Qualitative Research

John Donne (1572 – 1631)Meditation 17 - Devotions upon Emergent Occasions

No man is an island,Entire of itself,Every man is a piece of the continent,A part of the main.If a clod be washed away by the sea,Europe is the less.As well as if a promontory were.As well as if a manor of thy friend'sOr of thine own were:Any man's death diminishes me,Because I am involved in mankind,And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee.

Modernism• Positivism, empiricism - a stable singular

observable reality• Strong faith in science and that behaviour is

reducible to physics and chemistry• Technological solutions to problems,

industrialisation, victory over nature• Destruction of religious/cultural/class

dogma /power• Humanistic moral force• Research as defined, structured, quantifiable

process – surveys, experiments, observations

Quantitative Methods measuring, theory confirmation, defining

• Experiments• Questionnaires and surveys• Psychometric Scaling and Tests• Quantitative analysis of

documents, video, observation, etc• Analysis of existing data, audits

What are they?

PostmodernismMetaphysical and Epistemological assumptions

• multiple and individual realities• the idea of “other”• an absence of universals (metanarratives)• rejection of structural and hierarchical models –

surface (lateral) not depth (vertical) relationships• methodology of deconstruction • research as a creative interactive qualitative process

– focus groups, interviews, grounded theory

Qualitative Methods descriptive, theory building, meaning making

• Focus Groups• Interviews• Case Studies• Ethnographic Inquiry• Cooperative Inquiry• Grounded Theory• Qualitative analysis of documents, video,

observation, etcWhat are they?

What’s your style?

Redo the mod-postmod testAdd up your score

What’s your

style?

• A high negative score (-10 or lower) means that you favour the ideas behind quantitative research

• Between -9 and +9 means you’re somewhere in the middle liking bits of both

• A high positive score (+10 or higher) means that you favour the ideas behind qualitative research

QUALITTATIVE METHODS

PHENOMENOLOGYThe study of that which appear real to the senses,

regardless of whether their underlying existence is proved real or their nature understood

• perceived meaning is more important than objects, facts or physical events, so-called objective reality

• understanding is regarded as being the true end of science

• self-worlds are the object of study for the phenomenologist

• self-worlds are based on their own hidden assumptions

Purpose Intellectual Roots,

Subjects

Data sources

Data Analysis

Focus of Interview &

Analysis

Research Outcome

Phenomen-ology

To understand the meaning of

a specific human

experience

Philosophy. Persons who

have lived the experience.

Interpretivism

Interviews diaries, review of art, music

and, literature

Reflection on the data,

explication, of themes

constitutive patterns

Common practices,

exemplars, paradigm

cases.

Full, rich description of a

human experience

Grounded Theory

To generate theory about

social structures &

processes

Sociology. All persons

involved in a social process

Interviews, participant

observations document

review

Constant comparative

analysis

Phases, dimensions, properties of

the social structure

Integrated, parsimonious theory with

concepts that have analytic

imagery

Ethno-graphy

To describe a culture

Anthropology All persons

past & present in a culture

Interviews, participant

observation, document

review

Constant comparative

analysis

Domains taxonomies components, cultural terms

Well described cultural norms

Types of InterviewsInformal, conversational (unstructured) interview –

there are predetermined themes, but no predetermined questions. Researcher is open to the participant’s nature and priorities and “goes with the flow”. Ethnographic and grounded theory approaches

General guide (semi-structured) interview – ensures that the same general areas of information are collected from each participant. More focussed, but allowing adaptability to get a rich perspective from the participant. Grounded theory and phenomenological approaches

Un-struct-ured inter-view

Types of InterviewsStandardized (structured), open-ended interview - the

same open-ended questions are asked to all participants; this approach facilitates faster interviews that can be more easily analysed and compared. Phenomenological and survey approaches

Closed, fixed-response interview - where all participants are asked the same questions and asked to choose answers from among the same set of alternatives. This generates easy to analyse statistical data. Survey and questionnaire approaches

Telephone Interviews

Telephone interviews enable a researcher to gather information rapidly, while still allowing they allow for personal contact between the researcher and the respondent.

All of the above types of interviews can be used on the telephone, with some limitations on their effectiveness.

Constructin

g Grounded

Theory

Grounded theory

Grounded theory does not test a hypothesis. It sets out to find theory that accounts for our observations. It’s an inductive process

Rigour in grounded theory comes from its responsiveness to the situation; a continuing search for evidence which disconfirms the emerging theory.

Data

• All is data - everything that gets in the researcher’s way

• Interviews, observations, field notes of lectures, meetings, newspaper articles, TV shows, conversations, self-interviews

Grounded theory process - background information

- from interviews, observations

- finding themes/concepts

- generating theories/propositions

Axial coding = - axial codinggrouping the themesinto larger overview thematic ideas.

NO’s?• No pre-research literature review. Literature of the

area under study gives preconceptions about what to find and the researcher gets desensitized by borrowed concepts. The literature should instead be read in the sorting ideas stage, being treated as more data (ideas) to code and compare with what has already been coded and generated.

• No taping. Taping is counterproductive and a waste of time - the researcher delimits her data by field-noting interviews and soon after generates concepts that fit with data, are relevant and work in explaining what participants are doing to resolve their main concern.

• No talk. Talking about the theory before it is written up can either render praise or criticism, and both diminish the motivational drive to write memos that develop and refine the concepts and the theory

Building Community resilience through community project groups

• What would be some things that you would like to change about where you live? What are these things about, what’s behind each of these thoughts

• In pairs, take notes, swap • Bring in a 2nd pair. Identify themes (codes, propositions,

assumptions, key ideas – e.g. It could be about the location, access to places, the neighbours, the family, the building, the grounds, the atmosphere, the weekend, traffic – memoing)

• In groups, discuss themes, can you cluster (sort) them? (e.g. flowers and trees on the street, no grafitti, speed bumps, get rid of the rubbish – all under a general concept or theory of what makes better, safer streets)

Axial Coding - 2nd level coding

Element Description• Phenomenon The name of the theme - the

concept/theory that holds the bits together - e.g. better, safer streets

• Causal conditions the events or variables that lead to the occurrence or development of the phenomenon – e.g. Slow traffic, flowers and vegetables growing on the verge

Axial Coding - 2nd level coding• Context linked with causal conditions. Context

includes (these can be positive and negative)– Intervening conditions : Other variables and events

that influence the phenomena – e.g. having a tinny house on the street, having street BBQs, solo parents

– Action strategies: The purposeful, goal-oriented activities that participants perform in response to the phenomenon and intervening conditions – e.g. talk to neighbours, share resources, build a big fence .

– Consequences: These are the consequences of the action strategies, intended and unintended - e.g. organise , paint a mural, go further into your shell

Data comparison

process – constant

comparison

Other key concepts• Saturation In collecting and interpreting data,

eventually extra interviews add nothing to what you already know about a category, its properties, and its relationship to the core category. Saturation is reached – cease collecting about that category – i.e. all the new interviews tell familiar stories about bullying, no new themes)

• Theoretical sampling - deciding whom to interview (bullies, victims, bystanders, different cultures, ages, gender) or what to observe next according to the state of theory generation. This can happen from the first interview

• Checking context - the need to compare between phenomena and contexts to make the theory strong (e.g. aggression on the Rugby field vs at home).

Validity – being well-grounded or justifiable; at once relevant and meaningful

• Fit - how closely concepts fit with the incidents they are representing, and this is related to how thoroughly the constant comparison of incidents to concepts was done.

• Relevance. the "grab" that captures our attention – seeming to match real concern of participants,

• Workability. The theory works when it explains how the issues are understood and managed within a variety of contexts.

• Modifiability. Theory can be altered when new relevant data is compared to existing data. Grounded theory is never right or wrong, it just has more or less fit, relevance, workability and modifiability.

Criteria for judging emerging theory• It should fit the phenomenon, provided it has

been carefully derived from diverse data and is adherent to the common reality of the area;

• It should provide understanding, and be understandable;

• Because the data is comprehensive, it should provide generality, in that the theory includes extensive variation and is abstract enough to be applicable to a wide variety of contexts; and

• It should provide control, in the sense of stating the conditions under which the theory applies and describing a reasonable basis for action.

Grounded Theory - strengths

• Research is free from the bias of literature – mainly reflecting western ideologies

• Theory emerges from the data – data is not made to fit the theory

• The method is able to respond to emerging ideas

• Gets detailed information but is efficient• Provides a strong information base for

surveys

Grounded theory - weakness

• Difficult to define saturation – the point where no new ideas are emerging

• Difficult to generalise from as the questions have changed across the process

• Lack of transcript use means that interviews are filtered by the researcher’s ideas of what’s emerging

• Harder to manage ethically

Creating Interview Questions -1• Begin with descriptive questions. Not asking for

evaluations (though you may get them). You are after a rich description of experience.

What was it like when you first came to MPHS? Or, if very recently, what were your first impressions of MPHS? Prompts: when was that, impressions before you came, neighbours, street atmosphere, making friends, children (their making friends, new school, where would they play?), pets, parks, shops, transport, work, sport, church, marae, community events, community organisations, the MPHS community development centre, clubs, ………

Creating Interview Questions -1In this model of a semi-structured interview we want the participant to explore the issue from their own direction and thus start with a simple open ended question that could go in several directions. The prompts are used to help the interviewer develop a rich idea of the possibilities of the interview and sensitise them to the moments when the participant is heading in the direction of an issue explored by a prompt. Prompts should be used delicately, so as not to interrupt the narrative. Prompts are important questions and so if they aren’t covered during a narrative sequence they can be asked at the end

Creating Interview Questions -2Descriptive with simple evaluations (likes and dislikes, and what is behind these): What's changed since you first arrived? Prompts: potentially all of the above list, but focussing on the good and not so good highlights - what's got better or worse? What are your favourite things about MPHS (sights, sounds, smells, tastes, time of the year), what do you do for fun and relaxation (you personally or with a partner or friends, your children, as a whānau/family, spiritual practice)? what are the things that get you down a bit about MPHS (people, children, schools, places, work, lack of resources, services).

Creating Interview Questions -3Then get to major evaluations, after the experiential groundwork has been done.Overall what’s it like to live in MPHS? Prompts: generally, in comparison to other communities, will you stay on, do you want your kids to stay on? Next are solutions/resolutions to the major issues that have arisen; finish on a hopeful note.What can be done to fix some of the problems of living in MPHS? Prompts: national government, city council, community organisations, businesses, individuals. What could you contribute to change MPHS – what skills/resources do you have?

Creating Interview Questions -4

• Confirming questions. In focus groups key hypotheses can be checked with simple and direct questions.

• Demographic questions. What contexts influence the answers to the questions? Age, gender, culture, spiritual orientation, education, occupation and income?

Creating the questionsThis interview is about understanding what people’s connection

to their neighbourhoods, how they want to be engaged with their neighbourhood and what they would like change.

It’s not just about the small things that could change it’s about what people really yearn for and how parts of that yearning could be addressed if we could work together.

It’s about finding out what stopping us/our neighbourhood from doing things that would make our neighbourhood a safer, richer, more vibrant place to live.

What’s the contribution they feel that they could make to creating a better neighbourhood? What would they expect from others/ from community organisations/ from councils?

What would make getting involved in community a fun thing to do?

Drafting the Interview Questions

• As a class: develop questions and prompts about the experience of living and/or working in MPHS using the Davidson’s descriptive, evaluation, solution, demographics model.