qualitative research designs and methods

Question 1

what is qualitative research

Answer 1

involves collecting and analyzing non-numerical data to understand concepts, opinions, or experiences.

• it can be used to gather in-depth insights into a problem or generate new ideas for research
• emphasis on understanding phenomena

usually looking at 8-10 people

data are words not numbers

Question 2

what is the goal of qualitative research?

Answer 2

explanation
discovery

Question 3

why conduct qualitative research?

Answer 3

new area of research
new data on:
- social context
- interations

to provide insight into:
- complexity of common occurences
- local meanings

Question 4

what is the difference between qualitative and quantitative research?

Answer 4

quantitative deals with numbers and stats
- structured, controlled, scientific method
- quantitative methods allow you to systematically measure variables and test hypotheses.

qualitative deals with words and meanings
- varies, flexible, philosophical underpinnings
- qualitative methods allow you to explore concepts and experiences in more detail.

Question 5

explain the steps to the scientific method

6

Answer 5

1. oberservation / question
2. research topic area
3. hypothesis
4. test with experiment
5. analyze data
6. report conclusions

Question 6

ontology

Answer 6

what exists in the human world
what knowledge can we acquire about it

broad ontological catergories:
- realism: one reality exists
- relativism: multiple realities exist

Question 7

epistimology

Answer 7

how we create knowledge

many views:
- objectivism
- constructivism
- positivism/post-positivism
- phenomenology

Question 8

how do you know if the findings in qualitative research are true?

4

Answer 8

credibility
- confidence in the truth of findings
- triangluation (multiple sources of data)
- peer breifing
- member checks (data is shared with the participant for validation)

transferability:
- providing thick description
- purposive sampling
- similar to external validity
- “can the findings be applied to other contexts”

dependability:
- findings are consistent and repreatable
- researchers should have a data trail
(data trail , external person looks at the data)

confirmability:
- confidence that findings represent participants experiences/wordsrather than bias of researcher.
- can also use data trail / audit
- memoing ( anything written down during process)

Question 9

selected qualitative designs

Answer 9

grounded theory
ethnography
phenomenology
case study

Question 10

explain grounded theory

Answer 10

purpose: to generate or discover a theory
closely related to the context of the phenomenon being studied
- typically 20 - 30 in depth interviews
- data saturation (as you conduct interviews you collect inforation and build theory)
- theoretical sampling
- constant comparative method of analysis ( data is broken down into incidents or units and organized into cocepts that lead to a model)

Question 11

explain ethnogrpahy

Answer 11

purpose: description and interpretation of a cultural or social group or system
- involves prolonged observation of the group
- participant observation
- immersed in the day to day lives
( artifacts, language, behaviours, structure, function)

time consuming and challenging

Question 12

explain phenomenology

Answer 12

purpose: to describe the meaning of a lived experience
- many variations but typically 10-15 in depth interviews
- puposive sampling ( interpreting who the person is)
- data analysis (search for themes, bracketing, the essence of experience)

Question 13

explain case-study

Answer 13

purpose: exploration of a bounded system. Individiual, group, program, event, activity.
- one team or group follow up with that group
- typically multiple sources of info (interviews, observations, documents, pictures)
- purposeful sampling
- holistic or embedded analysis (within-case / across case)

Question 14

what is qualitative data analysis?

Answer 14

transforming raw data into new knowledge
- can be conducted during data collection
- generates concepts, themes, theory, rich descriptions

Question 15

analyzing qualitative data depends on:

Answer 15

• the researcher
• the data
• the purpose and design of the study

Question 16

interactive cycles of data coding

Answer 16

assigning labels to units of data
grouping data
condensing data
generating concepts

Question 17

how do you code a transcript?

Answer 17

open coding
- often uses participants own words

preset code list
- often generated from the research questions

Question 18

what happens after you code a transcript?

Answer 18

look for relationships / overlaps between codes
look for the same code across transcripts and group them in a file

Question 19

questions to ask when critiquing qualitative research:

4

Answer 19

• does the author describe the approach used?
• does the methods used and type of analyses conducted match this approach
• does the author address the issue of trustworthiness
• does the author provide rich descriptions of the data