12: Qualitative Research I & II ✅

Question 1

QR

Answer 1

Collection and analysis of words and not numbers

Words= qualitative data
Numbers= quantitative data

Question 2

Group size in QR

Answer 2

Small number of research participants

Aim: present results specific to a group of people not generisable results

Question 3

What does QR require?

Answer 3

Research question

Aka a question that can be addressed by conducting research

The question should be specific enough in order to collect the most appropriate research method

Researchers start with a general topic, then read relevant literature to refine their question

Question 4

QR can

Answer 4

Stand alone and answer specific research questions

Or
Support quantitative research

Question 5

Main methods of qualitative data collection

Answer 5

Interviews

Focus groups

Observation

Question 6

How is collection of words done?

Answer 6

Asking or observing

Question 7

Interview

Answer 7

Form of conversation

Researcher poses question, participant expected to do most of the talking

Usually recorded

Usually transcribed verbatim

Start with 10 interviews and stop when saturation is achieved

Purpose is to gather enough data to understand a phenomenon in depth or answer a question adequately

Interviews can be unstructured or semi-structured

Question 8

Focus groups

Answer 8

Group discussion

Helps study many people at once

Less expensive

Largely used to gauge a situation before setting up a larger study

Used to make sense of quantitative results

Question 9

When can focus groups be a stand-alone research method?

Answer 9

If there’s a specific research question to answer and data saturation is checked

Question 10

Observation

Answer 10

A systematic and long observation of behaviour in its natural environment

Largely used in social anthropology

Other disciplines such as sociology and education are
using it

Purpose is to understand the rationale of behaviour

Question 11

Observation can be..

Answer 11

Overt: participants know they are observed

Covert: participants do not know they are observed

Participant: research observe by participating

Question 12

Observation process

Answer 12

Observer writes everything observed on paper

Everything then is coded and analysed

Usually combined with interviews in order to compare what people say with what they do

Question 13

QR aims to

Answer 13

Understand phenomena in depth

Question 14

What type of question is used for collecting qualitative data?

Answer 14

Open questions

Question 15

Sampling

Answer 15

Very important in qualitative research

Common question is “where shall I stop interviewing?”

No pre-determined answer, the answer is however clear

Question 16

Data saturation

Answer 16

When there are no new themes or topics from the data

Question 17

Importance of data saturation

Answer 17

Shows the data in enough in depth for understanding of phenomena

That the study is robust and thus publishable

Question 18

When is coding of qualitative data started?

Answer 18

Once the data is collected

Question 19

Code

Answer 19

A word or short phrase which represents larger amounts of info

Coding could rely on predetermined codes or come directly from the data

Question 20

Coding of qualitative data

Answer 20

Codes can then be grouped together as categories or themes (broader codes) before data analysis

Coding can be done through softwares (Atlas Ti, NVivo, Ethnograph)

If using software, it’s necessary to use the same codes to label the same or similar words/sentences

Question 21

Possible codes

Answer 21

Personal info: information about job, age, marital status

Doctor decided: doctor check and prescribed, tells what to do

Time: short consultation

Feelings during consultation: feeling like an object

Question 22

Next step after coding

Answer 22

Group codes from interviews together into broader codes or themes

Question 23

Themes

Answer 23

Representative of the codes

Can work as chapters/ sections for analysis

Question 24

Main themes

Answer 24

History taking (personal info)

Decision making (doctor decided)

Duration of consultation (time)

Patients’ feelings (feelings during consultation)

Question 25

What do you put under each of the themes?

Answer 25

The codes and actual quotations

Question 26

Start the analysis of data by..

Answer 26

Writing a description of representative text for each
theme and

Incorporating a quotation or quotations as examples

This representative text is the academic/ scientific presentation of results

Question 27

How do you interpret the data at the end?

Answer 27

Use the literature

-explain why your participants behaved the way they
did

-discuss how your findings compare with findings from other studies

Question 28

Qualitative data needs to be

Answer 28

Coded and classified

Question 29

Coding helps

Answer 29

Sampling size and achievement of data saturation

Helps the organisation of data in themes

Question 30

Through the construction of themes..

Answer 30

Researchers start analyzing their data