Week 12- Qualitative Research Flashcards
What is QR?
- QR is collection and analysis of qualitative data (words)
and not quantitative data (numbers)
What is the aim of QR?
- It aims to answer questions like “why?”
- It aims to understand phenomena in depth
- QR focuses on a small number of research participants
- It does not aim to present generalisable results but results
which are specific to a group of people
What is a research question?
➢ Research question is a question which can be addressed
by conducting research (collecting data)
➢ A research question should be specific enough in order to collect the most appropriate research method
➢ Like in all types of research, in QR there needs a research
question
➢ Researchers start with a general topic and then read
relevant literature in order to refine their research question
What is the two ways QR can exist?
- Can stand alone
- Support quantitative research
What is the 4 main methods of qualitative data collection?
- Interviews
- Focus groups
- Observation
Explain Interview as a QR method?
➢ Interview is a form of conversation
➢ A researcher poses questions and a research participant
is expected to do most of the talking
➢ It can be a short interview or a long interview
➢ It is usually recorded
➢ It is usually transcribed verbatim
➢ There is no magic number of participants but qualitative researchers start with 10 interviews and stop when saturation is achieved
➢ The purpose is to gather enough data in order to understand a phenomenon in depth or answer a question adequately
➢ Interviews can be unstructured or semi-structured
Explain focus groups as a QR method.
➢ A FG is a group discussion
➢ A FG helps to study many people at once
➢ It is less expensive
➢ It is largely used to gauge a situation before set up a larger study
➢ It is used to make sense of quantitative results
➢ It can be a stand-alone research method given that there is a specific research question to answer and data saturation is checked
Explain Observation as a QR method
➢ Observation refers to a systematic and long observation of behaviour in its natural environment
➢ Observation is largely used in social anthropology
➢ Other disciplines such as sociology and education are
using it
➢ Its purpose is to understand the rationale of behaviour
Give the method used for observation
- The observer writes everything observed on paper
- Everything then is coded and analysed
- Observation is usually combined with interviews in order to compare what people say with what they do
What are the 3 types of observation?
➢Overt: participants know they are observed ➢Covert: participants do not know they are observed
➢Participant: research observe by participating
What is data saturation?
When there are no news themes/ topics from the data
Why is data saturation important?
➢Data saturation shows that data is enough for in depth
understanding of a phenomenon
➢The study is robust and thus publishable
What is coding in qualitative data?
➢ Once the data is collected researchers start coding
➢ Code is a word or short phrase which represents larger
amount of information
➢ Coding could rely on predetermined codes or come
directly from the data
➢ The codes can then be grouped together as categories or
themes (broader codes) before data analysis
➢ Coding can be done through softwares, such as Atlas Ti,
NVivo, Ethnograph etc
➢ If using a software, it is necessary use the same codes to
label the same or similar words/ sentences
What are possible codes for this example?
➢Info about job, age, marital status (Personal info)
➢Doctor checked and prescribed (Doctor decided )
➢Short consultation (Time)
➢Feeling like an object (Feelings during consultation)
What are possible codes for this example?
➢Info about personal life (Personal info)
➢Doctor tells patient what to do (Doctor decided)
➢No more than 10 minutes consultation (Time)
➢Feeling like I do not count (Feelings during
consultation)
What are the themes of the previous examples?
