Qualitative Research Designs

QUALITATIVE
RESEARCH DESIGNS
Qualitative Research
Definition (John Cresswell)
✓“an approach for exploring
and understanding the
meaning individuals or
groups ascribe to a social or
human problem”
It involves and analyzes
human emotions, reason, and
meaning and seeks to answer
questions about complex
human experiences and
phenomena.
The participants of a
qualitative study are selected
and limited to those who are
relevant and essential to the
study.
The participants then are closely
examined in their natural setting.
They have to be uncontrolled
and uninfluenced by the
researcher in order to collect
authentic data.
CHARACTERISTICS
OF QUALITATIVE
RESEARCH
1. The researcher is the primary
observer in qualitative research.
✓stay in the participants’ natural
setting
✓observe everyday lives
✓examine actions and events
✓conduct individual and group
interviews
✓you must not attempt to coach
participants or elicit a particular
response from them
✓collect data in an uncontrolled
environment to ensure quality
✓show respect and prudence towards
your participants at all times
2. The qualitative research is a keen
observer.
✓observes every action, event,
interaction, conversation, tradition,
and detail that is relevant to the study
✓all the mentioned above are
important sources of data that
convey meaning when
contextualized and interpreted
3. Qualitative research offers a wide
array of designs, focusing on individual
experiences, societies, cultures, and
languages, and communication.
✓these designs aim to understand,
describe, analyze data in detail and
contextualize the participants’
experiences, perspectives, reactions,
etc.
4. Inductive reasoning is largely used in
analyzing qualitative data.
✓does not focus on testing or proving
a hypothesis because this is defined
and formulated as the study
progresses
✓constructing concepts and
meanings based on collected data
and your interpretation at the end
5. A qualitative researcher is
concerned with meanings and
interpretation.
✓aim to determine perceptions,
thoughts, feelings of participants
and explain why and how these
meanings are formulated
STRENGTHS AND
LIMITATIONS OF
QUALITATIVE
RESEARCH
STRENGTHS
• A research problem in qualitative
research can be examined with
greater detail and depth.
• Research instruments, such as
interview questions, can be made
flexible based on information that
has recently surfaced.
• The research framework can be fluid,
depending on the availability of
information.
• Results generated from qualitative
research are largely from human
experiences and observations.
• Qualitative research often requires a
small sample size.
• Qualitative research is an open-
ended process.
• Unique and specific cases are
selected and studied to enable the
collection of detailed information
and bring about in-depth
understanding of the research
problem.
• Data collection is usually conducted
on-site.
LIMITATIONS
• Qualitative data is generally
subjective and can be influenced by
the researcher’s biases.
• Data obtained from qualitative
research typically comes from a
small sample size and therefore may
not by statistically represented.
• Data analysis, such as coding and
triangulation, can be time-
consuming.
• Acceptability of qualitative data is
not always guaranteed.
• Qualitative data cannot be
reproduced. Doing duplicates can
be difficult.
• Selection of human
subjects/participants can be
problematic due to ethical and
confidentiality issues.
QUALITATIVE
RESEARCH
APPROACHES
1. ETHNOGRAPHY
✓derived from anthropology
✓ethnographer studies cultural groups
✓participant observation – researches
immerses him/herself, takes extensive
notes
✓ethnographic parameters – tribal,
religious, geographical, shared
experiences
1. ETHNOGRAPHY
✓ethnographic parameters may cover
a certain group of people or an
organization
✓this approach may be utilized to
differentiate or distinguish between
varying cultures
✓employed to study the influence of
so-called regionalism to food choices
or traditional practices
1. ETHNOGRAPHY
✓requires extensive fieldwork
✓ethnographers provide a holistic
interpretation and conclusion
regarding the group’s religion,
environment, history, culture,
traditions, and the like
✓kinship, social structure, political
structure may be deduced
2. PHENOMENOLOGY
✓study of phenomena involving
human events, situations, concepts,
experiences, or needs
✓meanings of feelings, thoughts,
insights, and perception regarding a
particular phenomenon
✓investigate personal experiences
and find common ground of
participants
2. PHENOMENOLOGY
✓grouping of individuals according
to similarities, differences or
peculiarities
✓What have you experienced
relevant to this particular
phenomenon? What factors or
situations are influenced or affected
by this particular phenomenon?
3. NARRATIVE RESEARCH
✓narrates the life experiences of an
individual
✓narrative – spoken / written
chronological account of an event or
series of events
✓highlights special events in an
individual’s life
✓Focuses on one or two individuals
who tell their stories (reliving exp.)
3. NARRATIVE RESEARCH
✓last stage of this approach consists
of the researcher retelling the story
in a logical order (plot of a story)
✓researcher collaborates with
participants to identify turning points
in the story (research outputs)
4. GROUNDED THEORY
✓the researcher generates theories
that are “grounded” in data from the
field, arising from the actions,
interactions, and social processes
undertaken by the participants
✓employed if there is no available
theory to explain a particular
phenomenon or process
4. GROUNDED THEORY
✓interview participants about the
presence and occurrence of the
phenomenon or process
4. GROUNDED THEORY
✓What is the core of that
process/phenomenon? What cause
the phenomenon/process? What
strategies have been applied to that
phenomenon/process? What
happened to the
process/phenomenon after
applying such a strategy?
4. GROUNDED THEORY
✓The researcher may arrange to
interview at least 20-30
participants
✓data are analyzed and subject
to coding
✓responses are categorized and
taken into context until a
hypothesis or theory has been
generated
5. CASE STUDY
✓detailed analysis of a specific issue
using a specific case or multiple cases
within the bounded system
✓researcher chooses a specific case
to study
✓to limit the scope or area of the
research
5. CASE STUDY
✓may need multiple sources of
information such as interviews,
collection of documents,
observations, audio-visual resources
✓within-case analysis – generate a
descriptive analysis of each case
✓cross-case analysis – compare
descriptive analysis of each case with
that of the other cases

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