Chapter 9: Qualitative Research Design

Checklist of Questions for Designing a Qualitative Procedure pp. 183-184

Characteristics of Qualitative Research

Natural setting: Qualitative researchers tend to collect data in the field at the site where participants experience the issue or problem under study. Face-to-face and prolonged over time.

Researcher as key instrument: Qualitative researchers collect data themselves through examining documents, observing behavior, or interviewing participants. Little to no dependency on questionnaires or instruments developed by other researchers.

Multiple sources of data: qualitative researchers typically gather multiple forms of data (interviews, observations, documents, and audiovisual information) and organize it into themes.

Inductive and deductive data analysis: build their paterns, categories, and themes from the bottom up by organizing the data into increasingly more abstract units of information. Inductive/Deductive data analysis is cyclical in terms of need.

Participants' meanings: keeps a focus on learning the meaning that the participants hold about the problem or issue, not the meaning that the researcher brings to the research. It is about their experience and perspective.

Emergent design: the initial plan for research cannot be tightly prescribed, and the researcher must be flexible and remain true to the information as it presents itself.

Holistic account: try to develop a complex picture of the problem or issue under study. People are not two-dimensional and neither should the expectations of researchers.

Reflexivity: the inquirer reflects on their own bias and accepts that this shapes the study.

Qualitative Design

• Study individuals (narrative & phenomenology)
• Explore processes/activities/events (case study & grounded theory)
• Learn about broad culture-sharing behavior of individuals/groups (ethnography)

The qualitative Researcher's role

• Explicitly identify reflexively their biases, values, and personal background such as...
• Gender, history, culture, and socioeconomic status (SES)
• And how these shape their interpretations during a study.

The qualitative Researcher's role

• Include statements about past experience with the research problem or the group or the place of research
• Be explicit about personal bias--recognition of leanings and preconceived notions

The qualitative Researcher's role

• Comment on connections between the researchers an the participants--ex. the study looking at relationship between Admin/Teachers
• Hazards of backyard research

The qualitative Researcher's role

• IRB permissions
• Gatekeepers and other permissions to gain entry to the setting
• Ethical issues that may arise: don't go native, resist advocacy while performing the research--advocate as a result of the study.

Data Collection PRocedures

• Identify purposely selected sites/individuals (setting, the actors, the events, the process)
• Size depends on the type of qualitative design utilized

Data Collection PRocedures

• Research Design pp. 191-192 - Table 9.2
• Creativity is important in qualitative design
• p. 192 (bottom) Table 9.3 Approaches

Data analysis & Interpretation

• Intent is to make sense of images & text
• Like peeling an onion for cooking--not all parts of used, not all data will make the cut

Data analysis & Interpretation

• Organize & prepare data for analysis.
• Read or look at all data.
• Start coding data {bracketed chunks}
• Identify large pattern
• How will the narrative showcase themes.
• What were the lessons learned --interpretation.

Validity and Reliability

• Qualitative validity: researcher checks for the accuracy of findings
• Qualitative reliability: approach is consistent (on target) across different projects

Validity and Reliability

Okay... but could you be more specific?

Untitled Slide

Telling true stories

• Paper handout
• Stories Matter by Jacqui Banazynski

Untitled Slide

So... what does it look like?

Doing Anthropology

How American's Eat

Next Door but invisible

A glimpse into anthropology and qualitative field work through ethnography.

Untitled Slide

Untitled Slide

Untitled Slide

Untitled Slide

Untitled Slide

Untitled Slide

Untitled Slide

Untitled Slide

Untitled Slide

Untitled Slide

Untitled Slide

Untitled Slide

Untitled Slide

Untitled Slide

Untitled Slide

Untitled Slide

Untitled Slide

Untitled Slide

Untitled Slide

Untitled Slide

Untitled Slide

Untitled Slide

Untitled Slide

Untitled Slide

Untitled Slide

Untitled Slide

Untitled Slide

Untitled Slide

Untitled Slide

Untitled Slide

Untitled Slide

Untitled Slide

Untitled Slide

Untitled Slide