Week 8 - Qualitative approaches

Question 1

compare and contrast the four major qualitative research methods

Answer 1

Phenomenology- Investigates the lived experience of a phenomenon for individuals to understand and describe.

Case Study research- researcher provides detailed description and account of one or a few cases.

Ethnography- researcher focuses on the discovery and description of the culture of a group of people.

Grounded theory- researcher uses this methodology for generating and developing a theory that is ‘grounded’ in data.

Emic perspective - insiders perspective.
Etic perspective - external or “objective outsiders” perspective.

Question 2

explain the major types of validity in qualitative research

Answer 2

Descriptive validity - the factual accuracy of the researchers account. (use multiple investigators)

Interpretive validity - the accuracy of the portrayal of the participants’ subjective viewpoints and meanings. (participant feedback)

Theoretical validity - the degree to which the theory or explanation fits the data. (extended fieldwork)

Internal validity - the degree to which a researcher is justified in concluding that an observed relationship is causal. (methods and data triangulation)

External validity - the ability to generalise the findings to other people, settings and times. (naturalistic generalisation)

Question 3

explain the validity strategies used to obtain strong qualitative research.

Answer 3

Data triangulation- multiple data sources
Extended fieldwork- longitudinal
External audit- outside experts to assess study quality
Investigator triangulation- multiple researchers in interpret data
Low inference descriptors- using direct quotes from participants.
Methods triangulation- multiple research methods
Negative case sampling- attempting to select cases that disconfirm researchers expectations
Participant feedback- for verification and insight
Pattern matching- predicting a pattern of results and then seeing how the data fits that pattern
Peer review- sceptical and supportive review is important
Reflexivity- self awareness and reflection of researcher
Researcher as detective- systematically eliminating rival hypotheses/explanation
Rule out alternative explanations- examine evidence for competing/rival explanations
Theory triangulation- multiple explanation and perspective to help interpret and explain data
Triangulation- cross checking information and conclusions