Paper 3: Qualitative Research Methods

1. Paper 3: Qualitative Research Methods Theory & Practice Crane textbook p.345 -380

2. IB Learning outcomes: Theory and practice in qualitative research • Distinguish between qualitative and quantitative data. • Explain strengths and limitations of a qualitative approach to research. • To what extent can findings be generalized from qualitative studies? • Discuss ethical considerations in qualitative research. • Discuss sampling techniques appropriate to qualitative research (for example, purposive sampling, snowball sampling). • Explain effects of participant expectations and researcher bias in qualitative research. • Explain the importance of credibility/ trustworthiness in qualitative research. • Explain the effect of triangulation on the credibility/trustworthiness of qualitative research. • Explain reflexivity in qualitative research.

3. Markbands for paper 3 • LOW The answer does not reach a standard described by the descriptors below. - There is an attempt to answer the question, but knowledge and understanding is limited, often inaccurate, or of marginal relevance to the question. The response makes no direct reference to the stimulus material or relies too heavily on quotations from the text. • MIDThe question is partially answered. - Knowledge and understanding is accurate but limited. Either the command term is not effectively addressed or the response is not sufficiently explicit in answering the question. The response makes limited use of the stimulus material. • HIGHThe question is answered in a focused and effective manner and meets the demands of the command term. The answer is supported by appropriate and accurate knowledge and understanding of qualitative research methodology. The response demonstrates a critical understanding of qualitative research methodology applied to the stimulus material.

4. Sample Paper 3 questions…. You would answer these based on a stimulus material to see an example of this look at page 376 of the crane textbook 1. Discuss the issue of generalizing data obtained through this method of research? [10 marks] 2. What are the ethical issues involved when using this method of research? [10 marks] 3. Interviews formed a part of this study discuss advantages and disadvantages of the interview as a method in this study? [10 marks]

5. Intro to qualitative research.. • Psychology is very diverse – different methods are needed to gather & analyse data Factors which researchers consider when choosing their methods: • Purpose of the research • Characteristics of population • Researchers beliefs about how knowledge can be acquired – to do with epistemology – how can we know about the world? What is the basis of our knowledge? Ontology – does social reality exist independently of human interpretations and perceptions?

6. Intro to qualitative research.. • Ritchie & Lewis (2003) three main questions for understanding differences in why researchers gather data using quantitative and qualitative methods. • Main argument: both methods should not be seen as competing but complementary - they are both beneficial in the development of knowledge.

7. Intro to qualitative research.. • Ritchie & Lewis (2003) three main questions in the debate on methodologies: 1)What is the relationship between the researcher and the researched? 2) What can be held as truth? 3) How is knowledge gathered?

8. Intro to qualitative research.. 1)What is the relationship between the researcher and the researched? • Quantitative research - object of the research is considered to be independent of the research. • Researcher is seen as value free. • Qualitative research – believe that studying people will affect people so that they don’t behave naturally. • Relationship between researcher and participants is not objective and value free because the researcher brings assumptions to research process which influence the way data are collected. • Therefore the researcher needs to reflect on his or her own background and beliefs and how these could play a role in the research process (reflexivity).

9. Intro to qualitative research.. 2) What can be held as truth? • Quantitative research – correspondence theory of truth – whether knowledge is true or not is determined by how well it describes the world. There must be a match between observations of the world and a natural reality. • Qualitative research – coherence theory of truth, truth is not absolute. Truth is determined by whether data gathered can be supported by other observations or statements – this is based on the idea that there is a truth in the data that researchers can arrive at.

10. Intro to qualitative research.. 3) How is knowledge gathered? • Quantitative methodology – the scientific method – hypothesis testing, evidence is used to support a conclusion. Focus is on cause and effect relationships, generalization and prediction. • Qualitative methodology – collected evidence is used to reach a conclusion. The focus is on the understanding the complexity of social processes.

11. Intro to qualitative research.. • Qualitative methods have been criticised for being unscientific • Ongoing debate about whether the terms reliability (e.g. production of accurate data/ replicability) and validity (whether the research explains what it intended to do) can be used in qualitative research. • These concepts should be reformulated for qualitative research – such as credibility and trustworthiness

12. Intro to qualitative research.. • Ritchie and Lewis (2003) state that the social world not separate from individuals subjective understanding. • We construct and give meaning to our experience. • Researchers can understand this through participants interpretations. • The interest is in how people make sense of the world and how they experience events. • This is known as the interpretive approach based on understanding things from the view of the people involved.

13. Intro to qualitative research.. • Qualitative researchers see reality is diverse and multifaceted. • The researcher should try to be as neutral as possible in the collection, interpretation and presentation of qualitative data. • Using reflexivity can help with this as well as triangulation through a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods.

14. 1) Distinguish between qualitative and quantitative data. Qualitative -Data gathered through direct interaction with participants – e.g. one on one or group interviews or observation -Data consists of text – e.g. transcript of field notes. -Textual data is open ended and flexible – they are open for interpretation. -”Rich data” in terms of their descriptions • - Not easy to analyse – no single approach to data analysis/ interpretation • -Data can generate theory Quantitative -Data numeric form -easy to summarize – descriptive stats - -stats testing – inferential stats -data is meant for generalization to the target population from which data were drawn -data gathered to support theories

15. 2) Explain strengths and limitations of a qualitative approach to research. • Qualitative researchers – concerned with how people make sense of the world • Want to understand “what its like” to experience particular conditions and how people deal with them. • The objective of qualitative research is to describe and possibly explain events and experiences. • There are problems that need to be overcome….

16. 2) Explain strengths and limitations of a qualitative approach to research. • Qualitative researchers – concerned with how people make sense of the world. • Want to understand “what its like” to experiences particular conditions and how people deal with them. • The objective of qualitative research is to describe and possibly explain events and experiences. • Researchers study people in their own environment – schools, homes, hospitals and streets. • There are problems that need to be overcome….

17. 2) Explain strengths and limitations of a qualitative approach to research. STRENGTHS • Provide rich data – in depth descriptions of individual experiences based on concepts, meanings and explanations emerging on the data. • Useful for investigating complex and sensitive issues – e.g. Coping with illness, sexuality, homelessness or living in a violent relationship. • Explain phenomena – goes beyond observation and seeks to understand what lies behind them (e.g. why do people become homeless?)

18. 2) Explain strengths and limitations of a qualitative approach to research. STRENGTHS • Helps to identify and evaluate factors that contribute to solving a problem. E.g. what is needed to successfully resettle people who are homeless? • Generates new ideas and theories to explain and overcome problems. • People are studied in their own environment which increases external(ecological) validity.

19. 2) Explain strengths and limitations of a qualitative approach to research. LMITATIONS • Can be very time consuming to collect and analyse data. • Data analysis can be difficult if there is a huge amount of data and no clear strategy for analysis. • Interpretation of data may be subjective/ biased (but reflexivity can help to minimize this).

20. 3)To what extent can findings be generalized from qualitative studies? • Scientists normally want their findings to apply to other people than those who participated in their study. • Generalizing findings means that the results are relevant outside of the context of the study itself. • Some qualitative researchers don’t find it relevant to generalize their findings – because they are interested in context specific experiences. • Others argue that it is important for findings to be generalized. • According to Lewis & Ritchie (2003) qualitative research could distinguish between the following forms of generalization.

21. 3)To what extent can findings be generalized from qualitative studies? REPRESENTATIONAL GENERALIZATION • This means that findings from qualitative research can be applied to populations outside the population of the study. • E.g. are the population of homeless people included in the study representative of homeless people in general? • This could have implications for the development of homeless programmes. • Qualitative research normally involves small samples that are not selected to be statistically representative and non-standardized interview techniques should be used • However, Hammersly (1992) states that if there is evidence from other studies that confirm the findings, then generalization is possible.

22. 3)To what extent can findings be generalized from qualitative studies? INFERENTIAL GENERALIZATION • This means that the findings of the study can be applied to settings outside of the original study. • This is also known as “transferability” or “external validity”. • If the study on homeless people is a pilot programme to resettle homeless people, the question is whether the findings can be applied to other services that provide help to homeless people. • Whether or not the findings can be transferred to another setting will depend on the depth of description of the researched context and phenomenon. • This description may allow for inferences to be made, but it will stay a hypothesis until it is supported or disproved by further evidence.

23. 3)To what extent can findings be generalized from qualitative studies? THEORETICAL GENERALIZATION • This means that theoretical concepts derived from the study can be used to develop further theory. • E.g. The findings from the study might lead to inferences about what could be effective policies to help homeless people. In that way, the findings from the study may contribute to wider social theory. • Quantitative research can then be carried out on the topics first covered by qualitative researchers – sometimes researchers do this and use a ‘mixed methods’ desing.

24. 4)Discuss ethical considerations in qualitative research. • Overall the same ethical issues are involved in qualitative and quantitative research – informed consent, protection of participants from psychological and physical harm, confidentially, anonymityand the right to withdraw. • There are special ethical considerations to consider due to the nature of qualitative research. • Qualitative research involves long term and close personal contact with the participants- e.g. in an interview study the research may become to close or personally involved with the participant to be objective in their research. • Anonymity may be a problem with studies with small numbers of participants, because of the risk they may be identified in research reports. • In research where covert observation is used, the participants have not signed informed consent and do not have the right to withdraw from the research because they do not know that they are being studied.

25. 4)Discuss ethical considerations in qualitative research. INFORMED CONSENT • General rule – informed consent should always be obtained • Some cases not possible to study the phenomenon without it – e.g. violence in a street gang – ethics committees may waive the rule – because the goal of the research is to develop knowledge that may prevent violence in the long run. • Ethical cost benefit analysis is carried out by the ethics committee. • Participants should know that participation is voluntary- important if the researcher are related to those in sample – so people don’t participate out of obligation. • Researchers must provide participants with info about the study – e.g. who funded the study, who will carry it out, how the data will be used, what participants are required to do. • Consent can be re-negotiated (the right to withdraw) and for those under 16 consent must be obtained from parents/guardians.

26. 4)Discuss ethical considerations in qualitative research. PROTECTING PARTICIPANTS FROM HARM • Researchers should avoid harm to participants. • Particularly true in sensitive topics – e.g. domestic violence and sexual abuse. • Qualitative methods can use in depth interviews so participants may disclose information that they never shared with anyone before. • Interview may seem like a friendly encounter, but they might regret what they said and feel upset after the interviewer is gone- this should be avoided. • Before interview – participants should have a clear understanding of the topics covered. • Interviewers should use clear and direct questions when covering and if they show signs of discomfort, the researcher should consider stopping the interview. • If the interview dealt with emotional and sensitive issues, researcher should return to less sensitive issues towards the end. • Researchers can also provide advice, refer the participant to useful information they might need.

27. 4)Discuss ethical considerations in qualitative research. ANONYMITY& CONFIDENTIALITY • Participants should be informed about these issues. • Identity of participants should not be known outside the research team – but there are cases where sampling involves a third party (e.g. managers, friends, teachers) this cannot be done, and in this case participants should be informed. • Confidentiality means that research data will not be known to anyone outside the study. Researchers might have to change minor details of the report to stop participants being recognized. • Confidentiality also related to the way data will be stored – to guarantee anonymity transcripts and videotapes of interview should be destroyed when transcripts are made. • If the researcher finds it necessary to archive non anonymized data, the participant should give written informed consent.

28. 5) Discuss sampling techniques appropriate to qualitative research (for example, purposive sampling, snowball sampling). • Sampling techniques in qualitative research differ from those used in quantitative research, where the purpose of sampling is to generate samples that are representative through random selection of participants. • Sampling methods can be classified into probability sampling and non-probability sampling. • Probability sampling seen as the most rigours approach to sampling for statistical research. Quantitative methods use inferential statistical tests based on samples that are randomly selected from the target population. • In qualitative research the sample numbers are much smaller – the sample is not intended to be statistically representative. • They may want to have a representative sample, but the focus is not on statistical representation. • In qualitative research – a sample is selected because it represents important characteristics of a population – and these are what are of concern to the researcher – there are several techniques to do this….

29. 5) Discuss sampling techniques appropriate to qualitative research (for example, purposive sampling, snowball sampling). PURPOSIVE SAMPLING • Targets a particular group of people . • There is a specific criteria for the selection of participants – based on aim of study and existing knowledge in the field. • Participants chosen based on characteristics which will help the researcher to explore the topic. • This could be socio-economic characteristics (e.g. living below the poverty line), specific experiences (e.g. childhood abuse), occupation (e.g. nurse) or social roles (e.g. mother). • All the features of relevance must be present in the sample. • Strengths – useful in situation where research needs to obtain a sample quickly to investigate and urgent problem – e.g. the introduction of a new rehabilitation scheme for people who have had strokes. It may also be the only option for a study where the population is difficult to research – e.g. elderly homeless women. It’s a relatively easy way to select a sample • Limitations – there is a danger of bias – but not necessarily if the sampling process is based on objective criteria and these are clearly documented and explained. It is also difficult to generalize.

30. 5) Discuss sampling techniques appropriate to qualitative research (for example, purposive sampling, snowball sampling). SNOWBALL SAMPLING • Used as a way to get hold of participants without spending a lot of time and money. • Researcher asks participants in the study if they know other potential participants. • Can be used to locate hidden populations – for example, when people with the required characteristics are rare of hard to find. E.g. in a study of homeless people this would be useful. • Strengths – cost efficient, not expensive and time consuming to locate participants, useful to get less studied groups, its also a quick way to get participants. • Limitations – difficult to avoid bias in the sample – they will all be very similar , ethical issues - confidentiality concerns, because the participants know the identity of other participants.

31. 5) Discuss sampling techniques appropriate to qualitative research (for example, purposive sampling, snowball sampling). CONVENIENCE SAMPLING • Convenience or opportunity sampling selects a group of people who happen to be available. They are simply asked if they would like to participate. • Researchers may want to study the effectiveness of a program to prevent antisocial behaviour in a youth group, using basketball training and coaching, The researchers follow adolescents for a year, to see the impact the programme has on the young people. The sample here represents young people in the programme, but it could represents young people in similar programs around the country. But in order to see if this is the case similar research must confirm it. • Strengths – easy to select participants, cost effective, not time consuming • Limitations – not representative, some participants my decline to take part so your sample then turns into a self selected sample.

32. 6) Explain effects of participant expectations and researcher bias in qualitative research. • Humans are not passive responders to their environments. • Researchers must be aware that research is an active process that requires reflection and interrogation of the data, the participant, the research context, in order to avoid participant expectations (also called reactivity) or researcher bias. • Participant expectations can be explained as how participants beliefs/ideas about the research and the researcher which can affect the trustworthiness of the data. If the participants feel that they have to behave in a certain way to please a researcher, this will affect the value of the data in a negative way. • Researcher bias can be explained as the researcher not paying enough attention to the participants, so that the researchers own beliefs determine the research process. Its important that participants perceptions and beliefs are given priority over the researcher own.

33. 6) Explain effects of participant expectations and researcher bias in qualitative research. • If it is assumed that reality in a study is multiple and co-constructed then we should be aware that participants who are asked to comment on the researchers interpretation of the date will not necessarily arrive at the same conclusion. • Some argue that a ‘credibility check’ could impose artificial conformity on the analysis of data. This could impact on the meaningfulness of the findings. • One way to minimize the effects of participant expectations and researcher bias is through reflexivity throughout the research process.

34. 7)Explain the importance of credibility/trustworthiness in qualitative research. • Rolfe (2006) credibility corresponds to the concept of internal validity used in quantitative research. • Credibility is linked to the concept of trustworthiness – this is established when the findings of the research reflect the meanings as they are described by the participants. • Sandelwoski (1993) argues that issues of validity in qualitative research should be linked to trustworthiness. • To ensure trustworthiness researchers should make the research process transparent, so they can be scrutinized. • The researcher should “leave a decision trail, so that the reader would be able to track and verify the research process”. • Peer reviews and checks are a method of establishing credibility within a study.

35. 8) Explain the effect of triangulation on the credibility/trustworthiness of qualitative research. • Triangulation can be defined as a kind of cross checking of information and conclusions in research, brought about by the use of multiple procedures and sources. • If there is agreement between the procedures or sources, there is support (or corroboration) of the interpretation of data. • Triangulation involves the use of different perspectives, methods, and sources to check if the interpretation of data can be supported. There are different forms of triangulation.... • Method triangulation • Data triangulation • Researcher triangulation • Theory triangulation

36. 8) Explain the effect of triangulation on the credibility/trustworthiness of qualitative research. • Method triangulation - involves comparing data that come from the use of different methods. This could involve both qualitative and quantitative methods. • Data triangulation – involves comparing data with data gathered from other sources or participants - e.g. collected from different qualitative methods such as observations and interviews. • Researcher triangulation – involves the use of several observers, interviews, or researchers to compare and check data collection and interpretation. • Theory triangulation – involves looking at the data using different theoretical perspectives.

37. 9)Explain reflexivity in qualitative research. • Reflexivity is a concept that has gained in importance in qualitative research. • Based on the assumption that it is important for the researcher to be aware of his or her own contribution to the construction of meaning in the research process. • Reflexivity should occur throughout the research process. • Reflexivity is a process that begins with the researcher acknowledging that his or her background and beliefs influence the research process. • Researchers should provide details about issues that may potentially bias the investigation – e.g. Where they stand in terms of political ideology if this is of importance. • Willig (2001) identified two types of reflexivity – personal and epistemological reflexivity.

38. 9)Explain reflexivity in qualitative research. • Personal reflexivity: involves reflecting on ways in which factors such as researchers values, beliefs, experiences, interests, and political commitment have influenced the research. • It also involves thinking about how the research has affected the researcher personally and professionally. • Researchers should include this information in when they write-up their report on their research study.

39. 9)Explain reflexivity in qualitative research. • Epistomological reflexivity: to with thinking about the ways in which knowledge is generated within the study.this can be done by questioning whether the research question limited what could be found. • Or did the design of the study and the way in which data was analysed bias the results? • Would a different approach have brought about a different understanding of the topic under investigation? • These questions get the researcher to think critically about the knowledge that has been generated, as well as the assumptions that underpinned the research process. • Including information about reflexivity is integral in a qualitative research report.