QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research Defined
Research is a systematic process of collecting information, managing the information, analysing and interpreting results and communicating findings to decision makers. (Hair, Bush and Ortinau,2000)

Research Design.
A research design is a framework or blueprint for conducting a research project. It is a plan to be followed to answer research objectives, research hypotheses, and/or research questions.

TYPES OF RESEARCH DESIGN

QUALITATIVE

Exploratory Research
Q

Gathers preliminary information that will help further define the problem and suggest hypotheses. Describes things as market potential for a product or the demographics and consumers attitudes.

U A N T I T A T I V E

Descriptive Research Causal Research

Test hypotheses about causeand-effect relationships.

Qualitative Research Defined

interpretive techniques which seek to describe, decode, translate, and otherwise come to terms with the meaning, not the frequency, of certain more or less naturally occurring phenomena in the social world.
Van, Maanen, J. (1979). Preface, Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 24, pp. 520-526

Basic Assumptions of Qualitative Research

Emphasizes on understanding focuses on peoples words, actions and records Takes on a perspectival view, not objective stance The goal is to discover patterns that emerge Looks at the human as an instrument Assess tacit knowledge We know more than we can tell

Qualitative vs Quantitative Methods

Factors/Characteristics Qualitative Methods Quantitative Methods

Research Goals/Objectives

Discovery and identification Of new ideas, thoughts,

Validation of facts, estimates, relationships, predictions Descriptive and causal designs Mostly structured

Type of research

Normally exploratory Designs Open ended, semistructured, Unstructured, deep probing Relatively short time frames

Type of questions

Type of execution

Significantly longer time frames Large samples, representative of target population Statistical, descriptive, causal predictions and relationships Scientific, statistical procedure and translation skills

Representativeness

Small samples, limited to Sampled respondents

Type of analyses

Debriefing, subjective, content, interpretive Interpersonal Communications, Observation, interpretive skills Very limited, only preliminary insights and understanding

Researcher skills

Generalizability of results

Good inferences about facts, estimates relationships

When to use qualitative research

In the process of correctly identifying problems or opportunities or establishing new theories

Interested in obtaining some preliminary insights into the motivation, emotional, attitudinal and personality factors that influence social behavior

Trying to determine preliminary effectiveness of specific strategies on actual human behavior. Identifying variables pertaining to social issues that have not been addressed by existing literature.

Advantages & Disadvantages of Qualitative Techniques

Advantages Richness of data Ability of recording social behaviors Preliminary insights into building models and scale measurement Research proposition/Hyphotheses development

Disadvantages Lack of generalizability Inability to distinguish quantifiable differences Lack of reliability and validity Difficulty finding well trained investigators, interviewers, and observers

Qualitative Study Exploratory Design

Objective is to explore or search through a problem or situation to provide insights and understanding. Purposes:

Formulate a problem or define a problem more precisely Identify alternative courses of action Develop hypotheses Isolate key variables and relationships Establish priorities for research

Qualitative Research Approaches

Case

Study Ethnography Phenomenology Grounded Theory

Case Study
A study concentrating on cases of interest It may be focusing on a single object for example, a child or it may be concentrating on a multitude of objects, such as a classroom of children.

Stake (1998) have divided cases into:

This is undertaken because the researcher wants to have a better understanding of a particular case. The purpose is not to try and understand some abstract construct or phenomenon and neither is it for theory building. The study is undertaken because of intrinsic interest in it, for example, a case of a particular child.

Intrinsic case study

Instrumental case study A particular case is examined to provide insight into an issue or refinement of theory. The case is of secondary interest; it plays a supportive role, it facilitates our understanding of something else.

Researchers may study a number of cases jointly in order to inquire into a phenomenon, population, or general condition. The cases may be similar or dissimilar, they may be redundant, or there may be variety, but each has its own merits. The cases are chosen because it is believed that understanding them will lead to better theorizing.

Collective case study

Ethnography

Hughes (1984, p. 496) defined ethnography as

observation of people, in situ: finding them where they are, staying with them in some role which will allow both intimate observation of certain parts of their behaviour, and reporting it in ways useful to social sciences but not harmful to those observed.
Ethnographic methods rely substantially on participant observation.

Participant observation may range from

Participant a. as observer Overt Research c. Observer as participant b. Complete Participant Covert Research d. Complete Observer

Spectator

Features of Ethnography

a focus on exploring the essence and the nature of social phenomena; the investigation of a small number of cases and possibly only one case in depth; a tendency to work with unstructured data i.e. data that is not easily quantifiable or organisable in strict analytical categories; the analysis of data presupposes interpretation of the meaning of human actions, in the form of verbal descriptions and explanations with statistical analysis playing a secondary role at most.

Phenomenology

A study that is concerned with reality-constituting interpretive practices. This approach examine how human beings construct and give meaning to their actions in concrete social situations. According to Schutz (1967) phenomenology focuses on the ways that the life world or the experiential world which every person takes for granted, is produced and experienced by members. In this view, subjectivity is paramount as the scientific observer deals with how social objects are made meaningful.

Grounded Theory
This is a general methodology of developing theory that is grounded in data which are systematically gathered and analysed. Grounded theory methodology is designed to guide researchers in producing theory that is conceptually dense that is, with many conceptual relationships. -with no theory at the beginning we need to find it out.

Methods of Exploratory Design

Document/Archival Analysis In-depth interviews

Face-to-face

Focus group interviews Observation

Participant Observation Full observation

Interviewing

Preparing the Interview Guide

Open ended questions on general issues relating to the topic

According to Patton (1990), the best approach to qualitative interviewing is "to believe that there is a way to unlock the internal perspectives of every interviewee" (p. 358).

Three levels:

Content level

The interviewer listens to and records the information the interviewee provides

Process level

The interviewer uses the skill of questioning, paraphrasing, probing and attending to control the direction of the interview and encourage interviewee to provide information. The interviewer must be sensitive to the interviewees energy levels and continually make judgements on how to move the interview forward.

Executive level

Interviewing requires

Listening

Questioning

Most important skill Listen to what is said Listen for the unstated message Open questions Close questions The interviewer repeats back to the interviewee, in a concise form, the essential message of the interviewees reply. Reflection of feeling Getting deeper into interviewees thoughts

Paraphrasing

Probing

Focus Group Interviews

Face-to-face interview with a group of respondents at the same time Between 6 to 10 respondents Respondents who share the same background Main purpose is to elicit responses from individuals in a group setting

Observation
Prepare an Observation Checklist Research as full observer Or researcher observing as active participant Important to note down everything observed during the data collection process

Document/Archival Analysis

Thorough analysis of documents Assessing formats and contents Looking at differences and similarities

Content Analysis Process of identifying, coding and categorizing primary patterns in the data Two levels of data: Manifest content Data physically present and accountable in the evidence Latent content Symbolism reading between the lines Researchers own interpretation that is consistent with informants perspective

Other techniques

Projective Methods

Useful for tapping attitudes and feelings

Word Association Techniques Sentence completion Inkblot Tests

Interpretation of inkblots

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

Develop a story around a picture

Panels

Panel members randomly chosen to participate in a study Experts at different geographic locations are selected as panel members

Delphi Technique(eng area)

Development of a Qualitative Research Proposal

Qualitative research proposal differs from a quantitative one in terms of:

The use of research questions rather than hypotheses Absence of a theoretical framework which is replaced by a conceptualization model of key concepts Pictorial Conceptualization

Conceptualization of Constructs
Supplier-Retailer Relationships

Dominance

Conflict

Cooperation

Cont..

Theoretical sampling method is used

- is done on the basis of concepts that have proven

theoretical relevance to the evolving theory (Strauss and Corbin, 1997). The term proven theoretical relevance indicates that concepts are deemed to be significant because they are repeatedly present or notably absent when comparing incident after incident and are considered as important to be given the status of categories. - sampling is open and purposive

Cont.
Methods of analysis are interpretive leading to induction rather than deduction of research findings Transcribing of responses is crucial for analysis Analyses leading to the development of hypotheses

Use of Literature in Qualitative Research

stimulate

theoretical sensitivity, be our source of secondary data, stimulate questions for the development of the interview guide, direct theoretical sampling, aid us in validating the accuracy of our findings.

Analyzing Qualitative Data

Constant Comparative Method

Content Analysis

is the process of:

Identifying primary patterns in the data Coding data Categorizing Looking for similarities and differences in the responses Naming or categorizing all similarities identified Describing the meaning behind these categories

Interpretive Analysis Interpreting how people construct and give meaning to their actions in concrete social situations The observer deals with how social objects are made meaningful No specific method of analysis or tool used apart from researchers interpretive ability Subjectivity is paramount

Grounded Theory

Coding of responses Open, Axial and Selective coding An observation, a sentence, or a paragraph is taken apart and scrutinized and is then given a name or labels that represent the phenomenon.

Analysis can be done..

Line-by-line analysis This involves close examination, phrase by phrase and even sometimes of single words. Analyzing sentence or paragraph You will be looking at the whole sentence and asking yourself what is/are the major idea/s brought out in the sentence. Analyzing an entire document, observation or interview Assessing the whole document and asking yourself what exactly is going on. Look for similarities and differences of the documents, observation or interviews with that of others.

Open Coding
-Is

wanted

the part of the analysis that focuses specifically to the naming and categorizing of phenomena through close examination of the data. - In this process, data is broken down into discrete parts, closely examined, compared for similarities and differences, and questions are asked about the phenomena as indicated by the data.

For example

Your Research Question..

How do women with young children manage in their pursuit of achieving higher academic degrees?

Example:

Lets illustrate this.

Well, let us assume that you are observing this particular lady in class. You notice that she is the first person to arrive. You may label this as punctuality concern for time. She sits down at the front of the class and she starts putting her note book and writing materials on the table. You label this organized. When another person comes in and sits beside her, she gives a weak smile but did not say anything uncommunicative. As the lecture progress, she appears to have a lot of questions to ask responsive. She takes down notes tirelessly and seems to notice everything said by the lecturer attentiveness. When the lecture ends, she gets up, looks at her watch and rush to the door you label this as a mover always on the move. So the story goes on

Axial Coding

The process of axial coding involves a set of procedures where data from open coding are put back in new ways by making connections between categories Involves putting back the open codes by making connections between categories. Researcher looks at causes and consequences, conditions and interactions, strategies and process Look for categories or concepts that cluster together.

Selective Coding

This is the last level of analyzing data in grounded theory. At this point, you are integrating all the data that you have accumulated through axial coding. The process involves selecting core category, systematically relating this to other categories, validating those relationships, and filling in categories that need further refinement and development. This process is not much different from axial coding except that it is done at a higher more abstract level of analysis.

The researcher integrates all the data that have been accumulated through axial coding. The researcher looks selectively for evidence that illustrates or justifies themes. Make comparison and identifies contrasts between sub-themes and between themes. Mapping allows researcher to investigate relationships across categories

Integrating findings
Findings from open, axial and selective coding procedures are grounded to develop propositions (or hypotheses) These are then written as a narrative providing thick descriptions of findings

All the categorical relationships identified in the selective coding process are put together into well structured narrative. This is an iterative process where researcher is constantly going back to transcripts to cite evidence whilst presenting the story in a logical manner.

Remember that a qualitative researcher thinks historically, interactionally, and structurally. This should be your guide in writing.

Qualities of a Good Qualitative Researcher

Comfortable with ambiguities Are highly intuitive sensitive to context (physical settings and people, overt and covert agenda, verbal and nonverbal behaviors- Mirriam, S.) Empathetic Excellent listeners Not judgmental Well organized Good writers Self critical, self analytical,and are capable of detachment

Research is essentially your interpretation of what you find.

All the Best to you..