focusing the study ( qualitative research )

Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

6.1

Chapter 6

Introducing and

Focusing the Study


6.2

Key Questions• How can the problem statement be best

written to reflect one of the approaches to qualitative research?

• How can the purpose statement be best written to convey the orientation of an approach in qualitative research?

• How can a central research question be written so that it encodes the approach to qualitative research to be used?

• How can a central research question be written to reflect the issues being explored in one of the qualitative approaches?


6.3

The Research Problem

• The first few paragraphs of the study state the research problem

• The research problem states the issue leading to a need for the study

• The need for the study is framed within the existing literature and can foreshadow the qualitative approach that will be used

• The purpose of the introduction is to present an overall rationale for studying the problem


6.4

The Need for the Study

• When writing about the problem, need for the study often relates to the qualitative approach:– Need in narrative: to hear the stories of

individuals– Need in phenomenology: need to learn about

common experiences toward phenomenon– Need in grounded theory: need for a

theoretical understanding– Need in ethnography: need for understanding

a culture-sharing group– Need in case study: need for in-depth analysis

of a case that is unique or illuminates a problem or issue


6.5

The Purpose Statement:General Guidelines

• The purpose statement provides the major objective or the intent to the study

• The elements of a purpose statement– It identifies the qualitative approach to be used– It encodes the passage with words that

indicate the action of the researcher and the focus of the approach to research

• Understand – Narrative studies• Describe – Case study, ethnography,

phenomenology • See (Table 6.1) for other suggestions


6.6

The Purpose Statement:General Guidelines

• The elements of a purpose statement (cont.)– It includes the central phenomenon (i.e.,

central concept being explored)– It foreshadows the participants and the site for

the study– It includes a general definition for the central

phenomenon


6.7

Purpose Statement Script The purpose of this ____________ (narrative,

phenomenological, grounded theory, ethnographic, case) study is (was? will be?) to _________ (understand? describe? develop? discover?) the __________(central phenomenon of the study)

for ____________ (the participants) at ________ (the research site). At this stage in the research, the ___________ (central

phenomenon) will be generally defined as

_____________ (provide a tentative, preliminary definition of the central concept).

Words to Use in Encoding the Purpose Statement

Narrative Phenomenology Grounded

Theory

Ethnography Case

Study

Narrative study StoriesEpiphaniesLived

experiencesChronology

Phenomenological

studyDescribeExperiencesMeaningEssence

Grounded

theoryGenerateDevelopPropositionsProcessSubstantive

theory

EthnographyCulture-sharing

groupCultural

behavior and

languageCultural portraitCultural

themes

Case studyBoundedSingle or

collective

caseEvent,

process,

program

Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e 6.8


6.9

The Purpose Statement:A Narrative Example

In my research, which has involved collecting women’s accounts of their experiences of becoming mothers, I am seeking to understand how women make sense of events throughout the process of childbearing, and constructing these events into episodes thereby (apparently) maintainingunity within their lives. (Miller, 2000, p. 309)

women’s accountswomen’s accounts

understandunderstand

these events into episodes these events into episodes

Elements of Narrative •Participant accounts•Purpose to understand•Reconstruction of accounts

constructingconstructing


6.10

The Purpose Statement:A Phenomenological Example

Given the intricacies of power and gender in the academy, what are doctoral

advisement relationships between

women advisors and women

advisees really like? Because there

were few studies exploring women doctoral students’ experiences in the literature, a phenomenological study devoted to understanding women’s lived experiences as advisees best lent itself to examining this question. (Heinrich, 1995, p. 449)

what are doctoralwhat are doctoral

advisement relationships betweenadvisement relationships between

women advisors and women women advisors and women

lived experienceslived experiences

•Elements of Phenomenology Description•Lived Experienceadvisees really like?advisees really like?

what are doctoralwhat are doctoral


6.11

The Purpose Statement:A Grounded Theory Example

The primary purpose of this article is to

present a grounded theory of academic

change that is based upon research

guided by two major research

questions: What are the major sources

of academic change? What are the major

processes through which academic

change occurs? For purposes of this paper, grounded theory is defined as theory generated from data systematically obtained and analyzed through the constant comparative method. (Conrad, 1978, p. 101)

grounded theorygrounded theory

Elements of Grounded Theory Develop a theory•Describe a process•Theory is based on the data from participants

processesprocesses

theory generatedtheory generatedfrom datafrom data


6.12

The Purpose Statement:An Ethnographic Example

This article examines how the

work and the talk of stadium

employees reinforce certain

meanings of baseball in

society, and it reveals how

this work and talk create and

maintain ballpark culture.

(Trujillo, 1992, p. 351)

Elements of Ethnography•Culture-sharing group•Language and Cultural Behavior•Cultural beliefs

work and the talkwork and the talk stadiumstadium

meanings of baseballmeanings of baseball

employees employees

ballpark cultureballpark culture


6.13

The Purpose Statement:A Case Study Example

Although scholars have shown that

sport is fundamental in constituting

and reproducing gender inequalities,

little attention has been paid to sport

and gender relations in later life. In

this article we demonstrate how men

exploit women’s labor in the sport of

lawn bowls, which is played

predominately by older people.

(Boyle & McKay, 1995, p. 556)

Elements of Case Study •Description•Specific Case•Bounded System

demonstratedemonstrate how menhow men

exploit women’s labor in the sport ofexploit women’s labor in the sport of

lawn bowls,lawn bowls,

predominately by older peoplepredominately by older people


6.14

Qualitative Research Questions

• The four types of questions (Marshall & Rossman, 1999)– Exploratory: to investigate phenomenon little

understood– Explanatory: to explain patterns of behavior

related to phenomenon– Descriptive: to describe a phenomenon– Emancipatory: to engage in social action

about the phenomenon

• The questions are open-ended and non- directional


6.15

Qualitative Research Questions

• The questions frequently start with words such as what or how rather than why

• The researcher usually only needs 5-7 questions


6.16

The Central Question• General guidelines

– Pose an overarching question followed by several subquestions

– Pose the broadest question that can be posed about the research problem

– Encode the question with language from one of the five approaches to inquiry

• A narrative example (Angrosino, 1994)– No central question was posed in the article– A possible central question: What story does

Vonnie Lee have to tell?– The central question implies an individual has

a story to tell– The central question implies that there will be

some critical point of interest


6.17

The Central Question

• A phenomenological example (Anderson & Spencer, 2002)– No central question was posed in the

article– A possible central question: What

meaning do the 41 men and 17 women with a diagnosis of AIDS ascribe to their illness?

– The central question implies that the participants have a common lived experience that provides meaning for their lives


6.18


• A grounded theory example (Morrow & Smith, 1995)– No central question was posed in the article– The study posed broad questions that guided

their interviews– The questions focused on understanding the

women’s experiences and shaping them into coping strategies used to survive their abuse as part of a theory of the process


6.19


• An ethnography example (Haenfler, 2004)– No central question was posed in the article– A possible central question: What are the core

values of the straight edge movement, and how do members construct and understand their subjective experiences of being a part of the subculture?

– The central question identifies a culture-sharing group

– The central question begins by asking for a description of core values

– The central question uses the description of the core values to build an understanding of the experiences that are presented as themes in the study


6.20

The Central Question• A case study example (Asmussen &

Creswell, 1995)– The authors posed five central guiding

questions in the article• What happened?• Who was involved in response to the incident?• What themes emerged during the eight-month period

that followed this incident?• What theoretical constructs helped us to understand

the campus response?

– The questions focused the development of a description of the incident, the emergence of themes, and finally theoretical constructs


6.21

The Subquestions: Types of Subquestions

• Issue-oriented subquestions– These questions address the major concerns

and complexities to be resolved– These questions take the phenomenon in the

central research question and break it down into subtopics

• Procedural subquestions– These questions cover the anticipated needs

for information (e.g., information needed for the description of a case)

– These questions cover procedural steps in the process of research associated with one of the approaches


6.22

Examples From the Five Approaches:Narrative

• Issue subquestions - These questions deal with areas of the stories (e.g., emotion, how an individual felt, how an individual live an experience something)

• Examples of procedural subquestions– What are the object experiences in this

individual’s life?– What are the stories that can be told from these

experiences?– What are the turning points in the stories?– What are some theories that relate to this

individual’s life?


6.23

Examples From the Five Approaches:Phenomenololgy

• Issue subquestions– Ask general questions about the

experiences of the participants regarding the central phenomenon (what they do, what they don’t do, contexts, etc.)

– Ask specific questions about their understanding of the central phenomenon (definitions, characteristics, behaviors, experiences that they have had)


6.24

Examples From the Five Approaches:Phenomenololgy

• Procedural subquestions– Questions that include the structural

meanings of the experiences– Questions that include the underlying

themes and contexts that account for the participant’s feelings and thoughts about the central phenomenon

– Questions that include invariant structural themes that facilitate a description of the central phenomenon as it is experienced by the participants


6.25

Examples From the Five Approaches:Grounded Theory

• Examples of issue subquestions– What process is being described by the

participants?– What theory emerges that describes the

process

• Procedural subquestions– Could be posed as aspects of the axial coding

process and could deal with the following• The categories that emerge• The causes, contexts, intervening conditions,

strategies and consequences (outcomes) that resulted


6.26

Examples From the Five Approaches:Ethnography

• Issue subquestions– Questions that center on a description of the

culture sharing group– Questions that deal with the major beliefs,

values, and behaviors of this group that help us understand their culture and how it is maintained

• Procedural subquestions– A description of the context of the culture– An analysis of the dominant cultural themes– An interpretation of cultural behavior


6.27

Examples From the Five Approaches:Case Study

• Issue subquestions– Questions regarding the context of the case

and how it contributes to your understanding of the central phenomenon

– Questions regarding the major perspectives or issues related to the central phenomenon

– Questions regarding he theoretical constructs that help you to understand the central phenomenon

– Questions regarding the practical implications of what was learned


6.28

Examples From the Five Approaches:Case Study

• Examples of procedural subquestions– How can the events be described?– What are the major themes that

emerged?– What assertions emerge from the

description and themes?


6.29

Chapter 6

Introducing and

Focusing the Study

focusing the study ( qualitative research )

Education

qualitative research

creswell qualitative

research problem

problem statement

qualitative approaches

central research question

purpose statement script

research site