcribing interviews afford the opportunity to study the data carefully


Ethnography

Document analysis– Written records

Print (e.g., minutes from meetings, reports, yearbooks, articles, diaries)

Non-print (e.g., recordings, videotapes, pictures)

– Types of sources Primary - original work Secondary - secondhand interpretations of original work

– Commonly used to verify other observations or interview data


Ethnography

Data analysis and Interpretation– Observations, interviews, and document analyses

result in large quantities of narrative data– Analysis includes critically examining,

summarizing, and synthesizing the data


Ethnography

Three stages of analysis– Coding

Organizing the data into reasonable, meaningful units that are coded with words or very short phrases that signify a category

– Emic categories - information provided by the participants in their own language and organizational units

– Etic categories - the researcher’s interpretation of emic data

Use of major codes and sub-codes is common


Ethnography

– Summarizing the coded data Examining all similarly coded data and summarizing it

with a sentence or two that reflects its essence Computerized sorting of data is common and effective

– Pattern seeking and synthesizing Synthesizing identifies the relationships among the

categories and patterns that suggest generalization The researcher interprets findings inductively,

synthesizes the information, and draws inferences


Ethnography

– Pattern seeking (continued) Developing patterns

– Begins with the researcher’s informed hunches and ideas– Tentative patterns are identified and additional data

collected to determine if they are consistent with those patterns

– Characterized by enlarging, combining, subsuming, and creating new categories that make sense


Case Study

In-depth analysis of one or more events, settings, programs, groups, or other “bounded systems”– Focus on one entity– Defined by time and place– Concern with the limited generalizability of the

findings


Case Study

Types of case studies– Historical organizational - focus on the

development of an organization over time– Observational - study of a single entity using

participant observation– Life history (i.e., oral history) - a first-person

narrative completed with one person


Case Study

Types of case studies (continued)– Situation analysis - a study of a specific event

from multiple perspective– Multi-case - a study of several different

independent entities– Multi-site - a study of many sites and participants

the main purpose of which is to develop theory


Case Study

Research problem statement– Focus on in-depth description and understanding– Use of a single major question and several sub-

questions– Emerging nature of the problems


Case Study

Identifying and entering the research site Selecting participants

– Participants are usually identified as a part of the site of the study (e.g., a classroom, teachers in a specific department, etc.)

– Internal sampling - selecting specific participants, times, and documents within a site

Obtaining data


Case Study

Data analysis– Same procedures as in ethnographic data analysis– Four types of data analysis

Categorical aggregation - researcher codes data and collects instances from which meanings will emerge

Direct interpretation - use of a single example to illustrate meaning

Drawing patterns - examines the correspondence between two or more categories or codes

Naturalistic generalization - suggestions as to what others can take from the research and apply to other situations


Phenomenological Designs

A phenomenological study describes and interprets the experiences of participants to understand their perspectives

Based on the belief that there are multiple ways of interpreting the same experience and the meaning of that experience is what constitutes reality



Research problem– Focused on what is essential for the meaning of

the event, episode, or interaction– Selecting participants

Participants are selected because they have lived or are living the experience being investigated

Participants will share their experiences Participants can articulate their feelings



Obtaining data - in-depth, semi-structured, or unstructured interviews

Data analysis– Concerns that the analysis reflects the shared meanings

and consciousness of the participants– Five step process

A initial description of the researchers experience with the phenomena

A statement how the participant’s experience with the phenomena are identified in the interview



– Five step process (continued) The creation of meaningful units form the statements

using participant’s verbatim language to illustrate the units

Separation of what was experienced from how it was experienced

The construction on an overall description of the experience


Grounded Theory Designs

A grounded theory study discovers or generates a theory

– A theory is a set of propositions that pertain to a specific experience, situation, or setting

– The contextual sensitivity of the theory is the basis for suggesting the theory is “grounded” in the field data

Research problems - broad general questions that focus on what happened to people, why they believed it happened, and what it means to them



Selecting participants Obtaining data - in-depth unstructured

interviews Data analysis

– Constant comparison - information from interviews is compared to emerging themes as a part of a more encompassing theory



Data analysis (continued)– Four step process

Form initial categories with subcategories and descriptions of extreme possibilities on a continuum

Create a coding paradigm in which central tenets are described with causal conditions, resultant actions, conceptual conditions and consequences

Write a story that integrates selective codes that have been established and presents conditional propositions and hypotheses

Explicate the theory


Credibility of Qualitative Research

Credibility is the extent to which the data, data analysis, and conclusions are believable and trustworthy

Four technical issues– Triangulation - the comparison of results obtained from

different data collection methods (i.e., interviews, observations, and document analyses all lead to a similar conclusion)

– Reliability - the extent to which what is recorded as data is what actually occurred in the setting (i.e., the accuracy of observations)



Four technical issues (continued)– Internal validity - the match between the researcher’s

categories and interpretations and reality Threats related to observer effects are of paramount concern Other threats include maturation, history, selection, attrition,

and subject effects– External validity – generalizability

Translatability and comparability are terms used to indicate the extent to which the results can be used by other researchers in other settings

Generally weak in qualitative research



Techniques to enhance credibility– Triangulation– Prolonged and persistent field work– Copious field notes– Low inference descriptors– Mechanically recorded data– Member checking– Verbatim accounts– Researcher’s role as participant observer


Evaluating Qualitative Studies

The researcher’s background, interests, and potential bias should be clear

Conceptual and/or theoretical frameworks for the study should be clear

The method for selecting participants should be clear The level of the researcher’s involvement in the

setting should be indicated The researcher should be trained in data collection

procedures


Evaluating Qualitative Studies

Credibility of the research should be addressed

Descriptive data should be separated from the interpretations of the data

The researcher should use multiple methods of data collection

The duration of the study must be long enough