Writing Up Qualitative Research

Question 1

What are the key components of knowing your audience?

Answer 1

Basic rule of writing
• Degree of specificity, length, language, tone
Lay audience / professional audience
• Clear, concise messages, colloquial language, bullet points, avoid jargon
• The ‘so what?’ message
Academic audiences
• Discipline-specific, scientific structure, objective/analytical language

Question 2

What is the scientific structure of qualitative research write up?

Answer 2

• Title
• Abstract
• Literature Review
• Method
• Findings
• Discussion
• Conclusion
• References

Question 3

Explain the title and abstract part of the structure

Answer 3

• Tells the reader what the report is about and what
they can expect to find out about, must stimulate
• Brief summary (250-300 words)of everything in the paper so the reader can undert=stand without having to read the paper (public face of research-take care)

Question 4

Explain the literature review? part of the structure

Answer 4

• Sets the scene.
• Tells the reader what previous literature has found (main findings) and how it’s relevant to/worth of your research question.
• Sets out the objectives for your research

Question 5

Explain the method and subsections part of the structure

Answer 5

Explains in sufficient detail how the research was
carried out. Subsections include:
• Research design
• Sample / participants
• Data collection-ethical considerations(how was permission given), recipe of research (step by step not too detailed)
• Data analysis-reflexivity-how you’ve undertaken e.g.thematic analysis
• Rigor

Question 6

Explain findings and subsections part of the structure

Answer 6

Tells the story of your data (longest section of write up). Includes:
• Theme title-gives context
• Description of theme/subthemes
• Evidence to support theme/subthemes (quotations from the data)
• Analysis of the data presented

Question 7

What participant quotes are used when reporting findings?

Answer 7

When reporting the findings of qualitative research it is
important to display the data (not full transcript)
• Select key quotes or exemplars
• Present tables or matrices
• Use vignettes to illustrate personal experience
• Quotes can be used to illustrate or show researcher interpretation

Question 8

Explain participant quotes

Answer 8

• Quotations can illustrate themes emerging from the analysis
• Presenting quotations can provide evidence in support of the researcher’s interpretations-without reader can’t trust-shows participant happy with representation
• Help explain how something happened - e.g.to illustrate the complex processes by which people made sense of their lives

Question 9

What is some key guidance about using quotes?

Answer 9

• Include enough text in the quoted segment so that the reader will understand what the participant was saying (e.g. context)
• Tell your reader about your participant (without identifying them-use pseudonym)
• Make the quote stand out (indent, use italics, new line for longer quotes)

Question 10

Explain vignettes

Answer 10

Vignettes can be used as an interview aid and as a way of representing data
OR
To present results for the reader to gain a deeper sense of the participants’ lived experiences
• Short descriptions and scenarios.
• Stories about individuals and situations which make
reference to important points
• Compact sketches of individuals or groups in specific
scenarios

Question 11

Explain the discussion part of the structure

Answer 11

• Examines how the findings relate to previous research AND
• how they answer the research question/address the research aims.
• In qualitative research, the findings and discussion sections can be merged-depending on what findings are showing (can be more engaging)

Question 12

Explain the conclusion part of the structure

Answer 12

• Sums up the key messages from the research and how
they addressed the research questions /aims.
• May also consider the limitations of the research
• How research may go forward
• Implications

Question 13

What are the key points in the presentation of qualitative findings?

Answer 13

Should you combine findings and discussion? Think about:
• Who am I writing for? Is there a ‘style’ typically used
for this audience?
• Which format would help me get my point across best?
Consider the word count- what info is most important?

Question 14

What contributes to a poor write up?

Answer 14

Poor organisation
Lack of transparency-needs detail of methods
Too much information e.g. too descriptive
Too little information-needs thick description
Unsupported assertions

Question 15

key parts of writing up from the reading

Answer 15

authors should write in the first person
outline some objectives in intro and rationale
should be creative and engaging even if objective (good story)

Question 16

differences to quant

Answer 16

lit review longer

methodology longer