Introduction to Qualitative Research Flashcards
What is Q.R.?
A holistic approach to questions
A recognition
that human realities are complex.
What is the focus of Q.R.?
Human experience
In Q.R., what do its research strategies feature?
sustained contact with people in settings where
those people normally spend their time.
Provides a description, usually
narrative, of people living through events in
situations.
Q.R.’s produced data
Types of Qualitative Data
Interviews
Observations
Documents
Open-ended questions and probes yield in-depth responses about people’s experiences, opinions, perceptions, feelings and knowledge.
Interviews
Fieldwork descriptions of activities, behaviors, actions, conversations, interpersonal interactions, organizational or community processes, or any other aspect of observable human experience.
Data consist of field notes: rich detailed descriptions, including the context within which the observations were made.
Observations
Written materials and other documents, programs records; memoranda and correspondence; official publications and reports; personal diaries, letters, artistic works, photographs, and memorabilia; and written responses to open-ended surveys.
Data consists of excerpts from documents captured in a way that records and preserves context.
Documents
- Biography–Life history, oral history
- Phenomenology–The lived experience
- Grounded theory
- Ethnography
- Case Study
Qualitative Traditions of Inquiry
The study of an individual and her or his experiences as told or as found in documents and archival material.
Oral history–The researcher gathers personal recollections of events, their causes, and their effects from and individual or several individuals.
———————
The writer, using an interpretive approach, needs to be able to bring himself or herself into the narrative and acknowledge his or her standpoint.
Biographical Study
Describes the meaning of the lived experience about a concept or a phenomenon for several individuals.
Moustakas, 1994, p. 13: “to determine what an experience means for the persons who have had the experience and are able to provide a comprehensive description of it.
From the individual descriptions, general or universal meanings are derived, in other words, the essences of structures of the experience.”
Phenomenology
Its intent is to generate or discover a theory that relates to a particular situation. If little is known about a topic, this approach is especially useful.
——————————
Usually have a question, don’t do a literature review in the beginning.
Usually do 20-30 interviews
Data collection and analysis occur simultaneously, until “saturation” is reached.
Data analysis generates a visual picture, a narrative statement or a series of hypotheses with a central phenomenon, causal conditions, context and consequences.
The researcher needs to set aside theoretical ideas or notions so that analytical or substantive theories can emerge from the data.
Systematic approach.
Grounded Theory
A description and interpretation of a cultural or social group or system (patterns of behavior, customs, and ways of life.)
*Field Work
*Key Informants
*Thick description
*Emic (insider group perspective) and Etic
(researcher’s interpretation of social life).
*Context important, need holistic view.
*Need grounding in anthropology.
——————————-
Need extensive time to collect data
They may be written in a narrative or story telling approach which may be difficult for the audience accustomed to usual social science writing.
May incorporate quantitative data
and archival documents.
Ethnography
exploration of a “bounded system” or a case (or multiple cases) over time through detailed, in-depth data collection involving multiple sources of information rich in context.
Data collection strategies include direct observation, interviews, documents, archival records, participant observation, physical artifacts and audiovisual materials.
Analysis of themes, or issues and an interpretation of the case by the researcher.
Case Study
Problem Statement or Statement of Need for the Study
No hypothesis; Research questions which you want to answer instead.
Opinions differ about the extent of literature needed before a study begins.
Need to identify the gaps in knowledge about the topic.
To design a Qualitative study
