Qualitative research design: Interviews focus, groups, and diaries

Question 1

What determines the research method?

Answer 1

. The aims of the research (e.g. group vs individual
perspectives, the types of data you require)
• The population (e.g. vulnerable population?)
• The topic (e.g. sensitive topic?)
• Economic factors for researcher AND participant (e.g.
time, resources, spaces, etc)

Question 2

What methods are used in qualitative data collection?

Answer 2

Interviews
• Focus Groups
• Diaries
• Observation
• Ethnography
• Visual Methods
• Internet Research

Question 3

Give an overview of interviews

Answer 3

• Most frequently used qual. method
• In-depth – can discover how individuals think / feel and why
• Useful for when the participants’ understanding of the
issue is crucial
• Useful for when the issue is too complex for
questionnaires
• Can address topics which people may feel uncomfortable discussing in a focus group, or those which can’t be observed

Question 4

What are the different types of interview structure?

Answer 4

Unstructured, structure and semi-structured (most common in qualitative)

Question 5

What are the characteristics of Semi-structured interviews?

Answer 5

Use of interview schedule
• More structured, but can be
flexible in nature
• Greater ‘standardisation’
across interviews
• More researcher control over
topics

Question 6

What are the advantages of interviews?

Answer 6

• Flexibility
• Analysis
• Modes – face-to-face, telephone, online
• Structure flexibility
• Can include elements to cue memory / prompt discussion
• Ambiguities and uncertainties can be probed, significant issues can be explored

Question 7

What are the disadvantages of interviews?

Answer 7

• Takes time
• Planning / interview schedule design
• Transcription
• Not always suitable
• Requires a high level of skill to do well
• Can’t always account for participant engagement

Question 8

Explain the characteristics of an interview schedule

Answer 8

• Guide for the conversation
• Does not need to be an expansive list of everything you could possibly ask, ever.
• A few carefully worded questions / headings / topics
• Can be a list of topics
• Can help to include some prompts
• Important to consider population (e.g. children might need more prompts / guidance than adults)

Question 9

Explain what a focus group is

Answer 9

A form of qualitative research in which a group of people are
asked their opinion on a particular topic
• Involves questioning and interaction with a group who share similar experiences. good for sensitive research
• An interactive interview
• More control for participants to direct discussion
• 4-8 participants
• Researcher as facilitator/moderator

Question 10

What are the advantages of a focus group?

Answer 10

• Flexible
• Guided by participant interaction
• Can be semi-structured or unstructured
• Can encourage participation in discussion
• Useful for exploring shared experiences, attitudes etc
• Can be useful for drawing out different perspectives,
• More ‘naturalistic’
• Economical
• Wider range of responses in one sitting

Question 11

What are the disadvantages of a focus group?

Answer 11

• Transcription can be difficult – video recording sometimes
needed
• Can raise issues with confidentiality
• Individual differences (e.g. personality clashes, social anxiety,
etc) can be an issue
• Can work well for some but not all sensitive topics
• Participant selection needs careful thought
• Facilitating a group effectively takes skill

Question 12

Explain diary methods

Answer 12

• Solicited diaries widely used in social research
• Opportunity to investigate social, psychological and
physiological processes in near real-time
• Used in a range of studies including experiments and
ethnographies
• Useful for monitoring things like:
Dietary intake/eating habits and Sport stressors

Question 13

What are the advantages of diaries?

Answer 13

• Can supplement interview data
• Reduce the likelihood of
retrospective bias
• Familiarity from participants as to the method
• Data is temporally ordered
• Cost-effective
• Can be used to record ‘intimate’ and sensitive information
• Open to numerous analytical approaches

Question 14

What are the disadvantages of diaries?

Answer 14

• Control over the data is
difficult to achieve due to
self-selection of the
material by participants
•Prone to errors as a result
of:
-Incomplete recording
of information
- Underreporting
-  Inadequate recall

Question 15

When is ethnography required?

Answer 15

When phenomena are complex, subtle, or
unclear, research by observation, less structured
interviews & ethnographic description is more
suitable

Question 16

What is methodological pluralism?

Answer 16

advocates flexibility in
the selection of social research methods, based
on the principle of choosing the most suitable
methods for the nature of the problem being
researched

Question 17

What is the difference between observation and ethnography?

Answer 17

Ethnography = methodology
• Observation = a method used in ethnographic (and other
forms of) research

Question 18

What is participant observation?

Answer 18

• Tool used for collecting data about people, processes
and cultures.
• Process by which researchers take part in daily
activities, rituals, interactions and events of a groups of
people to learn the explicit aspects of their life, routings
and culture

Question 19

Where is participant observation collected?

Answer 19

Data collected in naturalistic settings

Question 20

What is the observational data in participant observation?

Answer 20

Fieldnotes

Question 21

What are the considerations needed in terms of observation type?

Answer 21

• the complete participant (group membership, covert)
• the participant as observer (group membership, overt)
• the observer as participant (‘shadowing’, overt)
• the complete observer (‘fly on the wall’, overt or
covert)

Question 22

What are the ethical considerations when doing observation?

Answer 22

. covert (doesn’t disturb setting but could invade privacy) or overt role (less natural results)

Question 23

What are the considerations for field notes?

Answer 23

•Observational notes
- Who, what, when, where and how?
• Theoretical notes
- Interpretations, inferences etc
• Methodological notes
- Timing, sequencing, stage setting
• Critical reflection

Question 24

What is the difficulty with interviews? and therefore the reason to use ethnography and observation

Answer 24

The only account for the
perspective of the participants
• Do not allow for in situ understanding of phenomena
• Quality dependent on skills of interviewer
• Focus on words / textual accounts – ignore data
captured by the other senses (Seeing, hearing, feeling and
smelling)

Question 25

What is ethnography?

Answer 25

• The description of a group, culture or community
• Traditions in Anthropology and Sociology
• goal of Anthropology is to describe and
  explain social behaviour, with the principle of
  studying behaviour in a natural setting

Question 26

What is ethnography used for?

Answer 26

• Understand behaviours, roles and the thinking of people within a cultural context
• Understand people, experiences and group practices
• Understand daily life, activities and routines
• Understand others / ‘othering’

Question 27

What methods are used by ethnographers?

Answer 27

• Triangulation and methodological pluralism.
• Methods can include (but not limited to):
- Life stories
- Life histories
- Narratives
- Interviews
- Group discussions
- Document analysis
- Observation
- Field notes
• Whole population sample / key informants

Question 28

What is a critique of ethnography?

Answer 28

• Demanding in terms of time and energy (can take a year)
• Difficulties in becoming a ‘cultural stranger’-prejudices
• Specific only to that population
• Ethical difficulties (e.g. gaining consent from everyone)
• Immersion and exit
• Access to population

Question 29

Example of ethnographic research in sport

Answer 29

• Peter Marsh – Rules of Disorder (1978)

behaviour of oxford utd fans