Qualitative Research Designs Chapter 11 This multimedia product

Qualitative Research Designs Chapter 11 This multimedia product and its contents are protected under copyright law. The following are prohibited by law: • Any public performance or display, including transmission of any image over a network; • Preparation of any derivative work, including the extraction, in whole or in part, of any images; • Any rental, lease, or lending of the program. Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008

Qualitative Research l Three assumptions that differentiate qualitative and quantitative studies – Epistemology l l Qualitative researchers believe there are multiple realities represented by the participants’ perspectives Quantitative researchers believe a single, objective reality exists Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008

Qualitative Research l Three assumptions (continued) – Context l l – Qualitative researchers believe context is critical to understanding the phenomena being studied Quantitative researchers do not believe context is an important factor Researcher bias l l Qualitative researchers believe the researcher’s biases and perspectives must be understood to interpret the results Quantitative researchers believe researcher bias is controlled through the control of internal validity threats Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008

Qualitative Research l Characteristics of qualitative research – Natural settings - field research l l Behavior is studied as it occurs naturally Beliefs related to a natural setting Behavior is understood bests as it occurs without external constraints or control – The situational context is very important to understanding behavior – Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008

Qualitative Research l Characteristics of qualitative research – Data collection l Data is collected directly from the source Observations – Interviews – Document analysis – – – Rich narrative descriptions Process orientation l How and why behaviors occur Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008

Qualitative Research l Characteristics of qualitative research – – – Inductive data analysis Participant perspectives define what is “real” Emerging research design l The design plans change as data is collected, analyzed, and understood Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008

Ethnography l An ethnography is an in-depth description and interpretation of cultural patterns and meanings within a culture or social group – – Culture - shared patterns of beliefs, normative expectations, behaviors, and meanings Shared, not individualistic Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008

Ethnography l Problem statements – – Foreshadowed problem - a general framework for beginning a qualitative study Specific question - a question(s) that emerges from the interactive relationship between the problem and data l l Often found embedded in the data analysis Changing nature of questions often necessitates changes in the design (i. e. , an emergent design) Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008

Ethnography l Identifying and entering the research site – Access to all parts of the site l l l – – Participants Documents Physical location Rapport - need to be “integrated” within the site to gain the trust of the participants Often site entry takes a long time Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008

Ethnography l Selecting participants – – Use of purposeful sampling strategies to select “information rich” participants Purposeful sampling strategies l Maximum variation - selecting individuals or cases to represent extremes Very positive or very negative attitudes – Highest and lowest achieving students) – l Snowball (i. e. , network) - initially selected participants recommend others for involvement Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008

Ethnography – Purposeful sampling strategies l Sampling by case - selecting individuals or cases for their unique characteristics Extreme – Typical – Unique – Reputation – l l Key informant - selecting an individual(s) particularly knowledgeable about the setting and or topic Comprehensive - selecting all relevant individuals or cases Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008

Ethnography l Three primary methods for obtaining data – – – Observation Interview Document analysis Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008

Ethnography l Observation – – – Unstructured in nature Comprehensive - continuous and total over an extended period of time Participant-observer role of the researcher l Continuum between complete participant and complete observer Passive participant – Moderate participant – Active participant – Complete participant – l Rare for an ethnographer to be a complete participant Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008

Ethnography l Observation (continued) – Use of field notes to record observations l Two types of information Descriptions of what occurred – Reflections of what the descriptions mean (i. e. , speculations, emerging themes, patterns, problems) – l l Accuracy Extensive nature of notes Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008

Ethnography l Interviews – – – Unstructured in nature Begins with a general idea of what needs to be asked and moves to specific questions based on what the respondent says Types of interviews l l l – Key informant Life history Focus group Tape recording and transcribing interviews afford the opportunity to study the data carefully Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008

Ethnography l Document analysis – Written records l l – Types of sources l l – Print (e. g. , minutes from meetings, reports, yearbooks, articles, diaries) Non-print (e. g. , recordings, videotapes, pictures) Primary - original work Secondary - secondhand interpretations of original work Commonly used to verify other observations or interview data Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008

Ethnography l Data analysis and Interpretation – – Observations, interviews, and document analyses result in large quantities of narrative data Analysis includes critically examining, summarizing, and synthesizing the data Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008

Ethnography l Three stages of analysis – Coding l Organizing the data into reasonable, meaningful units that are coded with words or very short phrases that signify a category Emic categories - information provided by the participants in their own language and organizational units – Etic categories - the researcher’s interpretation of emic data – l Use of major codes and sub-codes is common Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008

Ethnography – Summarizing the coded data l l – Examining all similarly coded data and summarizing it with a sentence or two that reflects its essence Computerized sorting of data is common and effective Pattern seeking and synthesizing l l Synthesizing identifies the relationships among the categories and patterns that suggest generalization The researcher interprets findings inductively, synthesizes the information, and draws inferences Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008

Ethnography – Pattern seeking (continued) l Developing patterns Begins with the researcher’s informed hunches and ideas – Tentative patterns are identified and additional data collected to determine if they are consistent with those patterns – Characterized by enlarging, combining, subsuming, and creating new categories that make sense – Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008

Case Study l In-depth analysis of one or more events, settings, programs, groups, or other “bounded systems” – – – Focus on one entity Defined by time and place Concern with the limited generalizability of the findings Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008

Case Study l Types of case studies – – – Historical organizational - focus on the development of an organization over time Observational - study of a single entity using participant observation Life history (i. e. , oral history) - a first-person narrative completed with one person Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008

Case Study l Types of case studies (continued) – – – Situation analysis - a study of a specific event from multiple perspective Multi-case - a study of several different independent entities Multi-site - a study of many sites and participants the main purpose of which is to develop theory Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008

Case Study l Research problem statement – – – Focus on in-depth description and understanding Use of a single major question and several subquestions Emerging nature of the problems Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008

Case Study l l Identifying and entering the research site Selecting participants – – l Participants are usually identified as a part of the site of the study (e. g. , a classroom, teachers in a specific department, etc. ) Internal sampling - selecting specific participants, times, and documents within a site Obtaining data Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008

Case Study l Data analysis – – Same procedures as in ethnographic data analysis Four types of data analysis l l Categorical aggregation - researcher codes data and collects instances from which meanings will emerge Direct interpretation - use of a single example to illustrate meaning Drawing patterns - examines the correspondence between two or more categories or codes Naturalistic generalization - suggestions as to what others can take from the research and apply to other situations Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008

Phenomenological Designs l l A phenomenological study describes and interprets the experiences of participants to understand their perspectives Based on the belief that there are multiple ways of interpreting the same experience and the meaning of that experience is what constitutes reality Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008

Phenomenological Designs l Research problem – – Focused on what is essential for the meaning of the event, episode, or interaction Selecting participants l l l Participants are selected because they have lived or are living the experience being investigated Participants will share their experiences Participants can articulate their feelings Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008

Phenomenological Designs l l Obtaining data - in-depth, semi-structured, or unstructured interviews Data analysis – – Concerns that the analysis reflects the shared meanings and consciousness of the participants Five step process l l A initial description of the researchers experience with the phenomena A statement how the participant’s experience with the phenomena are identified in the interview Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008

Phenomenological Designs – Five step process (continued) l l l The creation of meaningful units form the statements using participant’s verbatim language to illustrate the units Separation of what was experienced from how it was experienced The construction on an overall description of the experience Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008

Grounded Theory Designs l A grounded theory study discovers or generates a theory – – l A theory is a set of propositions that pertain to a specific experience, situation, or setting The contextual sensitivity of theory is the basis for suggesting theory is “grounded” in the field data Research problems - broad general questions that focus on what happened to people, why they believed it happened, and what it means to them Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008

Grounded Theory Designs l l l Selecting participants Obtaining data - in-depth unstructured interviews Data analysis – Constant comparison - information from interviews is compared to emerging themes as a part of a more encompassing theory Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008

Grounded Theory Designs l Data analysis (continued) – Four step process l l Form initial categories with subcategories and descriptions of extreme possibilities on a continuum Create a coding paradigm in which central tenets are described with causal conditions, resultant actions, conceptual conditions and consequences Write a story that integrates selective codes that have been established and presents conditional propositions and hypotheses Explicate theory Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008

Credibility of Qualitative Research l l Credibility is the extent to which the data, data analysis, and conclusions are believable and trustworthy Four technical issues – – Triangulation - the comparison of results obtained from different data collection methods (i. e. , interviews, observations, and document analyses all lead to a similar conclusion) Reliability - the extent to which what is recorded as data is what actually occurred in the setting (i. e. , the accuracy of observations) Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008

Credibility of Qualitative Research l Four technical issues (continued) – Internal validity - the match between the researcher’s categories and interpretations and reality l l – Threats related to observer effects are of paramount concern Other threats include maturation, history, selection, attrition, and subject effects External validity – generalizability l l Translatability and comparability are terms used to indicate the extent to which the results can be used by other researchers in other settings Generally weak in qualitative research Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008

Credibility of Qualitative Research l Techniques to enhance credibility – – – – Triangulation Prolonged and persistent field work Copious field notes Low inference descriptors Mechanically recorded data Member checking Verbatim accounts Researcher’s role as participant observer Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008

Evaluating Qualitative Studies l l l The researcher’s background, interests, and potential bias should be clear Conceptual and/or theoretical frameworks for the study should be clear The method for selecting participants should be clear The level of the researcher’s involvement in the setting should be indicated The researcher should be trained in data collection procedures Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008

Evaluating Qualitative Studies l l Credibility of the research should be addressed Descriptive data should be separated from the interpretations of the data The researcher should use multiple methods of data collection The duration of the study must be long enough Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008