Chapter OneDeciding to Do a Qualitative Study

“Any kind of research that produces findings that are not arrived at by means of statistical procedures or other means of quantification”

“A research paradigm which emphasizes inductive, interpretive methods applied to the everyday world which is seen as subjective and socially created”

“Research procedures which produce descriptive data: people’s own written or spoken words and observable behavior. [It] directs itself at settings and the individuals within those settings holistically; that is, the subject of the study, be it an organization or an individual, is not reduced to an isolated variable or to an hypothesis, but is viewed as part of a whole”

Definitions of Qualitative Research

• Using qualitative studies in an educational environment relatively recent development• Rich history in anthropology and sociology• Ethnographies described “primitive” cultures• Described in terms of deficiencies in relation to Western

culture and norms • Late 1800s: Franz Boas one of the first to attempt to

understand culture inductively • Object of study is to describe the knowledge that members

use to make sense within their own culture

Foundations

1900-World War II◦ Model of the “lone ethnographer”

Spending extended periods of time doing participant observations among natives in a distant land

Utilized participant observation, interviewing, and artifact gathering Malinowski, Margaret Mead, Radcliffe-Brown

◦ “Chicago sociology” University of Chicago

Utilized their city as a social laboratory For three decades produced urban ethnographies that captured human

life in the city Slice-of-life approach

Used ordinary language of participants (working-class and poor migrants)

Capture their point-of-view Criticized as romanticizing the participant and amount of social

change

Foundations: The “Traditional Period”

Post World War II-mid 1970s Methods became more formalized, scholars

became more self-conscious about research approaches◦ Balance between positivist expectations for

validity, reliability, and generalizability and constructivist models of doing research

New theories associated with using qualitative research with education, ethnomethodology, phenomenology, critical theory, and feminism began to be recognized

Foundations: The “Modernist Phase”

1970s-early 1980s Wide range of paradigms, methods, and

strategies Boundaries between the social sciences and

humanities were becoming blurred◦ Interpretive methods such as semiotics and

hermeneutics that were developed in the humanities began being adapted for use in qualitative analyses

Qualitative work became legitimate form of educational research

Foundations: The “Moment of Blurred Genres”

1985-1994 (publication of Denzin and Lincoln’s essay)

Critical anthropologists challenged norms of classic ethnography◦ Argued traditional methods and writings product texts

that do not and cannot represent lived experience Understandings of experiences processed through

language, language is inherently unstable Accused of “creating culture” rather than representing

reality Paradigm shift: new ways of thinking about what

constitutes “Truth”

The “Crisis of Representation”

Development of new perspectives and methods has not meant abandonment of perspectives and methods that came before

Deconstructivist and poststructuralist perspectives are being taken seriously ◦ Critical, feminist, and other transformative

epistemologies are having a major impact as well◦ There are still researchers who continue to do

work classified as “traditional” or “modernist”

Present

1. Natural Settings2. Participant Perspectives3. Researcher as Data Gathering Instrument4. Extended Firsthand Engagement 5. Centrality of Meaning 6. Wholeness and Complexity7. Subjectivity 8. Emergent Design9. Inductive Data Analysis10. Reflexivity

Characteristics of Qualitative Research

Seek to understand how individuals make sense of their everyday lives

When research settings are controlled or manipulated…◦ They tell us little more than how individuals act in

narrowly defined and inherently artificial contexts

Natural Settings

Individuals act on the world based not on some supposed objective reality… ◦ But on perceptions of the realities that surround

them

Participant Perspectives

Qualitative data includes:◦ Field notes from participant observation, ◦ Notes from or transcriptions of interviews with informants,

and ◦ Unobtrusive data such as artifacts from the research site or

records related to the social phenomena under investigation

Data take on no significance until they are processed using the human intelligence of the researcher◦ Human capacities necessary to participate in social life are

the same capacities that enable qualitative researchers to make sense of the actions, intentions, and understandings of those being studied

Researcher as Data Gathering Instrument

Spend enough time with those participants in those contexts to feel confident that they are capturing what they claim

One of the hallmarks of high-quality qualitative work

“Blitzkrieg Ethnography”◦ Spending far too little time in research settings◦ Serious flaw in qualitative work

Extended Firsthand Engagement

Describing the meanings individuals use to understand social circumstances rather than trying to identify the “social facts” that comprise a positivist social theory◦ Max Weber: “interpretive sociology”

Stressed the importance of verstehen (understanding)◦ Blumer: symbolic interactionist theory

a) Human beings act toward things on the basis of the meaning that the things have for them

b) The meaning of such things is derived from, or arises out of, the social interaction that one has with one’s fellows

c) These meanings are handled in, and sometimes modified through an interpretive process used by individuals in dealing with the things they encounter

Centrality of Meaning

Assumption that social settings are unique, dynamic, and complex◦ Contexts can be systematically examined as whole,

without breaking them down into isolated, incomplete, and disconnected variables

◦ Qual. data are objects, pictures, or detailed descriptions that cannot be reduced to numbers without distorting the essence of the social meaning they represent

Including enough detail and actual data to take the reader inside the social situation under examination

Wholeness and Complexity

Required as researchers move from description toward interpretation

Instead of pretending to be objective…◦ Concentrate on reflexivity by applying their own

subjectivities in ways that make possible to understand the tacit motives and assumptions of their participants

Subjectivity

Studies change as they are being implemented◦ Research questions, methods, and other elements

of design are altered as studies unfold

Emergent Design

Moving from specifics to generalizations Bogdan & Biklen (1992): “You are not putting

together a puzzle, whose picture you already know. You are constructing a picture that takes shape as you collect and examine the parts”

Qual. researchers do not begin with a null hypothesis to retain or reject

Inductive Data Analysis

To keep track of one’s influence on a setting, to bracket one’s biases, and to monitor one’s emotional responses

Goodall (2000): “The process of personally and academically reflecting on lived experiences in ways that reveal deep connections between the writer and his or her subject”

Reflexivity

1. Positivist2. Postpositivist3. Constructivist4. Critical/Feminist5. Poststructuralist

Research Paradigms

Ontological ◦ What is the nature of reality?

Epistemological ◦ What can be known, and what is the relationship

of the knower to the known? Methodological

◦ How is knowledge gained? Products

Analyzing Research Paradigms

Ontology◦ Realists who believe in an objective universe that

has order independent of human perceptions Reality driven by universal, natural laws

Epistemology◦ Claim to be objective in search for immutable

truth◦ Researchers and the objects of their study are

assumed to be mutually independent

Positivist Paradigm

Methodology◦ Careful measurement, manipulation, and control

Experiments, quasiexperiments, correlational studies and surveys

Products◦ Knowledge equals accumulated “facts” that have

been scientifically verified and generalizations, theories, and laws based on those facts Cause-and effect-dimension

Positivist (Cont.)

Ontology◦ Reality exists but…

Because of the limitations of human inquiry, the inherent order of the universe can never be known completely

Epistemology◦ Researchers see themselves as data collection

instruments Use disciplined research techniques to ensure that

empirical data, and not their impressions, drive their findings

Postpositivist Paradigm

Methodology◦ Qualitative methods that capture participant

perspectives but in rigorously disciplined ways Low inference, systematic procedures dominate data

analysis processes, and frequency counts and low-level statistics used

Products◦ Analytic generalizations, descriptions, patterns and

grounded theory Generalizations are induced from systematic analyses of

data that take the form of searches for patterns Deductive processes are used to verify the strength of those

patterns

Postpositivist (Cont.)

Ontology ◦ Universal, absolute realities are unknowable, and

the objects of inquiry are individual perspectives or constructions of reality Multiple realities exist that are inherently unique

because they are constructed by individuals Epistemology

◦ Individual constructions of reality ◦ Researchers and the participants in their studies

are joined together in the process of coconstruction Impossible and undesirable for the researchers to be

distant and objective

Constructivist Paradigm

Methodology◦ Naturalistic qualitative methods

Interviewing participants and observing them in their natural settings

Products◦ Case studies or rich narratives that describe the

interpretations constructed as part of the research process Readers can place themselves in the shoes of the

participants

Constructivist (Cont.)

Ontology◦ The material world is made up of historically situated

structures that have a real impact on the life chances of individuals Structures perceived as real

Leads to differential treatment of individuals based on race, gender, and social class

Epistemology◦ Knowledge is subjective and inherently political ◦ Guba & Lincoln (1994): “The investigator and investigated

object are assumed to be interactively linked, with the values of the investigator inevitably influencing the inquiry” Knowledge mediated through the political beliefs and opinions

of the researcher

Critical/Feminist Paradigm

Methodology◦ Raise consciousness for those being oppressed,

leading to social change Methods called “transformative”

Require dialogue between researchers and participants

◦ Data collection and emphasis similar to constuctivist research except Critical: improve life chances for individuals at the

bottom of the social hierarchy Feminist: making conditions better for women

Products◦ Critiques of the perceived material world

Critical/Feminist (Cont.)

Ontology ◦ “Antiparadigm”

Deconstruct aforementioned paradigms◦ Order is created in the minds of individuals in an attempt to

give meaning to events that have no “intrinsic or immanent relations” Multiple realities, each with its own claim to coherence, and none

can be privileged over another Realities local, subjective, and in flux

Epistemology ◦ Deconstructing the notion of universal Truth

Grand narratives are constructed in particular social-historical circumstances to serve the purposes of those in power

Alternative forms of inquiry such as: queer theory, performance theory, postcolonial theory, critical race theory, and cultural studies

Poststructuralist Paradigm

Methodology◦ Focus on understanding data as texts that represent one of many

stories that could be told1. Deconstructivists

Use deconstruction as a tool to examine representations of the world, searching for aporia, inconsistencies, or gaps where the internal logic of the text unravels

2. Genealogists Revealing “the ways in which the practice was historically justified,

the discourses that were used for justification, and the assumptions underlying forms of representation that are part of the practices”

3. Poststructuralists doing data-based research Products

◦ Analyses that reveal the internal incongruities of discourses and expose the consequences of actions taken based on the assumed Truthfulness of those discourses

Poststructuralist (Cont.)

• Ethnographies• Microethnographies• Ethnomethodology• Participant Observation Research• Interview Studies• Focus Group Studies• Artifact Analysis• Historical Studies and Historiography

Kinds of Qualitative Research List

• Grounded Theory Studies• Naturalistic Inquiries • Symbolic Interactionist Studies• Narrative Studies• Educational Criticism• Phenomenological Studies • Case Studies• Action Research Projects• Collaborative Studies

Kinds of Research List (Cont.)

Ethnographies◦ Describe culture or parts of culture from the point of view

of cultural insiders Make sense of everyday experiences

◦ Developed by anthropologists ◦ Involves participant observation, informant interviewing,

and artifact collection ◦ Used within postpostivist paradigm

Microethnographies◦ Sociolinguists or others interested in verbal and nonverbal

communication Analyses of face-to-face interactions within specific social

contexts◦ Used with postpostivist paradigm

Ethnographies & Microethnographies

Ethnomethodology◦ Studies the methods that people use to navigate their

everyday lives Interested in assessing an individual’s stock of knowledge

◦ Use observation and interview techniques Rigorous discourse analysis procedures to produce generalizations

and theories◦ Used within postpositivist paradigm

Participant Observation Studies◦ Interviewing, artifact collection, and especially direct

observation ◦ Not ethnographies because they are much narrower in scope

and involve less time in the field Researchers enter with specific interests and/or specific questions

◦ Used within any paradigm

Ethnomethodology & Participant Observation Studies

Interview Studies◦ Create special kind of speech event during which they ask

open-ended questions, encourage informants to explain their unique perspectives, and listen intently for special language Enter with questions in mind but will generate questions

during the interview◦ Used within any paradigm except positivist

Focus Group Studies◦ Sets of individuals with similar characteristics or having

shared experiences who sit down with a moderator to discuss a topic

◦ Used to supplement other qualitative data◦ Used within any paradigm

Interview Studies & Focus Group Studies

Artifact Analysis◦ Unusual for artifacts to be primary data source ◦ Advantage: does not influence the social setting being examined◦ Disadvantage: Interpreting the meaning and significance of objects

without social context is difficult ◦ Used within postpositivist paradigm

Historical Studies and Historiography◦ Involve the collection and analysis of data for the purpose of

reconstructing events or combinations of events that happened in the past

◦ Primary sources: oral or written testimony, original documents, photographs, diaries, journals, drawings, mementos, or other original artifacts

◦ Secondary sources: elements created by others that relate to the event (i.e. textbooks, journal articles, etc)

◦ Used within several research paradigms

Artifact Analysis & Historical Studies and Historiography

Grounded Theory Studies◦ Constant comparison

Researchers engage in detailed analytic processes that require repeated confirmations of potential explanatory patterns discovered in the data

◦ Used within postpositivist paradigm Naturalistic Inquiries

◦ The goal of capturing naturally occurring activity in natural settings

◦ Used within constuctivist paradigm

Grounded Theory Studies & Naturalistic Inquiries

Symbolic Interactionist Studies◦ Comprised of “exploration” (i.e., collecting

observations, interviews, life histories, letters, diaries, public records, and group discussions) and “inspection” (discriminating analytic elements and isolating relations between elements)

◦ Used within postpostivist paradigm Narrative Studies

◦ Include life histories, life story research, biography, personal experience methods, oral history, and narrative inquiry

◦ Used within constructivist and critical/feminist paradigm

Symbolic Interactionist Studies & Narrative Studies

Educational Criticism ◦ Observe, interview, and collect artifacts and documents like other

qualitative researchers From this, researchers construct stories or portraits of what they experienced

and understood in the settings explored Findings look more like the essays of art critics than the “objective” reports found in

positivist journals

◦ Used within constructivist paradigm Phenomenological Studies

◦ Combines both interpretive/hermeneutic methods and descriptive/phenomenological methods Phenomenology: how one orients to lived experience Hermeneutics: how one interprets the ‘texts’ of life

◦ Attempt to keep biases and preconceptions in check by exploring own experiences and understandings

◦ Methods: Protocol writing, interviewing, observing, studying experiential descriptions of literature and art and examining diaries, journals, and logs

◦ Used within constructivist paradigm

Educational Criticism & Phenomenological Studies

Case Studies◦ A special kind of qualitative work that investigates a

contextualized contemporary (as opposed to historical) phenomenon within specified boundaries Defining the boundaries, or specifying the unit of analysis is

the key point in case study design◦ Used within several paradigms

Action Research Projects◦ Concerned with activity and change

Identifying a problem through careful observation, reflecting on the dimensions of the problem, designing a change that addresses the problem, implementing the change, and assessing its effectiveness through careful observation

Used within critical/feminist paradigm

Case Studies & Action Research Projects

Collaborative Studies◦ Work that is distinguished from action research

because its principal aims are the generation of knowledge and understanding Research participants as full partners in the research

process◦ Used within constructivist paradigm

Collaborative Studies

Research questions central to the inquiry process; but they ought not be the starting point

Essential steps to qualitative research1. Recognize and accept one’s ontological and

epistemological beliefs2. Find a place among the qualitative

paradigms3. Ask research questions4. Choose a method based on what you want

to find out

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