Qualitative studies

Question 1

do QUALitative studies tend to use larger or smaller sample sizes?

Answer 1

• smaller
• researchers want to obtain a deep understanding/insight into their topic, so carefully select participants who can provide necessary/relevant information

Question 2

three common types of QUALitative research?

Answer 2

• convenience sampling; very commonly used, but is not always representative of population being studied
• snowball sampling; when recruited participants are asked to use their own networks to invite others to also participate in study
• purposive/purposeful sampling; most commonly used in QUAL research, where individuals are selected based on their ability to provide relevant information, selection of participants is criteria based

Question 3

most common methods/tools for collecting data in QUAL research?

Answer 3

• focus groups
• observations
• interviews
• other; open question questionnaires, extracts from internet, diary entries, photos/videos, etc.

Question 4

what are focus groups?

Answer 4

• where more than one participant and/or researcher is included in research TOGETHER

Question 5

pro & con of focus groups?

Answer 5

PROs; participants can here views of other people & be supportive/ can be less intimidating. a large amount of data can be collected in less time (cost-effective)

CON; dominant participants may overpower other members, and FGs can be hard to organise (time arrangements may not suit everyone)

Question 6

what is the most common data collection method in QUAL research?

Answer 6

interviews

Question 7

what is a semi-structured interview?

Answer 7

where questions are deisgned PRIOR to interview commencing

primarily entail open questions

Question 8

what are unstructured interviews?

Answer 8

less controlled, more flow

researcher will have pre-planned topics to cover, but maybe only one starting Q prepared

participants are encouraged to ask their own questions; viewed more as co-researchers than passive participants

Question 9

what is thematic analysis?

Answer 9

• method of analysing QUAL data
• usually applied to a set of texts, such as interviews or transcripts
• researcher(s) will closely analyse this data to identify common themes/topics/ideas/patterns of meaning(s) that show up REPEATEDLY