Qualitative Research

1. Qualitative Research General Information and Examples

2. Definition • Qualitative Research involves in-depth study of one or a few instances of a phenomena so as to generate descriptions of characteristics of that phenomena for later analysis. • Qualitative Research is about the quality of the data about the phenomena rather than a quantity of the phenomena. Description and what patterns you share with an audience is what provides it with credibility. • Qualitative research is best for capturing WHY a phenomenon occurs. • Example research approaches that are usually qualitative in nature: • Case Study • Ethnography • Interview • Participant Observer • Autoethnography

3. Common Examples • Case Study – one “case” or instance of a phenomena in a real world setting that is described and analyzed. • The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks • Ethnography – a comprehensive and long-term description and analysis of a group of cases in a real world setting. • Coming of Age in Samoa by Margaret Mead • Interview – conversation, question and answer data attained from one or more people. • Most any profile or Q&A. Articles in newspapers and magazines. • Participant Observer – Observation or case study research in which the researcher is a participant in the activity. • Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich

4. What is Important in Qualitative Research • “Thick Description” (Clifford Geertz) – describe not only the phenomena that you are observing but the context as well. • For example, imagine a classroom: you would describe not only the phenomena you set out to observe (your hunch, say, gender and teacher interaction) but the classroom layout, time of day, temperature, clothing, time in term, observable actions (whispering, talking, passing notes, internet surfing), teacher movement, student movement, etc. The context may be more influential than what you thought was your hunch. • You are trying to capture as much detail as possible, so create a shorthand or abbreviations before the observation or interview so to allow you to better capture as much of the phenomena as possible. • Avoid evaluative or analytical comments during the observation or interview. You are recording the event. You will analyze it later. • When you do get to the analysis stage, you are looking for patterns, things that occurred or contributed to an occurrence in numbers too great to be attributed to chance.

5. Concerns and Issues • Qualitative Research is about the quality of the data rather than something that is quantified. Description and what patterns you share with an audience is what provides it with credibility. • Qualitative Research is usually inductive, which is to say that you observe a behavior or phenomena with a hunch, but you have no idea what you are going to find. You aren’t testing anything. Remember, you are looking for patterns in your description of an event after you have observed it. • It is possible to do case studies and observational quantitativeresearch. These studies would be quantitative in nature (note, in all these cases we are just counting the phenomena, not describing it): • Counting people who don’t wait for the light before crossing at Evans • Counting the number of men to the number of women who order “fancy” coffee drinks at Jazzman’s • Observing classrooms of different numbers of students to count who raises their hands the most, small classes or large classes. • If you are observing a location that is not normally open to the public, as in behind the scenes at a place of business or organization, then you will need permission from a supervisor or the person who allowed you to observe the location. • You won’t be able to use everything in your assignment, but you have to set out to record everything in your observation or interview.

6. Observation and Interviews Conducting, Examples, and Writing

7. Observations • You are trying to observe behavior or phenomena in a natural setting, and you don’t want to disrupt that setting. • Hiding in the bushes is not as inconspicuous as it may seem (wouldn’t you call the cops if you saw somebody hiding in the bushes?) • Be in plain sight but not obviously watching any one thing or person. • Take notes, but don’t be obvious that you are taking notes about any one thing or person. • Never record an observation with video or audio that is not in a public space. • Be safe. That means, no hanging off the edge of a roof to observe behavior, skulking around dorm windows at night, or parking in front of the elementary school with a pair of binoculars and a bag of M&M's (all activities that would put you at risk greater than that of everyday life).

8. Example Observations • Observing how a person searches for source while conducting research • Observing computer use while writing or research (multitasking) • Observing writing process

9. Writing the Observation into your Assignment • It depends on the rhetorical situation. • You have to describe for your audiences the relevant details that you observed so they may see the same pattern you see. Do not leave relevant details out. • Save your analysis for after the description, or frame the description of your analysis with a lead and a follow-up. Do not interpret every line. Paint the picture first, describe what it means after. • See Ehrenreich excerpt from Nickel and Dimed • Your purpose should be served by your analysis and your analysis your purpose. In other words, you are using this data as evidence for your argument, so make your point, support your point with your description/analysis, and then connect the two. • Details first, and you should provide context. You should use schema such as, “In an observation I conducted on [blah], I observed [blah].” • Interpretation or analysis uses adverbs of possibility (maybe, possibly, etc.), modals (could, might, should) and hedges (about, possible). Here is an example: • While observing the cook at the Waffle House, I noticed that he would place butter packets on the top of the plate for every order of waffles and a packet of butter at the bottom of the plate for every order of pancakes that was called in by the waitress. This could be the system that the cook uses to remember the orders, or it could be the system the company trains its employees to use.

10. Interviews • Don’t conduct impromptu interviews. People are busy and just showing up to conduct an interview is rude and may lead to a rushed set of responses. Conduct this interview as a professional. Show up early with a prepared set of questions. • Don’t conduct interviews of convenience. Don’t interview friends and family about topics they don’t practice or know much about. If your mom is a technical writer or blogger, then interview her about her writing. • Don’t record an interview unless the interviewee has agreed to this. While most people might be receptive to being taped, some people do not approve. Always treat an interviewee with respect and do not pressure them. I will have permissions forms for you for the video projects. • If you are recording, do not rely on the recording device. You should take notes and lots of them. • Don’t forget to have your interviewee provide written consent to the interview. You must have the interviewee sign the permission. A project without this signed consent will not be accepted. Interviews conducted in the game are different because of implicit anonymity. • Always remember The Deal – people are giving up their time to help you out, so help them out by treating them and their responses fairly in your written work. You might even tell them that you will send the person a finished copy of your assignment before you turn it in.

11. Interview Questions • Try to avoid questions that force the interviewee into one answer. Leading questions or limiting questions don’t allow the interviewee to really answer how he or she would normally answer. • Construct questions that allow the interviewee to say a lot. Think of a reporter’s questions--who, how, what, why, where, when—as guides to constructing questions. What does this all mean? Well, instead of starting with “What role does education play in law?” Try and build up to such a question by asking a series of questions such as, “What is your education background? What subjects have been most helpful in your career? How do you think it benefits your profession to have certain subjects dedicated to your field?” • Your lead question is important. Ideally, it should establish why you are asking the questions and why you are asking the questions of that particular person; most importantly, it should be answerable. • “I’m currently working on a research project at the University of Denver, and I wanted to interview you regarding this project? • Don’t be limited by the questions you wrote out beforehand. It’s more important to follow the conversation. Two questions you should always have prepared are, “Can you give an example?” and “Could you tell more about what you just said?” • Have an “ender” question so that the interviewee can sense when the interview is over and he/she can share any last tidbit that he/she was thinking. • Columbo approach: “I think that is about it. However, I did want to ask you one more thing?” • Elise Hancock: “One last question. Is there anything that I should have asked you but didn’t?” • “As a final question, what is the most important part about X that you think people should know?” • Always thank your interviewee for his/her time and make sure he or she has your contact information in case they think of anything else

12. Example Interviews • Interviewing a student about what they think is most important about writing • Interviewing a student about their writing process • Interviewing a faculty member about their writing process • Interviewing a faculty member about what constitutes good writing in their discipline • Following up after an observation has been analyzed to confirm or gain further insight into something observed.

13. Writing the Interview into your Assignment • It depends on the rhetorical situation. • Interviewer questions are sometimes as important as the interviewee’s responses. Use your best judgment and imagine yourself as a reader: would I know what the person is talking about if I hadn’t heard the question? • The length of the interview is not related to the length of the assignment. Sometimes a 30 minute interview will result in one usable quote. That’s ok. You are using this as evidence for your argument. If you were writing a profile, you would ask different things and focus on different responses. In this case, you are not. • Make sure you provide background, credentials and context for your audience in your interview. You should write schema such as, “in an interview with [name], a [job/position] at [location].” However, you can only use the person’s name if they sign the appropriate line on the IRB form.