Qualitative Research Overview

Question 1

What is phenomenology?

Answer 1

• Seeks to describe the lived experience; answer questions of meaning
• Both a philosophy and a research method
• Common themes emerge as with data analysis
• Product is an in-depth description of a phenomenon

Question 2

What is ethnography?

Answer 2

• Description and interpretation of cultural behavior
• Seeks emic (insider) and etic (outsider) views
• Both a process and a product
• Includes extensive field work, including observations with filed notes, interviews, collection of documents and artifacts
• Product is a rich, holistic description of a culture

Question 3

What is grounded theory?

Answer 3

• Study of social processes and social structures
• Both inductive and deductive
• Constant comparative method of collecting, organizing and analyzing data simultaneously
• Product is a theory explaining the phenomenon under study (model)

Question 4

What is critical inquiry?

Answer 4

• Aim is to critique and transform the social, political, cultural, economic, ethnic, and gender structures that constrain and exploit humankind
• Driven by ideals of social justice
• Range of methods: interviews, observations, discourse analysis
• Product: Written critique and some form of social change

Question 5

What is participatory action research?

Answer 5

• Common to community development and health promotion
• Key characteristics include: problem originating in community; goal is political/social change; community investigators and professional researchers are partners
• Product is change (process and outcome)

Question 6

What is historical research?

Answer 6

• Look at general lines of development
• Look for patterns of regularity and change over time
  search for meaning
• Explain causality through theory development
• Generalize to other events and other times

Question 7

What is a philosophic inquiry?

Answer 7

• Based on questions emerging from a particular philosophy
• Thoughtful posing of questions is considered more important than answers
• Attends to ideas, meaning, & abstractions
• Extensive exploration of literature & detached introspection
• Exploration and debate of ideas with colleagues