Qualitative research design

Qualitativeresearch design Course 2 Lect.dr. Adriana Ștefănel Adriana.stefanel@fjsc.ro

After this course, students must be able to: • Identify the characteristics of qualitative data • Formulate qualitative research questions • Develop a robust qualitative design, including an appropriate sampling strategy • Select and apply the criteria that make for a rigorous qualitative research study

SOME CRITICISMS OF QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH • 1. Quantitative research can involve little or no contact with people or field settings • 2. Statistical correlations may be based upon variables that are arbitrarily defined by the researchers themselves • 3. After-the-fact analysis about the meaning of correlations may involve some very common-sense reasoning or even speculation that science claims to avoid • 4. The pursuit of measurable phenomena mean that difficult concepts such as criminality or intelligence are treated unproblematically

Source of dates: World Values Research http://www.worldvaluessurvey.org.

CHARACTERISTICS OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH • It is conducted through intense contact within a field or real life setting • The researcher’s role is to gain a holistic or integrated overview of the study, including the perceptions of participants • Themes that emerge from data are often reviewed with informants for verification • The main focus of research is to understand the ways in which people act and account for their actions

STRATEGIES OF ENQUIERY • 1. Case study • 2. Ethnography • 3. Ethnomethodology • 4. Grounded theory • 5. Participatory action research • 6. Narrative analysis • 7. Cultural studies • 8. Gender Studies

Strategies of enquiry • Particularly well suited to new research areas or research areas for which existing theory seems inadequate. • This type of work is highly complementary to incremental theory building from normal science research. • Case studies are one approach that supports deeper and more detailed investigation of the type that is normally necessary to answer how and why questions 1. Case study 2. Ethnography 3. Ethnomethodology 4. Grounded theory 5. Participatory action research 6. Narrative analysis 7. Cultural studies 8. Gender Studies A case study is an empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomena within its real life context, especially when the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident

Ethnography seeks understand social processes less by making reports of those events but by participating within them, often for long periods of time Strategies of enquiry • This approach is concerned with: • The linguistic resources people use in context • The various media used when communicating • The way verbal and nonverbal signs create and reveal social codes of identity, relationships, emotions, place and communication itself 1. Case study 2. Ethnography 3. Ethnomethodology 4. Grounded theory 5. Participatory action research 6. Narrative analysis 7. Cultural studies 8. Gender Studies

Strategies of enquiry • Ethnomethodologists start with the assumption that social order is an illusion 1. Case study 2. Ethnography 3. Ethnomethodology 4. Grounded theory 5. Participatory action research 6. Narrative analysis 7. Cultural studies 8. Gender Studies http://theoryfamily.wordpress.com/ethonomethodology Ethnomethodology studies the ways in which people make sense of their social world, and accomplish their daily lives

Strategies of enquiry 1. Case study 2. Ethnography 3. Ethnomethodology 4. Grounded theory 5. Participatory action research 6. Narrative analysis 7. Cultural studies 8. Gender Studies www.pinterest.com/pin/4433299604613062/

Strategies of enquiry 1. Case study 2. Ethnography 3. Ethnomethodology 4. Grounded theory 5. Participatory action research 6. Narrative analysis 7. Cultural studies 8. Gender Studies http://labsome.rmit.edu.au/liki/index.php/Action_research

Strategies of enquiry • Everyday life as dynamic, pluralistic and contested • Cultural studies concerns with focusing on those who are marginalized and at the age of the modern culture 1. Case study 2. Ethnography 3. Ethnomethodology 4. Grounded theory 5. Participatory action research 6. Narrative analysis 7. Cultural studies 8. Gender Studies

Strategies of enquiry Gender studies explore the processes of constructing and differentiating gender and gender inequalities, particularly in areas such as literature theory, film studies, drama etc. • Gender is not simply what one is, but rather a set of meanings sexes assume in particular societies 1. Case study 2. Ethnography 3. Ethnomethodology 4. Grounded theory 5. Participatory action research 6. Narrative analysis 7. Cultural studies 8. Gender Studies www.huffingtonpost.com

APPROACHES TO QUALITATIVE DESIGN • Research design sits between o set of research questions and the data • Qualitative design is emergent • Qualitative research design should be less linear, sequential pathway, but rather as a series of interactions involving design, data collection, preliminary analysis and re-design.

DETERMINING THE FOCUS OF THE INQUIRY • The purpose of making clear, unambiguous statements about the focus of the study helps to establish a boundary for the research

FORMULATING RESEARCH QUESTIONS

DETERMINING THE TYPES OF QUALITATIVE DATA • Qualitative design is quite flexible in terms of variety of data types applicable

SAMPLING (the strategy of) Sampling is a major problem for any type of research. We can’t study every case of whatever we’re interested in, nor should we want to. Every scientific enterprise tries to find out something that will apply to everything of a certain kind by studying a few examples, the results of the study being, as we say, generalizable. Howard Becker apudNewmann, L.p.240 • In quantitative studies, we want to see how many cases of a population fall into various categories of interest • In qualitative studies, the purpose of research do not require having a representative sample

DECIDING ON SAMPLING STRATEGY

Researchers uses a wide range of methods to locate all possible cases of a highly specific and difficult-to-rich population. NONPROBABILITY SAMPLING • Also known as judgemental sampling • In purposive sampling, cases selected rarely represent the entire population • Specialized or difficult-to-rich population • Identify particular types of cases for in-depth investigation to gain a deeper understanding of types 1.Purposive sampling 2. Snowball sampling 3. Deviant case sampling 4. Sequential sampling 5. Theoretical sampling 6. Adaptive sampling

NONPROBABILITY SAMPLING • Also called chain referral reputational or respondent-driven sampling • It is a multistage technique. It begins with one or a few people or cases and spreads out based on links to the initial cases. 1.Purposive sampling 2. Snowball sampling 3. Deviant case sampling 4. Sequential sampling 5. Theoretical sampling 6. Adaptive sampling Sampling the cases in network.

NONPROBABILITY SAMPLING • Also called extreme case sampling • The cases that differ from the dominant pattern, mainstream, or predominant characteristics of other cases. • The goal is to locate a collection of unusual, different, or peculiar cases that are not representative for the whole 1.Purposive sampling 2. Snowball sampling 3. Deviant case sampling 4. Sequential sampling 5. Theoretical sampling 6. Adaptive sampling

NONPROBABILITY SAMPLING • Similar to purposive sampling • Information is gathered until we reach a saturation point 1.Purposive sampling 2. Snowball sampling 3. Deviant case sampling 4. Sequential sampling 5. Theoretical sampling 6. Adaptive sampling A non-random sample in which a researcher tries to find as many relevant cases as possible until time, financial resources, or his or her energy is exhausted or until there is no new information or diversity of cases.

NONPROBABILITY SAMPLING • What we sample comes from grounded theory • The researcher selects cases based on new insights that the sample could provide. 1.Purposive sampling 2. Snowball sampling 3. Deviant case sampling 4. Sequential sampling 5. Theoretical sampling 6. Adaptive sampling A non-random sample in which the researcher selects specific times, locations or event to observe in order to develop a social theory or evaluate theoretical ideas.

NONPROBABILITY SAMPLING • Used for hidden populations • The sampling design is adjusts based on early observations. 1.Purposive sampling 2. Snowball sampling 3. Deviant case sampling 4. Sequential sampling 5. Theoretical sampling 6. Adaptive sampling A nonprobability sampling technique in which several approaches to identify and recruit, including a snowball or referral method, may be used.

USING THE LITERATURE IN QUALITATIVE RESEARCH • THEORETICAL LITARATURE :provides a detailed description and critical analysis of the current sate of knowledge • EMPIRICAL LITERATURE : a critical evaluation of those studies might suggest the adaptation of similar methodological approaches or the need to adopt alternative ones • METHODOLOGICAL LITERATURE : allows the researcher to identify the kind of methodological approaches that have been used to address the subject

COLLECTING QUALITATIVE DATA 1. Interviewing • 2. Observation • 3. Focus-groups • 4. Documents

COLLECTING QUALITATIVE DATA • The meanings that people ascribe to a phenomena • Used to gather information about a person’s knowledge, values, preferences and attitudes • The interview is a favoured approach where there is a need to attain highly personalized data 1. Interviewing 2. Observation 3. Focus-groups 4. Documents Interviewing is a powerful way of helping people to make explicit things that have hitherto been implicit –to articulate their tacit perceptions, feeling and understanding. Arksey&KnightapudGray, D.,370

COLLECTING QUALITATIVE DATA Qualitative interview is a good choice when the goal is : • To obtain understanding through detailed examples and rich narratives • To ascertain the meanings of actions and experiences and the sentiments underlying • expressed opinions • To shed new light on puzzling questions • To unravel complicated events and events that evolve over time • To identify variables and to frame hypotheses for future survey research. 1. Interviewing 2. Observation 3. Focus-groups 4. Documents

COLLECTING QUALITATIVE DATA • Observational data is primarily descriptive of settings, people, events and the meanings that participants ascribe to them • Observation may be conducted with the knowledge of those being observed or without their knowledge 1. Interviewing 2. Observation 3. Focus-groups 4. Documents Through personal interactions over months or years, the researcher learn about people and their habits, hobbies, hopes, fears and dreams. Meeting new people and discovering new social worlds can be rewording. Observation is also difficult, intense, time consuming, emotionally draining, and sometimes physically dangerous.

COLLECTING QUALITATIVE DATA Level of trust View most sensitive events or information Affect events to reveal information 1. Interviewing 2. Observation 3. Focus-groups 4. Documents Be passive observer Time in the field site

COLLECTING QUALITATIVE DATA • 6-12 people & a moderator to discuss issues in a nondirective and open discussion manner • A typical study uses 4 to 6 separate groups • Focus group might include public attitudes, personal behaviours, a new product or a political candidate 1. Interviewing 2. Observation 3. Focus-groups 4. Documents Qualitative research technique in which people are informally interviewed in a group discussion setting.

COLLECTING QUALITATIVE DATA 1. Interviewing 2. Observation 3. Focus-groups 4. Documents

ETHICS IN QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

Bibliography • Bobbie, Earl (2007/2010) Practicacercetariisociale [The Practice of Social Research].Iaşi: Polirom. • Gray, David (2010) Doing research in the Real World London:Sage • Neuman, Lawrence (2011) Social ResearchMethods. QualitativeandQuantitativeApproaches. Boston: Pearson.

Qualitative research design