L5 - Qualitative Research Design

Question 1

Characteristics of qualitative research

Miles, Huberman & Saldaña (2014)

Answer 1

“A source of well-grounded, rich descriptions and explanations of human processes”

• Focus on naturally occurring events in natural settings
• Depth and richness of data - commitment to close scrutiny
• Deep knowledge of individual instances/cases
• Understanding the role of context
• Preservation and understanding of chronological flow - focus on process
• Establish links between events and outcomes - causal explanations?

Question 2

Why do qualitative research?

Answer 2

Little knowledge of a phenomenon, context, group of people etc.
→ Want to understand a context - you can adjust your study to the context you want to figure out.

Theory building
- Regularities, sequences, “mechanisms”

Question 3

Mention some down sides of qualitative research

Miles, M.B., Huberman, A.M. & Saldaña, J. (2014)

Answer 3

• Labour intensiveness and extensiveness
• Time demanding
• Frequent data overload
• Researcher reflexivity and integrity
• Generalizability of findings
• Credibility and equality of conclusions and their utility in the world.

Question 4

A model for qualitative research designs

Maxwell, 2013 in Miles, Huberman & Saldaña (2014)

Answer 4

Goals:
- Why are you doing this study?

Conceptual framework:

• What do you think is going on?
• A map of what you are investigating (The map may change)
• Explains the main things to be studied

Research questions
- What do you want to understand?

Methods
- What will you actually do?

Validity
- How might you be wrong?

Question 5

Tight VS loose designs: some trade-offs

Miles, Huberman & Saldaña (2014)

Answer 5

Tight research design
- Provides a more precise and structured approach to a more narrowly defined
area of research
- Easier to comprehend and manage for novice researchers
- Effective for confirmatory studies: seek to test or further explicate a
conceptualization

Loose research design:

• Allows for more data to emerge through the data gathering process
• Good for experience researchers with plenty of time and money

Question 6

Approaches to qualitative research

Miles, Huberman & Saldaña (2014)

Answer 6

1. Phenomenology
   Tend to look at data thematically to extract essences and essentials of participant meanings.
2. Narrative research
   Understand how people use stories to interpret the world around them.
3. Ethnography
   The primary methodology, ethnography, stays close to the naturalist form of inquiry
   This method tend toward the descriptive
4. Grounded theory
   uses a series of cumulative coding cycles and reflective analytic memoing to develop major categories for theory generation
5. Case study
   Et case studie referer til et studie af et bestemt datamateriale (fx en bestemt gruppe eller en særlig begivenhed), som indhentes ved hjælp af purposive sampling eller et convenience sample. Indsigterne fra et case studie gælder derfor ikke nødvendigvis for andre end den undersøgte case. Det vil være op til den enkelte forsker at vurdere om indsigter fra et case studie kan generaliseres til andre grupper eller begivenheder. (AU metodeguide)
6. Action research
   Baskervillle and Myers (2004) argues that the essence of action research is a simple two-stage process.
   - First the diagnostic stage involves a collaborative analysis of the social
   situation by the researcher and the subjects of the research. Theories are
   formulated concerning the nature of the research domain.
   - Second the therapeutic stage involves collaborative change and therefore
   changes are introduced and the effects are studied.

Question 7

Philosophy of science

Duberley 2012

Answer 7

Ontology - What is the nature of existence?
- Do the phenomena we study exist independent of our knowing or perceiving
it? (Realism)
- Is what we take to be social reality a creation or projection of our senses?
(Relativism)

Epistemology - What is the nature of knowledge?
- Is it possible to objectively or neutrally observe and describe the world?
(Objectivism)
- The researcher plays an active part in the knowledge construction
(Subjectivism)

Methodology - How to investigate?

• How do we use methods to eliminate researcher bias and create neutrality?
• How do we give voice to different research participants?

Question 8

Validity in qualitative research

Lincoln & Guba, 1985

Answer 8

• Lack of standards and control (real life events)
• Researcher bias (Sensitive instrument)
• Low N (Deep rich insights, holistic data and analysis)

Lincoln & Guba, 1985 mention this four;

1. Credibility
2. Transferability
3. Dependability
4. Confirmability

Question 9

Quality Criteria across paradigms

Tracy 2010

Answer 9

This article presents a model for quality in qualitative research that is expansive, flexible because it makes distinctions among qualitative research’s means and its ends.

8 criteria of quality in qualitative research 
High quality methodological research is marked by:
1.	Worthy topic
2.	Rich rigor 
3.	Sincerity 
4.	Credibility
5.	Resonance 
6.	Significant contribution 
7.	Ethics 
8.	Meaningful coherence

Question 10

Dealing with trustworthiness

Answer 10

Transparency
Triangulation
Thinking about representativeness (Not statistical)
Thinking about researcher effects
Seeking disconfirmation - e.g. deviant cases
Member checks

Question 11

How to make Transparency?

Answer 11

Clearly lay out all the steps made
Provide rationales for choices
accept and expose limitations
display your data

Question 12

Ethics in qualitative research

Answer 12

Preparing study

• How may this benefit/harm participants?
• person sensitiv data?

Collecting data

• Respect
• Little disturbance
• Avoid deceiving participants

Analyzing data
- Inclusion/exclusion of voices

Reporting Data

• Avoid exhibiting participants
• False evidence
• Plagiarism