Qualitative data retrieval

1. Qualitative data retrieval Gizelle V Carr, Ph.D. Human Development & Psychoeducational Studies Howard University

2. Conceptual Framework • Establishes the importance (theoretical and practical) of the research study • Articulates the study’s design (data collection and analysis) • Describes the study’s research questions and their connection to extant literature and study design • Analyzes the researcher’s roles within the larger research framework

3. Components of a Conceptual Framework

4. Components of a Conceptual Framework • Argues for the significance of your study; grounds your topic in its multiple contexts (theoretical and actual); guides the development and iteration of research questions, the selection of theories and methods within an overall methodological framework. • “…should be defined not just by its constituent parts, or even by its collective, but by what it does, that is, how these parts, or processes, are intentionally placed in relationship to each other by the researcher and work together in an integrated way to guide research” ( Ravitch & Carl, 2016; p. 35).

5. What Does a Conceptual Framework Help You Do? • Cultivate research questions • Match the methodological aspects of the study with research questions • Align the analytic tools and methods of a study with the focal topics and core constructs • Situate the study in its theoretical, conceptual, and practical contexts • Describe implications for the study’s setting and participants • Situate your social location/identity and positionality as the researcher • Articulate how all of these aspects are related to methodological processes

6. Constructing and Developing a Conceptual Framework

7. The Researcher • Researcher as instrument • Positionalities, social location/identity, experiences, beliefs, prior knowledge, working epistemologies, biases, and overall perspective of the world. • The necessity of reflexive processes • The relationships between you (as the researcher) and research methods, data collection, and data analysis processes

8. Tacit Theory • Personal and professional beliefs • “…informal and even unconscious ways that we all think about, make sense of, and explain the world and the various contexts and people within it” (Ravitch & Carl, 2016; p.42;) • Often not explicit, spoken, or even known to you without intentional reflection. • Unlike formal theories, they are not directly situated in academic literatures. • An outgrowth of the attitudes, perspectives, values to which you have been socialized, but of which you may be unaware.

9. Study Goals • Personal, practical, and intellectual goals (Maxwell, 2013) • Theory and literature • Specific methods • Audience(s) • Role(s) of participants • Your role(s)

10. Questions for Considering Study Goals • Am I seeking to address a specific problem or concern and if so, as identified and framed by who? • Am I seeking to generate a theory, test a theory, or speak to specific theory? If so, why and in what ways? • Am I interested in contributing to the scholarly literature and if so, is that guided by a critique of existing theory? What is this critique? • Do I wish to engage people in the setting in the process of identifying the problems/topics to be addressed? Why (not)? • To which audience(s) do I wish this research to speak and why?

11. Study Setting and Context • The research setting • A specific location, organization, group, community, or communities • The context within the setting • Individuals and aspects of the setting related to your research

12. Considerations for Setting and Context • How do the setting and context influence or mediate the study goals and questions? • How do the setting and context influence or mediate the research design overall and the specific methods of data collection? • Given the study’s focus, which stakeholder group(s) are important to include and why? • Who is left out of this list of stakeholders and why should this individual or group be excluded? • How does the context mediate the formal theories I selected to frame this study?

13. Macro-sociopolitical Contexts • “a combination of the broad contexts – social, historical, national, international, and global – that create the conditions that shape society and social interactions, influence the research topic, and affect the structure and conditions of the settings and the lives of the people at the center of your research (including you)” (Ravitch & Carl, 2016; p. 45). Necessitates consideration of • Related social, cultural, political, economic, and ideological contexts • Macro-sociopolitics and how they affect your research and your interactions with participants • Your social location/identity and positionality

14. Questions for Considering Macrosociopolitical Contexts? • What are the local, national and global contexts of my research? • How do I see issues of race, gender, sexual orientation, class, etc.? (i.e. Do I see them as intersectional or binary?) • How do these conceptions and biases relate to those at the focus of the study? • How are various forms of policy at play? • How might the temporality of time influence this study, the context and the people?

15. Formal Theory • Formal theory—the set of established theories that are combined in relation to your ways of framing the core constructs embodied in your research questions—constitutes the theoretical framework of your study” (Ravitch & Carl, 2016; p. 46). • Conceptual framework – where theory meets method.

16. Data Collection Methods

17. Interviews • Goals • To gain focused insight into individuals’ lived experiences; • To understand how participants make sense of and construct reality in relation to the phenomenon, events, engagement, or experience in focus • To explore how individuals’ experiences and perspectives relate to other study participants • (perhaps prior research on similar topics)

18. Key Characteristics and Values of Qualitative Interviews • Relational • Contextual/contextualized – Context is everything; general questions general responses • Non-evaluative – guard for biases • Person centered • Temporal • Partial • Subjective • Non-neutral

19. Constructing Qualitative Interviews • Kinds of interview questions • Experience, opinion, feelings, knowledge, sensory, background (Patton, 2015) • Structured interviews • Semi-structured interviews • Unstructured interviews

20. Tips for Constructing Interview Protocols • Provide clear information on the process and timing in an inviting, clear, and transparent overview description. • Frame the interview with respect for the person’s time and expertise and set this as the primary tone/value. • No leading questions. • Use open ended questions. • Use clear follow-up questions that probe for specifics and examples wherever possible. • Avoid jargonistic words and phrases • Include reminders in the protocol to probe for implicit assumptions/conceptualizations where possible. • Include a final open-ended question that allows participants to give any other information they prefer to add and/or their impressions of the interview.

21. Observation and Fieldnotes • Benefits and challenges • Reactivity • Fieldnotes • Descriptive • Inferential • Evaluative • Emic and etic perspectives • Participant observation

22. Focus Groups • Group interviews • “…create the conditions to observe (and even facilitate) communication between research participants…” (p. 167) • Data related to • Content (topic or subject of the group discussion) • Process (group dynamics and interactions) • Groupthink • Benefits and challenges

23. Tips for Focus Groups • Practice focus group facilitation in a fishbowl format. • Ideally 4 to 6 participants • Be thoughtful about recruitment and the individuals comprising the group. • Have a note-taker or co-facilitator who can also serve as a peer debriefer • Try to engage participants as soon as possible and create the conditions for equal participation. • Think carefully about confidentiality in focus groups since people hear each other’s responses in real time and can identify those responses in written reports.

24. Documents & Archival Data • Personal, official, and popular culture documents (Bogdan & Biklen, 2006) • Technology, social media, and archival data • “Many ethical and validity issues must be considered throughout the process of deciding upon relevant and ethical data using the Internet”

25. Surveys and Questionnaires • Survey approach • Questionnaires • Benefits and challenges • Forced-choice or open-ended (Fink, 2006)

26. Tips for Effective Questionnaire Design • Use each guiding research question to create clusters of questions. • Think about formatting and appearance so it is clear and easy to navigate. • Consider the order, flow and sequencing of questions to ensure they are logical. • Provide clear instructions that are visually differentiating (bolds, italics etc.) • Write a brief but meat intro to the questionnaire that addresses the purpose and guides the participants. • Pilot questionnaire and refine based on feedback.

27. Researcher Threats • Developing inappropriate or unattainable study goals • Selecting an inadequate ‘sample’ ( e.g. does not meet criteria; insufficient number to address research question) • Conducting an insufficient literature search for your research tradition • Disregarding researcher bias (failing to bracket your assumptions) • Describing data inaccurately (e.g. no member checks) • Selectively observing a setting to “see what we want to see” (e.g. observer bias, confirmation bias) • Creating a Hawthorne effect • Biasing interview responses based on order and type of questions

28. References • Bogdan, R. C., & Bilken, S. K. (2006). Qualitative research in Education: An introduction to theory and methods. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. • Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2018). Research design: Quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods approaches. SAGE: Thousand Oaks, CA • Patton, M. Q. (2015). Qualitative research and evaluation methods.SAGE: Thousand Oaks, CA • Ravitch, S. M. & Carl, N. C. (2016). Qualitative research: Bridging the conceptual and methodological. SAGE: Thousand Oaks, CA.