Week 11. Qualitative Research Flashcards
SSR is a combination of what to components?
- Phenomenology: qualitative research (interviews, focus groups); human experience
- Positivism: quantitative research (EBP/RCTs)
SSR
- alternative to what research method
- tool to improve?
- alternative to RCT paradigm
- SSR is a tool to improve clinical evaluation
Fields of study in qualitative research study
Phenomenology = human experience Hermeneutics = interpretation
Qualitative Research best answers what type of questions?
It is an umbrella term for
- broad range of approaches/strategies for collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data where each has it’s own philosophical perspective and methodologies
- human and social experience (perceptions, feelings, values, meaning of experience, communication, thoughts, expectations, attitudes)
- how content influences service delivery, clinical practice, engagement in therapy
Distinct methodological traditions
- Qualitative research
- explores social/human problems
- builds complex/holistic picture, analyzes words, reports detailed views of informants, and conducts study in natural setting
Epistemology
Where does knowledge come from
Subjective Experience POV
You and I do not see things as they are, we see things as we are.
Purposes of Qualitative Research: Exploration
What is happening? Why is it happening?
- How are occurrences, behaviours, and consequences related to each other?
Purposes of Qualitative Research: Description
What does an experience of phenomenon look like?
- Is a particular element of experience there or not?
- What does culture look like?
Purposes of Qualitative Research: Comparison
How is case X different from case Y
What questions are best answered by qualitative methods?
- Exploring human values and experience
- The feelings we attribute to experience
- Culture and context of culture
Qualitative Methods:
Human Experience
- knowledge difficult to quantify about human experience — exploring human values/experience
Qualitative Methods: feelings/perceptions
- perceptions, feelings, meaning individuals attribute to their experience
- pt perceptions of their heart attack and recovery (influence of epidemiological evidence and personal evidence)
- pt perspective on foal-setting and goal-setting process in OT and PT
Qualitative Method: influence of culture
Contextual variables that influence clinical practice or service delivery
- influence of culture
Body Weight Standing Treadmill Training
- Quantitative Research Question
Effectiveness of BWSTT for improving gait related motor skills of children with CP
Body Weight Standing Treadmill Training
- Qualitative Research Question
What are the values and contextual factors that affect families’ motivation to participate in gait-foocused PT
Common Methodological Traditions: qualitative approach vs. Common methods
Research question:
What is the meaning of this phenomenon, lived experiences,
Qualitative: phenomenology/philosophy
CM: in-depth interviews, analysis of writing
Common Methodological Traditions: qualitative approach vs. Common methods
What is life like for this group
Qualitative: Ethnography (anthropology)
CM: Participant observation, interviews, video/photo
Common Methodological Traditions: qualitative approach vs. Common methods
What is happening, why is it happening? Informing something.
QA: Grounded Theory (Sociology)
CM: In-depth interviews, focus groups
Common Methodological Traditions: qualitative approach vs. Common methods
What and how are they communicating
QA: Discourse analysis (sociology, linguistics)
CM: document analysis
Common Methodological Traditions: qualitative approach vs. Common methods
What are the main themes? thematic
QA: generic/interpretive description (health care)
CM: in-depth interviews, focus groups
Phenomenology: roots
- Rooted in philosophy studying the meaning of lived experiences
Phenomenology: explores what aspect of human experience
Explores structure of consciousness in human experience
product: a narrative description of what the experience was and how it was experience
Phenomenology: usage in research
- Researchers brackets preconceived notions or ideas about the phenomenon to see how much the researcher is attributing their own meaning onto the experience
(We bing our own subjective reality and bias how we interpret research)
Ethnography: roots
Anthropology
Ethnography: used to describe
Description of cultural behaviour
Ethnography: how is it used in research?
Describe and interpret a culture and social group (behaviour, traditions)
Grounded Theory: roots
Sociology
- based on work of Glazer and Strauss
Grounded Theory: How is it used in research?
Development of a theory or social process by causal conditions, intervening and context factors, specific consequences
Qualitative Description/Interpretive Description
Popular in applied disciplines, these are generic forms of inquiry but does not imply less rigour.
Still makes underlying theoretical framework explicit and demonstrate methodological congruence
Methodological Congruence
careful planning of coherence and purpose among parts of research studies.
How does qualitative research inform practice
- identifies value of biomedicine and what is missing by balancing objectivism and quantitative revelations
Mixed Methods (Qualitative Research)
Focuses on collecting, analyzing, and mixing both quantitative and qualitative data in single study or series of studies
- main idea: quantitative and qualitative approaches in combination provides a better understanding of research problems than either approach alone
Concurrent MMD
Qualitative and Quantitative data are used together to answer a single type of research question, the final inferences are based on both data analysis results
- the two types of data are collected independently
Concurrent Nested Design
Based on conceptual priority of study (e.g. quantitative phase is embedded within a predominantly qualitative study
- e.g. quan + QUAL vs. QUAN + qual
Methodological Issues in Qualitative Research: Sampling
- purposive/not random sampling (avoided in quantitative research)
- theoretically determined sample size (not expected to be known a priori - deduced from pure reason)
- done concurrently with data analysis
- sampling and sample size are specific to methodologies
Methodological Issues in Qualitative Research: Data Collection Methods.
- Interviews (semi-structures, unstructured)
1. Individual
2. Focus (voice/video recording then transcribed) - Participant observation (field notes)
- Prolonged engagement in the field (living in the environment)
- Document analysis (e.g. historical documents, policy documents)
Methodological Issues in Qualitative Research: Data Analysis
Analysis of interviews
- creating theme
- coding
Methodological Issues in Qualitative Research: Electronic Analysis Tools
- Word cloud
- Nvivo: more complex analysis (theme generating that links things)
- Analysis is an inductive process: BOTTOM-UP/SPECIFIC TO BROAD (from data/observations to results)
As opposed to deductive (broad to specific)
Qualitative Research: End Product
- Model
- Rich description of themes (quotes)
- Researcher is present in data — first person language, influence of researcher’s perspective, and experience on data collection/analysis/presentation of results
What is Subjectivity?
- Interpretation is influenced by researcher’s perspective
- Cannot be eliminated, can be accounted for
- Subjectivity is a problem when researcher perspective is ignored
Triangulation: 4 aspects
- Multiple methods
- Multiple researchers
- Multiple Theories
- Multiple datasets
Data triangulation: What is it?
mixed methods approaches are used to confirm, cross-validate, corroborate (confirm/support) findings within a single study
Critical Appraisal of Qualitative Research focuses on 3 domains
- Trustworthiness
- Credibility
- Dependability
Critical Appraisal: Naturalistic Inquiry of Internal validity
- Credibility
E.g. member checks; prolonged engagement in the field, data triangulation
Critical Appraisal of Qualitative Research: Naturalistic Approach to External Validity
- Transferability
- Thick descriptions of setting and/or participants
Critical Appraisal of Qualitative Research: Naturalistic approach Reliability
- Dependability
- Audit — researcher’s documentation of data, methods and decisions; researcher triangulation
Critical Appraisal of Qualitative Research: Naturalistic approach Objectivity
- Confirmability
- Audit and reflexivity
What are we looking for in methodological congruence
- Is the methodology and methods congruent with the research question?
- Do data collection strategies align with the methodologies
Qualitative Research Methodology: 3 key questions
- Was the sampling/recruitment strategy appropriate?
- Why were these people chosen to participate?
- Small number of highly selected people/purposive (with reason) - Was the data collection sufficient to cover the phenomenon?
- Was the method relevant? Detailed? - Were the data analyzed in a rigorous way?
- Was it clear how themes or categories were arrived at?
- Did the researcher reflect on his/her role in analysis?
Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) - Appraisal Tool
- Screening Questions
- Detailed Questions
Screening
- Was there a clear statement on the aims of the research?
- Is a qualitative methodology appropriate?
Detailed Questions
- Was the research design appropriate to address the aims of the research?
- Was the recruitment strategy appropriate to the aims of the research?
- Was the data collected in a way that addressed the research issue?
- Has the relationship between researcher and participants been adequately considered?
- Have ethical issues been taken into consideration?
- Was the data analysis sufficiently rigorous?
- Is there a clear statement of findings?
- How valuable is the research?
Top 10 things to remember about Qualitative Research: Distinct Methodological Traditions
There are distinct methodological traditions of qualitative inquiry (including but not limited to grounded theory, phenomenology, ethnography, interpretive description) and specific methods are associated with these traditions of inquiry
umbrella term
Top 10 things to remember about Qualitative Research: Grounded Theory
Grounded theory, rooted in sociology, is used to explicate a process or generate a theory and methods typically associated with grounded theory include:
Concurrent analysis and participant sampling to explore aspects of theory (or process) that require development)
Final product is a model of a theory or a process
Top 10 things to remember about Qualitative Research: Phenomenology
Phenomenology, rooted in philosophy, is used to provide insight into a lived experience of our patients and the intent is to provide a description of the ‘essence’ of that experience and the meaning individuals attribute to that experience. Methods are associated with the specific philosophical traditions
Top 10 things to remember about qualitative research: Ethnography
Ethnography, rooted in anthropology, is used to understand culture, values and beliefs and is typically associated with:
Prolonged engagement in the field
Use of observation in addition to other data collection methods
Ethnographies in health care are typically ‘focussed ethnographies’ that more narrow in scope than traditional ethnographic studies
Top 10 things to remember about qualitative research: Data collection methods
Qualitative data collection methods (and sources) typically include Individual interviews Group interviews (focus groups) Transcribed Observation Participant-observation Extensive field notes Document analysis
Top 10 things to remember about qualitative research: supplement quantitative methods
Qualitative methods can stand alone but they can also be used to complement quantitative methods (mixed methods) for example:
Provide information for interpretation of quantitative results (RCT example)
Validate quantitative results (post-survey)
Provide information to develop quantitative data collection tools (i.e. survey’s)
Provide information about context, or patient and clinician values, and/or experiences that would not otherwise be collected in a quantitative design
Top 10 things to remember about Qualitative Research: Sample selection criteria
Sample selection in qualitative research is purposive (hand picking with reason)
The intent is not to select a representative sample but to select participants who can provide insight into the topic of interest
Sample size is determined conceptually – i.e. how many participants are required to answer the research question (i.e. theoretical saturation)
Top 10 things to remember about qualitative studies: methods are inductive
Qualitative methods are inductive therefore it is imperative that the results are created from data. It is not considered methodologically sound to test specific hypotheses or to fit the results into a predetermined theoretical framework
Top 10 things to remember about qualitative studies: how they differ from quantitative methods
Qualitative methods differ from quantitative methods because they have different underlying philosophical assumptions about the nature of reality and the purpose of research AND they are for answering different types of research questions
Top 10 things to remember about qualitative research studies: explores human life context
Qualitative methods are ideal for exploring human values, experiences, meaning individuals attribute to their experiences, culture and context
