Qualitative Study Designs

Question 1

Characteristics of qualitative research

Answer 1

Natural Setting
Emergent Design
Participant’s Meanings
Researcher as key instrument
Reflexivity
Often multiple data collection methods
Inductive data analysis
Interpretive

Question 2

Natural Setting

Answer 2

Collect data where participants experience the issue under the study (naturally occurring events).
The point is to gather up-close information by talking to participant, seeing how participants behave/act in their context, and face-to-face interaction over time.

Question 3

Emergent Design

Answer 3

Initial plan for research can’t be tightly prescribed.
Study phrases may change/shift after the researcher enters the field and begins to collect data.

Question 4

Why is flexibility important in the design of a qualitative study?

Answer 4

Because the key idea is to learn about the research issue from participants and engage in the best practices to obtain that information.

Question 5

Participant’s Meanings

Answer 5

Focus is on learning the meaning that the participants hold about the research topic.
Multiple perspectives and diverse views on a topic.
Emphasizes the importance of purposeful sampling and information rich participants.

Question 6

When/why would we want to use qualitative research?

Answer 6

Used when we really want to understand something, the meanings or experiences of a certain thing that people experienced.
More about depth of findings.

Question 7

Strategies of inquiry in qualitative research

Answer 7

Narrative
Phenomenology
Ethnography
Case Study
Qualitative Description
Grounded Theory

Question 8

Narrative

Answer 8

The study of an individual
-stories of individual experiences
-may shed light on the identities of individuals and how they see themselves
-the story is generated through interaction/dialogue between researcher and participant(s) (or archival material)
Captures experiences of a single individual or small number of individuals

Question 9

Phenomenology

Answer 9

The study of a phenomenon or a concept through the exploration of lived experiences.
-explore experiences with a phenomenon to understand the essence of the experience
The phenomenon is explored with a group of individuals who have experienced the phenomenon.
Typically 5-8 participants.

Question 10

Ethnography

Answer 10

Describing and interpreting a cultural or social group.
-looking for meaning within a culture-sharing group by describing values, behaviours, ideas, beliefs, language, etc.
Goal is to develop a complex, complete description of the culture of a group.
-requires prolonged observation of a group, identification of key informants.
Involves a group that shares the same culture.
Group might be smaller or larger.

Question 11

Case Study

Answer 11

The in-depth description of a case over time through detailed, in-depth data collection involving multiple course of rich information.
-a case is a bounded system, bounded by time and place
-a case can be described within a certain parameters
-a case can be an individual, small group, team, institution, event, community
Involves a single case or multiple cases.

Question 12

Qualitative Description

Answer 12

Used by researchers who want to develop a comprehensive description and summary of a phenomenon or event.
-results in a description of the event or phenomenon in “everyday language”
Make take on the “tones” of other strategies of inquiry.
Involves participants deemed particularly knowledgeable about the topic, and people that can contribute to a comprehensive understanding (description) of the event or experience under study.

Question 13

Grounded Theory

Answer 13

Generate theory from the data.
-focuses on a process or action the researcher is attempting to understand
-goal is to discover a unified theoretical explanation.
-theory development is inductive and grounded in data from participants.
Involves study participants that have experienced the process or action.

Question 14

When do you use qualitative research?

Answer 14

Attempts to answer different types of questions than quantitative research.
Variety of reasons to use is such as…
-when a problem/issue needs to be explored
-when a complex or detailed understanding of an issue is wanted
-to identify variables that cannot be measured easily
-when a group needs to be studied
-to hear silenced voices
-to develop theories
When qualitative research is appropriate research design, a researcher then selects corresponding strategy of inquiry