L2 - Methods to Generate Qualitative Data

Question 1

What do techniques need to be?

Answer 1

- Reproducible: someone can use the same info to generate similar info
- Systematic: ensuring interviewees are not picked to support our pre-existing ideas
- Credible: Questions should be reasonable
- Transparent: Should be written

Question 2

What are other methods if questions do not work

Answer 2

- Diary question: describe a day in the life
- Critical Incidents: Worst/best experiences
- Free Listing: list all of something e.g all causes of malaria
- Ranking: ask to rank items by free listing

Question 3

What are Issues during Interviewing:

Answer 3

- Access: how do you have access to people?
- Ethical issues: no coercion
- Bias: not patients that will give the ans u want
- Setting: Where will you do it e.g privacy
- Rapport: Presentation, link to participant, try not to be intimidating. Be non-judgemental

Question 4

What are group interviews?

Answer 4

- Discussion with group of people
- Spontaneous chats
- 2 types: Formal groups and natural groups
- Formal groups: Ppts selected to meet sampling criteria , broad range of ideas, formal controlled, usually taped and transcribed, testing service users views (range of views)
- Natural group: Group exists independently, formal/informal, used for data collection, social research and product planning (interested in group norms)

Question 5

What are the advantages of group interviews?

Answer 5

- Can see how people talk to each other and if there are any power relationships, can inform work

Question 6

Practical issues with group interviews

Answer 6

- Recruitment: Not too many, not too little, 6-10
- Can ask volunteers, or ask people who are leaders in the community, or can use a natural group
- Moderator needed: promote debate, drawing out challenges & differences in opinions, moving things along, ensuring everyone speaks without showing favouritism
- Stop groups when there is no new data
- Make sure setting is not too private/too little, seating should be circular
- Data recording should be recorded for transcripts, key note taker, flip chart is useful for recording group consensus

Question 7

How to consider confidentiality and security?

Answer 7

- Consider safety of those being interviewed e/g humiliation, trauma etc.
- Good interpreter, match gender of interviewee and interviewer
- Do not use transcripts around, info cannot fall into wrong hands, can use code

Question 8

What are Validation Strategies?

Answer 8

- Triangulation: Increases validity, seeks evidence from wide range of sources and comparing findings from sources. If they coincide, then it strengthens argument
- Member checking: Feeding findings of analysis back to participants through focus groups and asking them to reflect from their perspective
- Look at deviant cases in detail and account for why they differ

Question 9

What are the good practise guidelines?

Answer 9

1) Transparency: clear account of procdure used that others can follow
2) Maximise Validity: Ensure conclusions are based on supporting evidence and include analysis of data that do not
3) Maximise Reliability: Analyse whole set of data, use 1+ coder/analyst
4) Comparability: compare data between/within cases in data set, compare findings to other studies
5) You as a confounding factor: Might people exaggerate to solve a problem as you have funding? Do not use findings you find interesting, be objective