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Characteristics of Qualitative Research

Purposeful sampling, collection of open-ended data, analysis of text or pictures, representation of information in figures and tables, and personal interpretation of the findings all inform qualitative procedures.  

Phenomenology

Purpose: to describe experiences as they are lived

  • examines uniqueness of individual's lived situations

  • each person has own reality; reality is subjective

Research question development

  • What does existence of feeling or experience indicate concerning the phenomenon to be explored

  • What are necessary & sufficient constituents of feeling or experience?

  • What is the nature of the human being?

Method

  • No clearly defined steps to avoid limiting creativity of researches

Sampling & data collection

  • Seek persons who understand study & are willing to express inner feelings & experiences

  • Describe experiences of phenomenon

  • Write experiences of phenomenon

  • Direct observation

  • Audio or videotape

Data analysis

  • Classify & rank data

  • Sense of wholeness

  • Examine experiences beyond human awareness/ or cannot be communicated

Outcomes

  • Findings described from subject's point-of-view

  • Researcher identifies themes

  • Structural explanation of findings is developed

Qualitative Research

Qualitative research is a means for exploring and understanding the meaning individuals or groups ascribe to a social or human problem.  The process of research involves emerging questions and procedures, data typically collected in the participants' setting, data analysis, inductively building from particulars to general themes, and the researcher making interpretations of the meaning of the data.  The final written report has a flexible structure.  Those who engage in this form of inquiry support a way of looking at research that honors an inductive style, a focus on individual meaning, and the importance of rendering the complexity of a situation.

 

Qualitative procedures demonstrate a different approach to scholarly inquiry than methods of quantitative research. Qualitative inquiry employs different philosophical assumptions; strategies of inquiry; and methods of data collection, analysis, and interpretation.  Although the process are similar, qualitative procedures rely on text and image data, have unique steps in data analysis, and draw on diverse strategies of inquiry.  

 

 

Looking over the landscapse of qualitative procedures shows a diverse perspectives ranging from social justice thinking (Denzin & Lincoln, 2005), to ideological perspectives (Lather, 1991), to philisophical stances (Schwandt, 2000), to systematic procedural guidelines (Creswell, 2007; Corbin & Strauss, 2007).  All perspectives vie for center stage in this unfolding model of inquiry called qualitative research (adapted from Creswell, 2007). 

  • Is the purposeful sampling strategy for sites and individuals identified?

  • Are the specific forms of data collection mentioned and a rationale given for their use?

  • Are the procedures for recording information during the data collection mentioned and a rationale give for their use?

  • Are the data analysis steps identified?

  • Is there evidence that the researcher has organized the data has organized the data for analysis?

  • Has the researcher reviewed the data generally to obtain a sense of the information?

  • Has coding been used with the data?

  • Have the codes been developed to form a description or to identify themes?

  • Are the themes interrelated to show a higher level of analysis and abstraction?

  • Are the ways that the data will be represented mentioned-- such as in tables, graphs, and figures?

  • Have the bases for interpreting the analysis been specified (personal experiences, the literature, questions, action agenda)?

  • Has the researcher mentioned the outcome of the study (developed a theory, provided a complex picture of themes)?

  • Have multiple strategies been cited for validating the findings?

A Checklist of Questions for Designing a Qualitative Procedure
Qualitative Research Design

Below is the general research design process and diverse forms of qualitative approaches:

 

To learn more about the qualitative research design, download the introductory chapter to qualitative research and design:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grounded Theory

Purpose: To develop a theoretical framework, utilizing data from the study

  • Used in discovering what problems exist in a social scene &how persons handle them

  • Involves formulation, testing, & redevelopment of propositions until a theory is developed

Method - steps occur simultaneously; a constant comparative process

  • Data collection - interview, observation, record review, or combination

Analysis

  • Concept formation

  • Concept development - reduction; selective sampling of literature; selective sampling of subjects; emergence of core concepts

  • Concept modification & integration

Outcomes - theory supported by examples from data

Ethnography

Purpose: to describe a culture's characteristics

 

Method

  • Identify culture, variables for study, & review literature

  • Data collection - gain entrance to culture; immerse self in culture; acquire informants; gather data through direct observation & interaction with subjects

Analysis - describe characteristics of culture

Outcomes - description of culture

Historical

Purpose: to describe and examine events of the past to understand the present and anticipate potential future effects

Method

  • Formulate idea - select topic after reading related literature
  • Develop research questions
  • Develop an inventory of sources - archives, private libraries, papers
  • Clarify validity & reliability of data - primary sources, authenticity, biases
  • Develop research outline to organize investigative process
  • Collect data

Analysis - synthesis of all data; accept & reject data; reconcile conflicting evidence

Outcomes - select means of presentation - biography, chronology, issue paper

Case Study 

Purpose: to describe in-depth the experience of one person, family, group, community, or institution

Method

  • Direct observation and interaction with subject

Analysis - synthesis of experience

Outcomes - in-depth description of the experience

Additional Resources

The following books are helpful references in learning more about qualitative research and developing your qualitative study:

 

Bogdan, R.C. & Biklen, S.K. (2003). Qualitative Research for Education: An Introduction to Theories and Methods. Boston, MA: Chestnut Hill Enterprises.

 

Creswell, J.W. (2009). Research Design Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. 

 

Merriam, S.B. (2009).  Qualitative Research: A guide to Design and Implementation. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

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