Qualitative Research Flashcards
What is qualitative research?
Data is words not numbers, cannot be measured.
It is concerned with the lived experience of people.
Opinion, feelings, perception, thoughts, emotions.
Why use qualitative research?
Logical way of exploring topics that are poorly understood.
To better understand the context in which we work.
Participants in qualitative research
Considered experts. Experts of their own opinion, perception etc.
Micro context
Personal circumstances/situations that affect the expert.
Macro context
The situation/circumstances in society/community that affect the expert.
Bias in qualitative research
- Bandwagon effect
- Recall bias
- Researcher’s bias
Bandwagon effect
Responses based on popular opinion or what is socially acceptable.
Can be apparent in focus groups. Use different research method to avoid.
Recall Bias
Accuracy of responses are limited by the ability of the participant to remember what happened.
Avoid specific questions about specific dates. Use open ended questions.
Researcher’s Bias
Researcher deliberately interprets data to satisfy their opinions, hypothesis or personal values.
Researcher asks leading questions during data collection that may lead participants to respond in a way that satisfies the researcher’s preference.
Paradigm
Framework for understanding things or for thinking about things.
Considering it to be the truth.
Example: the paradigm of the physiotherapy profession is that injuries and diseases can be treated with non-chemical and non-surgical agents.
- Subjectivism
- Constructivism
- Positivism
Subjectivism
The truth is what you think it is. The truth is based on individual viewpoint, Chocolate tastes good (there is an entity that exists).
Qualitative research.
Constructivism
The truth is created by groups of people. Truth needs to be interpreted because it is created by groups of people based on their circumstances. Constructing new truths (events that happened).
Most qualitative research based on it.
Positivism
There is only one truth. We can measure it. Focus on the reliability and validity of the measuring tools.
Quantitative research.
Traditional qualitative research approaches
They do not test hypotheses.
- Ethnography
- Grounded Theory
- Phenomenology
Ethnography
A holistic documentation of the views, actions and feelings of a particular group. Includes social interactions and habitation.
Describe the lived experience of participants.
Ethnos
A group of people with common interest and common experience.
Grounded Theory
To formulate a theory to explain a phenomenon based on specified assumptions.
Iterative data collection and analysis.
Iterative data collection
The outcome of the analysis of one phase of data collection will determine the type of data to be collected for the next phase of the research.
Phenomenology
To determine how people cope with an experience or a phenomenon.
Sources of data
- Spoken word
- Photos, videos, audio recordings
- Text
- Observed behavior of individuals and groups
Methods of data collection
- Interviews (semi-structured or unstructured)
- Questionnaires
- Focus groups
- Observation of behavior/practice/events
How is quality control achieved in qualitative research?
With academic rigour.
Academic Rigour
Trustworthiness.
A measure of how thorough researchers are in conducting their research and how accurate researchers are in reporting their research methods and outcomes.
Criteria for trustworthiness
- Credibility
- Transferability
- Dependability
- Confirmability
Credibility
Do the results align with reality.
Same as internal validity in quantitative research.
Transferability
Are results applicable to other similar populations and situations.
Same as external validity in quantitative research.
Dependability
How detailed is the research report? Will another researcher obtain similar results by following this detailed research report.
Same as reliability in quantitative research.
Confirmability
How neutral/unbiased is the researcher?
Research result = participants experience + research standpoint.
Research result does not equal researcher’s experience or view point.
Same as objectivity in quantitative research.
Methods of quality control
- Transparency/audit trail
- Iterative(frequentative) coding
- Multiple coders
- Triangulation of research, method and data sources.
- Participant verification
- Reflective practice
Transparency
Absence of researcher bias. Need to account for what they did and why.
Achievable by audit trail (Documentation for everything! must align with results).
Multiple coders
Coding: Data analysis in qualitative research.
Get the perspectives of researchers with different backgrounds and disciplines in the research.
Triangulation
Use of multiple sources of information to show the trustworthiness of any aspect of research.
- Researcher: multiple coders/researchers with different expertise.
- Method: Several methods of data collection, to avoid bias.
- Analysis: Several methods of analysis to avoid limitations of one.
- Data source/format: Primary data source is the word of the participant. Can also use observation of non-verbal communication etc.
Participant verification
Your interpretation of outcomes is verified by participants.
Reflective practice
Essential that the researcher considers and accounts for the effects he has on the participants, and those of the participant on the researcher, and therefore, on the data that is collected and how it is interpreted.
