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QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS

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Title: QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS


1
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS
Remadevi. S
2
WHAT IS QUALITATIVE RESEARCH?
  • Any kind of research that produced findings not
    arrived at by means of statistical procedures or
    other means quantification.
  • It is concerned more with meanings and
    processes rather than simply measurements.
  • Qualitative research is based on a methodology
    which seeks to understand human behaviour from
    the subjects own frame of reference, hence it
    is called Phenomenological.

3
WHAT IS QUALITATIVE RESEARCH (contd)
  • Aims to elicit the individual contextualized
    understanding of a problem
  • Achieved through designs that minimize researcher
    manipulation of social setting
  • Close interaction with subjects
  • Meaning and interpretation cannot be dealt with
    statistically

4
WHY QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
  • Human behaviours is significantly influenced by
    the setting in which it occurs
  • The technique in quantitative research can affect
    the findings
  • One cannot understand the human behaviour without
    understanding the framework within which subjects
    interpret their feelings, thoughts and actions

5
WHY QUALITATIVE RESEARCH?
  • More valid results based on research
    experiences.
  • Nature of research problems some problems
    lend more to qualitative research
  • Helps to understand what lies behind any
    phenomenon about which little is known

6
WHY QUALITATIVE RESEARCH?
Contd
  • Details of phenomena that are difficult to
    convey with quantitative methods
  • Questionnaires developed in the West threat
    to validity in our setting Qualitative
    methods in the initial phase avoid type III
    error
  • Culturally appropriate measuring
    instruments Etic Vs. Emic approach

7
WHY QUALITATIVE RESEARCH?
Contd
  • It helps in identifying variables
    important to the phenomenon under study
  • To understand the perceptions and
    experiences of participants and community
  • Field study research can explore the process
    and meaning and provide comprehensive
    description

8
FUNCTIONS OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH?
  • Developing and delineating program elements
    before a quantitative evaluation
  • Boosting the power of quantitative design
  • Broadening the observation field
  • Analyzing process and individual cases to
    explain the how and why of an outcome
  • Generating theory

9
PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVES IN QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
10
POSITIVISM
  • Refers to the belief that social science can be
    scientific in the same way as physical science
    and prefer quantitative methods
  • Assume that reality is objectively given and
    can be described by measurable properties
    independent of the observer
  • Prefers a method standardized, repeatable and
    that test a pre-existing hypothesis

11
PHENOMENOLOGY(Edmond Husserl)
  • Study situations in the everyday world -
    viewpoint of the experiencing person
  • Focus on the social construction of the life
    world, emphasizing that peoples actions can only
    be understood when they are situated in the
    meanings and routines that control their everyday
    life.
  • Gain understanding of the essence of phenomena
    Eg. Sufferings of schizophrenia

12
ETHNOGRAPHY
  • Closely associated with anthropological research
  • Focus on culture of a group of people
  • Interpret and present findings from a cultural
    perspective
  • Heart of Ethnography- Thick description obtained
    through an immersion in the every day life of the
    group or a given social setting

13
SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM(G.H.Mead)
  • Through the process of role taking a person
    imagines how they appear to others ,thus becoming
    a symbolic object to themselves
  • Experiences takes on meaning as they become
    symbolically significant through shared
    interactions
  • Meanings are continually created,recreated and
    modified in interactions

14
FEMINISM
  • It is argued (Dorothy Smith) as a consciousness
    raising that it attempts to identify how private
    experiences of oppression may be understood as
    part of a general system of oppression that
    shapes womens experience
  • Many womens private issues are not recorded as
    shared public issues
  • Advocates methods that enable women to express
    their experiences from their own perspective

15
HERMANEUTICS
  • Examine the way people develop interpretation of
    their life in relation to their life experiences
  • Similar to phenomenology ,but takes a broader
    view of both past and future and broader cultural
    factors Eg Story telling

16
GROUNDED THEORY
  • An inductive technique developed by Glaser and
    Strauss(1967)
  • Grounded Theories are grounded ( it has its
    root) in the empirical data and built up
    inductively through a process of careful
    analysis and comparison
  • Developed in opposition to positivist and
    deductive approach

17
WHEN TO USE Q.R
  • To inform what people are doing, thinking, and
    saying about a problem
  • To identify the important problem to be solved at
    community/local/policy levels
  • Generate a list of options for interventions
  • To investigate how best to implement promising
    interventions
  • To monitor response to interventions and assess
    how best to present its results to public and
    scientific community

18
WHEN NOT TO USE
  • When numbers are needed to make a decision (what
    proportion of people )
  • Results are to be projected to the total
    population (unless generalisability ensured by
    researcher through appropriate measures)

19
WHAT KINDS OF SKILLS REQUIRED FOR QUALITATIVE
RESEARCH?
  • Qualitative Research required theoretical and
    social sensitivity
  • Ability to maintain analytical distance while
    drawing upon experience and knowledge to
    interpret what is seen
  • Power of observation
  • Good interactional skills.

20
WHAT KINDS OF SKILLS REQUIRED FOR QUALITATIVE
RESEARCH?
  • Ability to organize and synthesize many
    different types of data
  • Ability to gain trust of individuals / groups
  • Respect for individuals and awareness of the
    ethical responsibilities
  • Knowledge and experience of social,cultural,reli
    gious and economic characteristic of
    group/community/setting.

21
COMPONENTS OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH?
  • Data come from various sources
  • Different analytic or interpretive procedures.
  • E.g. Coding, Writing of memos, diagramming
  • Written and Verbal reports.

22
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS
  • NATURALISTIC Natural setting as source of data
  • INDUCTIVE It seeks to build theory from data
    avoid imposing researcher own categories of
    analysis
  • HOLISTIC It looks at the phenomenon in totality
    takes an overall perspective

23
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS
  • THICK DESCRIPTION Descriptive in that the
    researcher is interested in process, meaning
    understanding gained through words pictures
    use quotations
  • PERSONAL CONTACT Shares the experience of
    subjects , not trying to be an objective outsider
  • DYNAMIC There is constant shifting with
    changing phenomenon context

24
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS
  • UNIQUE CASE SELECTION Not concerned about
    generalization stress on uniqueness of each
    case
  • CONTEXT SENSITIVITY Emphasis many aspects of
    social, historical physical contexts
  • EMPATHETIC Trying to take view of other person
    via introspection reflection, yet
    non-judgemental

25
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS
  • FLEXIBLE DESIGN- Emergent design as opposed to
    pre-determined in quan.methods
  • INTERPRETIVE Aimed at discovering the meaning
    the events have for the individuals who
    experience them interpretation of these meaning
    by researcher
  • PROCESS ORIENTED Primarily concerned with
    process rather than outcome

26
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS
  • RESEARCHER AS INSTRUMENT Data are mediated
    through human instrument rather than inventories
    or questionnaires
  • MULTIPLE SOURCES OF EVIDENCE-Multiple forms of
    evidence. Judgment at usefulness and credibility
    is left to the researcher

27
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS
QUANTITATIVE
QUALITATIVE
Vs.
GOALS
Stress upon verification of theory by using
statistical prediction Tests hypothesis
Discovery of theory understanding of phenomena
under study suggests hypothesis.
28
QUANTITATIVE
QUALITATIVE
Vs.
SCOPE
  • Particularistic, guided by objectives
  • Generalize and extrapolate findings
  • Holistic, rich in context, emphasizes
    interactions
  • Recognizes the individuality of responses and
    findings.

29
QUANTITATIVE
QUALITATIVE
Vs.
SETTING DESIGN
  • Unfamiliar, artificial
  • PRE-determined structured design. Manipulation
    control
  • Familiar, natural
  • Flexible evolving design

30
QUANTITATIVE
QUANLITATIVE
Vs.
DATA COLLECTION METHODS
  • Cross sectional studies, cohort, case control,
    RCT
  • Semi structured / unstructured interviews,
    Focus group discussions, observations, key
    informantinterviews, case study

31
QUANTITATIVE
QUALITATIVE
Vs.
TYPES OF DATA
  • Deals with words, texts and observations
  • Open ended. Depth of information.
  • Produce a wealth of detailed data about a much
    smaller number of people. Depends on purpose,
    resources and interests of those involved.
  • Deals with numbers
  • Use of standardized approach - the experiences
    of people are limited to certain predetermined
    response categories
  • Measure reactions of many subjects to set of
    questions, thus facilitating comparison and
    statistical aggregation of data

32
QUANTITATIVE
QUALITATIVE
Vs.
SAMPLING
  • Probability Sampling
  • Non-Probability sampling-Typically focus in depth
    on small samples selected purposively

SAMPLE SIZE
  • Large Sample Size
  • No rule for sample size. Depends on what you
    want to know purpose of enquiring what will be
    useful, what will have credibility and what can
    be done with available resources.

33
QUANTITATIVE
QUALITATIVE
Vs.
DATA COLLECTION
  • Researcher as primary instrument Personal
    involvement empathic understanding
  • Inanimate Instruments- Scales,Tests,
    Questionnaires
  • Detachment objective portrayal

34
QUANTITATIVE
QUALITATIVE
Vs.
ANALYTICAL TECHNIQUES
  • Analysis tend to be deductive. Test hypothesis
    using quantitative methods Statistical
    analysis
  • Usually inductive. unit of analysis can be
    individuals, families, groups. No statistical
    techniques used.

35
QUANTITATIVE
QUALITATIVE
Vs.
FINDINGS
  • Generalizations made. Statistical predictions
    because of representative sample.
  • Reliability
  • More in depth data and help us to find out
    how and why of an outcome. Sequence of event
    depicted.
  • Validity

36
SAMPLING- QUAL. STUDIES
  • NON- PROBABILITY SAMPLING
  • Purposeful selection
  • Goal is to understand phenomena, not to represent
    population
  • Selection of information-rich cases for intensive
    study

37
Non-probability Sampling
  • Quota Sampling
  • Snowball Sampling
  • Typical Case Sampling
  • Critical Case Sampling
  • Homogeneous
  • Maximum variation
  • Extreme or deviant cases
  • Criterion Sampling

38
Quota sampling
  • It is a form of convenient sampling
  • Selection of quota groups of accessible sampling
    units by age, sex, social class etc
  • Assignment of quota groups specified by
    predetermined traits in specific proportions
  • A method of stratified sampling in which
    selection within strata is non-random

39
SNOWBALL SAMPLING
  • Subjects are asked to recommend others they know
    for the researcher to contact
  • Useful in studies of social networks or in
    difficult to find populations
  • Use in research on sensitive issues like sexual
    practices ,IV drug use etc.

40
Typical and deviant case sampling
  • To describe a typical case serves as a profile
    for understanding the principal features of a
    group of programes or class of individuals.
  • Sample typical case as illustrative
  • In deviant case sampling, cases at either end of
    a continuum or unusual cases are selected
  • More useful in finding critical variables
    contributing to the phenomenon

41
Critical case sampling
  • Its effectiveness depends on understanding what
    is happening in that case
  • Identification depends on key factors that make a
    case as critical
  • The results of intervention would provide a
    critical case for the feasibility of the programe
  • If it works here ,it will work everywhere

42
Homogeneous sampling
  • Subjects with similarities in background are
    selected
  • Better able to focus on a central issue that is
    relevant to all of them
  • Eg. Focus Group Discussion (stimulating people
    with a common identity to discuss their shared
    experiences)

43
Maximum variation sampling
  • Selecting sample with maximum variation in
    defined attributes eg. Education, gender
  • To highlight the experiences or outcomes which
    these maximally varied samples have in common
  • Document unique experiences shared patterns

44
Criterion sampling
  • Sample cases to meet a criterion of importance to
    the study eg. membership in a particular group or
    participation in a programme
  • May be done as follow up of a survey to identify
    particular subjects for in-depth analyses

45
Sample Size
  • The validity, meaningfulness and insights
    generated from qualitative enquiry have more to
    do with the information,richness of cases
    selected and the observational/ analytical
    capabilities of the researcher than with sample
    size (patton)

46
Sample size
  • Depends upon completion of data- sample selection
    to the point of redundancy
  • Might begin with small sample based on expected
    reasonable coverage and expand if needed
  • Large enough to make meaningful comparisons
  • Small purposive samples based on study purpose,
    but describe, justify and explain
  • Care not to over generalize from purposive
    samples

47
Factors affecting sample size
  • No of comparison groups- more groups more
    samples
  • Complexity and depth of information- more
    in-depth information go for small sample
  • Explain similarities and differences in
    particular context
  • Availability of resources

48
Data collection methods
  • In-depth Interviews
  • Key informant Interviews
  • Observation
  • Focus Group Discussions
  • Case studies
  • Illness narratives, Surrogate patient studies
  • PRA / PLA Techniques

49
IN-DEPTH INTERVIEW
50
What is an In-depth Interview
  • It is a qualitative research technique that
    allows person to person discussion which can lead
    to increased insight into peoples thoughts,
    feelings and behaviour on important issues.
  • It can be used as one of the effective ways for
    understanding reasons for problem behaviours and
    gather ideas to guide measures to correct a
    problem
  • Characterized by extensive probing and open-ended
    questions

51
When to use an In-depth Interview
  • Subject matter is complex
  • Detailed information sought
  • Highly sensitive subject matter
  • Interest on individual experiences and its unique
    interpretation
  • Respondents dissimilar to be meaningfully grouped

52
Preparing for the interview
  • Identification of the respondents
  • Ensure Trained interviewer
  • Selection of a comfortable location
  • Other logistics- transport, audio or video etc
  • Consider access to local population

53
Selection of Informants
  • Limit to a small sample size
  • Select people who are well informed about the
    issue
  • Purposive sampling
  • Respondents fairly representative of the various
    groups in the study population
  • Informant preferably unknown to interviewers

54
Tools for data collection
  • Interview guide
  • Structured open-ended schedule
  • Different sets may be needed suitable to
    different categories in the study population
  • The guide makes the interviewing more systematic
    and comprehensive

55
Preparing the Interview Guide
  • List the important topics to be explored in the
    study Eg. Malnutrition among children- Feeding
    adequacy, Care of the child, Health seeking
  • Write sub themes for each topic Eg. Under
    feeding adequacy, elicit information Breast
    feeding ,weaning, complimentary feeding, food
    preferences etc.
  • Make a draft of possible questions based on
    conceptual frame work
  • Check that they can help you obtain all the
    information you need
  • Questions not to elicit simple Yes or No
    answers

56
Preparing the Interview guide
  • Construction of probes
  • Probes are devices used to prompt a respondent to
    speak further when an initial question fails to
    elicit the desired information
  • Sequence of topics- Never rigid. Phrasing and
    order may be redefined to fit the characteristics
    of respondent

57
Preparing the interview guide
  • Ensure that your questions are
  • Clear and unambiguous
  • Simple and easy to understand
  • Reasonable and within the experience of
    the targeted population

58
Interviewer qualities
  • Experienced/Skilled
  • Knowledge about the topic
  • Personality traits easily gain peoples
    confidence and cooperation, good speech and
    language proficiency
  • Other qualities self confidence, ability to
    establish rapport, good listener, politeness,
    articulate enough to prompt respondents to talk
  • Training is a pre-requisite if team work

59
Interview Techniques
  • Unstructured interviews
  • Semi-structured interviews
  • Structured open-ended interviews

60
Conducting the interviews
  • Self introduction
  • Explain the general purpose of the interview
  • Impress upon the respondent that his opinions are
    important
  • Seek privacy
  • Establish rapport and assure confidentiality
  • Consent for the interview recording

61
Conducting the interviews
  • Carry the interview in a natural, conversational
    style
  • Know the objectives of each question to make sure
    that the answers satisfy it
  • Interview runs dry use expressions like
    Uh-huh or That is interesting or I see
  • Be alert to discover drifting of conversation
  • Wrapping-up of interview

62
Questioning Techniques
  • Ask clear and open-ended questions
  • Ask behaviour /experience before opinion
    questions
  • Sequence-follow a funnelling method-general to
    specific
  • Probe and follow-up questions Eg . Could you tell
    me more about it?

63
Managing specific situations
  • Reluctant participant
  • Speculation can help to open up .eg. I am not
    sure, could it be that women do not have access
    to health care, compared to men ?
  • Try to explore their thoughts Eg. Could you
    elaborate on that? Or explain why you think that
    way?

64
Managing specific situations
  • Rambler Politely control Eg. Excuse me, could
    we change the subject a bit and get back on your
    thoughts on ..
  • Participant uncomfortable- Let them talk about
    the part he/she comfortable with.
  • Confused OK, Sorry, let me rephrase it
  • Contradictory statement-seek clarification

65
Interviewer Tips the Dos
  • Begin with a friendly greeting
  • Maintain privacy and confidentiality
  • Listen with an open mind
  • Use probes where appropriate
  • Ensure a natural flow of interview
  • play dumb give informant time to talk
  • Be open to unexpected information

66
Interviewer Tips the Donts
  • Judgemental attitude
  • Prompting
  • Move quickly from one topic to the next
  • Letting silence grow while interviewing
  • Arguing or enter into dispute

67
Managing the field data
  • Field editing
  • De-briefing
  • Transcribing
  • Translation if needed

68
Interview summaries
  • A brief description of the participants
  • Memos Helps one to reflect on the interview
  • Theoretical memos/notesSummarises theoretical
    ideas surfaced
  • Methdological memos What happened during the
    interview, quality of data,participantcomfortleve
    l
  • Personal memos Interviewer relaxed ? Were he
    inhibited in asking certain questions?

69
Advantages and Disadvantages
  • Advantages
  • Explanatory tool
  • Emic perspective
  • Facilitate rapport
  • More appropriate in rural setting
  • Responses more valid
  • Disadvantages
  • Replicality difficult
  • Results not strictly comparable
  • Time consuming
  • Require familiarity with language and culture

70
Qualitative Data Analysis
71
Steps in qualitative data analysis
  • Reading Developing an intimate relationship with
    the data
  • Coding Identifying emergent themes
  • Choosing and using a software if needed
  • Displaying data
  • Developing hypothesis, questioning, verifying
  • Data reduction Getting the big picture and
    interpretation

72
Coding
  • Deductive coding
  • Done prior to data collection
  • Use existing literature or theoretical frames to
    develop categories for coding prior to field work
  • Provides a conceptual framework to guide the
    research

73
Coding Contd.
  • Inductive Coding
  • Designs coding scheme from data collected through
    interviews, FGDs etc
  • They are like street signs inserted into margins
    of notes or typed in after a segment of text
  • Main purpose is to allow research findings to
    emerge from frequent dominant or significant
    themes inherent in raw data

74
Inductive Coding Contd
  • Condense extensive raw text
  • Establish clear links between research objectives
    and findings derived from raw data
  • Develop a model or theory about underlying
    structure of experience or processes evident in
    the raw data

75
Coding procedures in grounded theory
  • Open coding involves fracturing, taking data
    apart and examining discrete parts for
    differences and similarities
  • Axial coding connections are made between
    categories and sub categories
  • Selective coding identifying one or more core
    categories to which all other sub categories
    relate

76
Coding process in inductive analysis
  • Create 3-8 summary categories from many pages of
    text
  • If more than 8 major themes re-examine them
  • Decisions on combining and removing unimportant
    categories need to be made

77
Semi-quantitative analysis
  • Free-listing
  • Pile-sorting
  • Domain identification
  • Coding
  • Summarizing
  • Comparative table across stakeholders (if more
    than one)

78
Government Health Worker
79
Responses
  • In your opinion, who are the people that
    generally do not bring their children for polio
    drops on NIDs?
  • Sometimes, it happens that parents are unaware
    of it or neglect it or there are some parents who
    do not give importance to it or they go
    outstation. Till now, they have not understood
    the importance of the drops and that it should be
    given. Some parents feel we have given three
    doses (routine doses) to out children and if
    these are not given it will do. These are the
    people who dont bring. Usually they are from
    slum areas. Others are educated, they know about
    it, constantly hear on TV/radio, so they bring.
    The area which I had got was a Mehammedan area so
    the women do not go out of the house. They did
    not even know that it had to be given. There was
    an announcement through the mosque but people
    might not have heard or something else, so many
    children did not turn up.

80
Free listing
  • In your opinion, who are the people that
    generally do not bring their children for polio
    drops on NIDs?
  • Sometimes, it happens that parents are unaware
    of it or neglect it or there are some parents who
    do not give importance to it or they go
    outstation. Till now, they have not understood
    the importance of the drops and that it should be
    given. Some parents feel we have given three
    doses (routine doses) to out children and if
    these are not given it will do. These are the
    people who dont bring. Usually they are from
    slum areas. Others are educated, they know about
    it, constantly hear on TV/radio, so they bring.
    The area which I had got was a Mehammedan area so
    the women do not go out of the house. They did
    not even know that it had to be given. There was
    an announcement through the mosque but people
    might not have heard or something else, so many
    children did not turn up.

81
  • Domain Evolution
  • In your opinion, who are the people that
    generally do not bring their children for polio
    drops on NIDs?
  • 0. Dont know
  • None (everybody received OPV)
  • Laborers / daily wages / beggars (affordability)
  • No one at home / adult sickness
  • Migrants / tribal (accessibility / out of station
    / traveling
  • People with remote residence / adverse weather /
    transport difficulties (accessibility)
  • Bad past experience (due to /fear of side
    effects) / fear of polio even after polio drops
    (acceptability)
  • Non believers (no faith / believers of other
    systems / superstitions / rumours /
    socio-cultural / religious / death / caste)
  • Misinformed groups (rich / educated) / do not
    like to go to IP / go to private practitioner /
    wrong impression)
  • Lack of awareness / Illiterate
  • Children with illness / new born (acceptability)
  • Negative influences of the other family members /
    decision of family members
  • Irrelevant
  • Blank
  • Not applicable

82
Coding In your opinion who are the people that
generally do not bring their children for polio
drops on NIDs? 7. Superstitious people who say it
is all in hands of almighty, there is no need of
drops 3. If somebody feel sick on home, it was
difficult to bring the children to the IP for
polio drops 4. Migrating and tribal population
usually do not bring their children for polio
drops 3. Those who are not at home, are not able
to come 6. People who think that because of pulse
polio they may get problems in future 7. Wrong
beliefs about polio drops 2. In slum areas,
those mothers who go out for work do not bring
their children. They say we go out for work, we
do not have any time 8. Those who gave
immunization in routine, high class families
83
Qualifiers for Semi-quantitative expression of
Observations
84
Writing a report
  • Develop an outline for report
  • Review all field-notes and organize along
    identified domains in conformity with report
    outline
  • Compare across stakeholder categories if needed
  • Compare results of other qualitative methods with
    these findings

85
(No Transcript)
86
FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSION
87
What is Focus Group Discussion?
  • Focus group discussions are group discussions
    with a small group of individuals from a well
    defined target population on pre-selected topics
    that rely on interaction between group members,
    under the guidance of a trained facilitator. Each
    participant is stimulated by the comments of
    others and in turn stimulate them.

88
What is Focus Group Discussion
  • It is a qualitative method which helps to find
    out the How Why of human behaviour
  • It can provide insight into how a group thinks
    about an issue, the range of opinions and ideas,
    and the inconsistencies and variations that exist
    in a particular community in terms of beliefs and
    their experiences practices

89
F.G.D.s are useful for
  • Obtaining a range of perceptions, opinions or
    beliefs about an issue
  • Gathering exploratory data to be used in future
    research Eg. Local names for diseases, local
    pattern of healthcare seeking
  • Hypothesis generating
  • Assist in explaining and illustrating results of
    a quantitative survey

90
FGDs are useful for
  • Intervention programmes- To identify various
    social or cultural factors that need to be taken
    into account in the design and implementation of
    the programme
  • Ongoing assessment of programmes or as an
    evaluation tool
  • Obtaining feed back for the cross cultural
    adaptation of materials.
  • As a means of validating findings obtained by
    other means (Triangulation)
  • As a Rapid Assessment Procedure for getting quick
    results

91
Key Considerations
  • The topic should is narrowly focused
  • Selection of participants is also focused by
    targeting individuals who meet specific criteria
  • Topic should be of interest to both the
    investigator and respondents.
  • The emphasis should be on interaction between or
    among the group members.

92
Key considerations
  • A set of detailed guidelines designed to generate
    discussion of concepts and ideas
  • A trained moderator and a note taker
  • Recording the discussion to permit later analysis
    of the result

93
Designing a Focus Group Discussion
  • Setting the objectives
  • Determine the target population
  • Plan the number of of sessions
  • Follow the guidelines regarding selection of
    participants, role of moderator/facilitator etc
  • Developing F.G.D.guide
  • Conducting F.G.D.
  • Analysis and interpretation of results

94
Setting the objectives
  • Define the problem and decide on the issues or
    areas you want to explore
  • Decide on how the information be used Is this
    the only method to gather information or will it
    be used with other methods
  • For eg. Are they to supplement quantitative
    data, used to define pretest questionnaires

95
Selecting the Target group
  • Determine who can provide the information you
    require and what characteristics define the
    individuals to be participated
  • Often incorporate different subsets with
    potentially contrasting views or experiences
    concerning the issues under investigation
  • Eg. Rural Vs Urban and Adolescents Vs Elderly

96
Number of sessions
  • Decide on the no. of sessions to be held
  • Number of sessions is based on
  • Resources (time and money)
  • Types of different groups targeted
  • Comparisons you wish to stress in the
    analysis.

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GUIDELINES FOR F. G. D .s
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Group composition
  • The composition should be homogeneous.
  • Participants with different backgrounds and
    experience restrict the openness of discussion
  • Representative of the population in which the
    investigator is interested.
  • Ideally efforts may be made to select people who
    do not know each other personally.
  • Exclude people previously participated in a FGD
    on the same subject.

99
Number of people per Group
  • The number of participants should range between
    six to ten.
  • Small group lt6 can be dominated by one person and
    variation of thought and queries remain
    restricted.
  • Large group gt12 does not provide chance to all
    participants and often give way for small group
    formation.

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Venue
  • Any place people can easily go.
  • Acceptable and convenient to the participants
  • Any place where 6 to 10 people can be seated.
  • Should not be held in open place (Guard against
    unwarranted intrusions)

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Seating Arrangements
  • Best is to have participants in a circular
    fashion.
  • Each participant should have the provision to see
    all other participants.
  • Each one should feel physically and
    psychologically comfortable.

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How many groups ?
  • Run FGs until you dont hear anything new
    Redundancy of information. Not over sample

Sampling and Recruitment
  • Either random or convenient sampling .
  • Usually recruited through informal networks.
  • Make sure representative ness of
    study population

103
Focus Group Guide
  • A flexible unstructured interview guide is used
    to conduct the discussion.
  • keep the questions open- ended Eg. How do you
    feel about
  • Questions should seek to discover the prevailing
    attitudes of the community, not just those of the
    group.
  • Start with general question and then get more
    specific as the session progress. ( funnelling
    effect)
  • The number of items in the guide should not
    exceed 6 or 7.
  • The guide must be phrased in simple language
    using local terminology.

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Personal Qualities of Moderator
  • Adequate knowledge on background information
    about the topic and experience in conducting FGD
  • Good listening skills
  • Leadership skills
  • Relationship with the participants
  • Patience and flexibility
  • Clothing

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Role of Moderator
  • Orient the group in a proper manner.
  • Put forth issues / sub issues in appropriate
    questions.
  • Create a non-judgmental environment in which
    group members feel free to express.
  • Encourage interaction between participants.
  • Encourage quiet participants to speak up and
    quieten garrulous talkers.

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Role of Moderator (contd.)
  • Guide the direction of discussion so that it does
    not wander too far from the designated focus.
  • Pace the discussion appropriate for the
    participant
  • Subtly control the time allotted to each question
    and to the entire discussion.

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Role of the Recorder
  • Primarily an observer, tape record the session.
  • Observe the nature of interaction , record
    non-verbal communication level of consensus
  • Should know what type of data she/he is expected
    to collect.
  • If facilitator has omitted a question from the
    guide, the recorder can point them out.
  • Identify the speakers. Note down the first few
    words every time a new person speaks and make
    brief notes of the content

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Sociogram
  • Diagrammatic representation of entire session of
    FGD
  • Offers a useful method of conceptualising group
    dynamics drawing comparisons between focus groups
    reflecting on moderating technique

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CONDUCTING FGD
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Warming-up
  • Greet the participant as they arrive
  • Create a warm and friendly environment to build
    the rapport and gain their confidence
  • Speak casual-talk general non-controversial
    subjects of mutual interest
  • Self introduction Socio-demographic details can
    be collected
  • Seek verbal consent and permission for using tape
    recorder

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Beginning the FGD
  • Explain purpose of study and its utility.
  • Spell out the ground rules of FGD
  • Clarify that it is not a question answer session,
    but a discussion.
  • Ensure confidentiality of their views.
  • Emphasis that there is no right and wrong
    answers.

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Beginning the FGD
  • Encourage participants to talk freely and should
    even express contradictory /opposite views
  • Tell them that they should speak clearly , one at
    a time ,avoid interrupting one another
  • Start with generic topic before coming to
    specific area of enquiry

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Discussion Issues Asking questions
  • Initiate discussion by suitably framing the
    issues as statements
  • Guide the discussion by logically steering the
    issues. Picking up responses and probing further
    can be done
  • Avoid questions eliciting Yes/ No answer
  • Make sure not to leave any issue

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Encouraging controlling the discussion
  • Atmosphere Warm, friendly and non-judgemental
  • Pauses and prompts
  • - Pausing allow to think more on the topic, but
    should not last more than five seconds
  • -Establishing eye contact, nodding and other
    gestures encourage people to talk
  • -Verbal prompts I see, keep on,mmm,
    uh-huh

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Encouraging discussion (contd)
  • The probe Encourage speaker to give more
    information
  • -Prepare probes for each question
  • -Use probes where ever needed during
    discussion eg. Could you explain further?, Would
    you give an example?
  • Rephrasing- A question can be rephrased using
    different words, not diluting the issue

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Encouraging the discussion
  • Clarification- To clarify an issue,facilitator
    can request Can you repeat it or Please
    elaborate
  • Reorientation-Facilitator use participants
    response to restate the question for another
    participant
  • Hypothetical Question- Suppose the baby develops
    high fever what would you do?

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Dealing with Specific individuals
  • Dominant participant.
  • Facilitator should avoid eye contact. Facilitator
    can change the subject. If the said strategies
    failed, the facilitator can politely request that
    the others be allowed to speak.
  • The Expert
  • Can offer lot of useful information, but should
    not be allowed to take over and prevent others
    from speaking
  • Reluctant participant
  • Facilitator should have more eye contact.
  • Facilitator can ask the person to comment on
    what another person has said or to summarize what
    the group has discussed.

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Dealing with problems during FGD
  • Answering one by one-Explain once more that
    discussion among participants are crucial
  • Participant bring small child If dont disrupt,
    let him/her remain
  • Leave the group early- allow
  • Bored/ look sleepy- Cut jokes, brief break
    serve cold/hot drinks

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Recording of Information
  • Note the details of discussion
  • The note should also include
  • -Information required for the session report
  • -Group dynamics
  • -The intermission and distractions occur
  • - What makes the participants laugh

120
Recording information
  • What seems to make them reluctant to answer.
  • Whether the facilitator lost control of the
    meeting.
  • How the discussion is concluded
  • Should use quotation marks to indicate
    participants words.

121
Closing the discussion
  • Inform participants that discussion is going to
    end and if they have any query or want to
    contribute they can do.
  • Thank them for their cooperation and valuable
    comments.
  • Assure the participants that under no
    circumstances the discussion would prove counter
    productive to the interest of the group
  • During this debriefing period, tape recorder
    should remain on valuable comments are some
    times made at this time.

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Strengths of Focus Groups
  • Lot of information - quickly less costly
  • Excellent in obtaining information from
    illiterate communities
  • Flexibility- discover attitudes and opinions that
    might not be revealed otherwise
  • Well accepted by the community
  • If simple issues- managed by people not trained
    in qualitative research methods
  • Most valuable when used in conjunction with other
    quantitative information

123
Limitations of Focus groups
  • Not suitable for arriving at generalizable
    conclusions
  • Quality of information depends heavily on
    moderator skills
  • Limited value in exploring complex beliefs
  • Number of questions are limited
  • Sensitive and personal issues-Socially acceptable
    responses unless put as general questions

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ANALYSISAND INTERPRETATION
126
  • Data source for analysis
  • Debriefings
  • Quick and easy way of summarizing data
    immediately after the field work.
  • Notes
  • Notes and comments of both verbal and non
    verbal information compiled by the moderator and
    observer.
  • Transcripts
  • Transcribing is very demanding,
  • Translation from Local Language if necessary

Contd.
127
Analysis of Transcripts
  • Two approaches
  • Systematic coding using content analysis
  • Ethnographic Summary
  • Transcript analysis soon after transcripts
    available
  • - Not after completion of all FGDs.
  • Edit Transcript
  • - Removing sections poorly transcribed or do
    not make sense

128
Analysis of FGD Contd
  • Free-listing
  • Read the transcript with objectives fresh in
    mind. Look for major opinions and attitude.
  • Evolving Domains
  • Look for patterns and themes evolving from the
    data
  • Coding
  • Marking the transcripts using codes
  • Summarizing
  • Sorting the coded transcripts and summarize.

129
Analysis of FGD
  • Log Book (Overview grid)
  • Useful summarizing tool.
  • Enable to find out how many times an issue was
    discussed across all the Focus Groups as well as
    how many times a response was given.
  • Try to Avoid quantification while summarizing,
  • Semi quantification can be done with groups as
    unit of analysis.
  • Comparison can be done across different
    categories of stakeholders

130
EXAMPLE OF A LOG BOOK ON OVERUSE OF ANTIBIOTICS
131
ETHNOGRAPHIC SUMMARY
The researcher undertakes repeated readings of
the transcript until they feel confident they
understand the underlying meaning being
presented. Quotations are used to illustrate the
key points and again are followed or preceded by
narrative explanation.
132
  • Writing the report
  • Using Log book, codes from transcripts,
    observers notes as well as debriefing notes.
  • Present findings according to topics
  • Use quotations to illustrate strongly expressed
    thoughts, beliefs and emotions
  • Describe overall consensus of the group,
    Majority minority feelings as well as
    differences by characteristics of respondents.
  • Common style is to say The majority of
    participants said .. Or few of
    them..

133
  • Interpretation
  • Interpretation involved explaining your findings
    in terms of the problem or question you want to
    answer.
  • The format of FGD report should consist of three
    parts
  • 1. Description of setting and participants.
  • 2. Discussion of findings.
  • 3. Conclusion and recommendations.

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OBSERVATION
137
Observation
  • Observation may be defined as a systematic
    viewing of a specific phenomenon in its proper
    setting for the specific purpose of gathering
    data for a particular study
  • It is a technique that involves directly
    observing behaviour with the purpose of
    describing it .
  • To observe means to examine an object, an
    individual, group of people or an event with all
    of the senses in order to describe it. It
    includes seeing, hearing and perceiving.

138
Observation (contd)
  • It is a method to collect firsthand data on
    programme, processes or behaviours being
    studied-what people actually do
  • Opportunity to collect data on a wide range of
    behaviours to capture a great variety of
    interactions to openly explore a topic
  • Holistic perspective, understanding of the
    context within which it operates

139
Scientific Observation
  • Serves a formulated research purpose
  • Planned deliberately
  • Recorded systematically
  • Subject to checks and controls on validity and
    reliability
  • Validity is assessed by examining how well the
    observations agree with alternative measures of
    the same construct
  • Reliability entails consistency and freedom from
    measurement error

140
OBSERVATION
Non-participant
  • Participant

Structured
Unstructured
  • events planed in advance
  • use of observational guide
  • No predetermined guide

141
Participant Observation
  • Observer is part of the phenomenon or group which
    is observed
  • Roots in ethnographic research-immerse in the
    culture to see how people respond to situations,
    how they organise their lives, learning what is
    meaningful in their lives
  • See things from people perspective and a deeper
    understanding of them

142
Participant Observation
  • Often conduct casual informal interviews while
    watching and recording to increase understanding
  • Level of participation depends upon the nature of
    study desired outcome
  • Requires lengthy period of engagement in the
    field
  • The observed may not be aware of the researcher
    purpose

143
Participant Observation-Uses
  • Useful in understanding basic values behaviour
    associated with particular actions
  • Discover the relationship between knowledge,
    attitude and practice
  • Observer will be able to record context which
    gives meaning to the observed behaviour and heard
    statements
  • Can be effectively combined with other methods

144
Participant Observation-Demerits
  • Narrows the range of observation
  • To the extent that observer participates
    emotionally, the objectivity is lost
  • Participation can interfere with observation and
    recording.
  • Time consuming
  • Research skills essential

145
Non-participant Observation
  • Systematically observing and documenting
    something in its natural setting
  • Silent observers
  • Researcher watches records information about
    people or event without intruding into the scene
  • Look for many things and describe the situations
    at many different levels
  • Ethical issues need to be addressed
  • No rule as to how many- spread observations over
    time

146
Un- structured Observations
  • Unstructured observation involves broadly
    focussed encounters without a pre-determined
    guide
  • Data primarily used for descriptive accounts
  • More of exploratory in nature

147
Structured Observation
  • Observes events that have been planned in advance
  • Validate data obtained from other methods
  • Standardization of observational technique
  • Typified by clear and explicit decisions on what,
    how and when to observe (Persons/locations,
    duration of observations, time to conduct,
    frequency)
  • Can be quantified , but with little contextual
    description

148
What is to be observed
  • Selection criteria - Depends on the purpose of
    the study
  • Sampling purposive Sampling
  • Sources of information consider what is to be
    observed, who is the foci of attention, where
    will the observation take place and what is the
    most appropriate recording system

149
Observer characteristics
  • Observer qualities Familiarity with cultural
    background of people being observed
  • Knowledge of social research technique
  • Observers role unobtrusive, interest in the
    events being observed
  • Training to enable them take note of un-forseen
    events, share study objectives, how to conduct
    and how to deal with field problems

150
Observation Guide
  • Issues to be observed prepared in advance based
    on the research objectives
  • Inputs from observers / observers familiar with
    the issues in the study
  • Goal oriented and suitable to local condition
  • The items should appear in logical grouping and
    in the order in which to observe them

151
Selection of Site
  • Prior site selection and permission from
    authorities
  • No of observation sites availability,
    accessibility and study specific
  • Date and time- Remember that observations are
    activity linked
  • No of observations per site - depend upon the
    purpose of study

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Conduct the observation
  • Inform and explain your presence
  • Gain confidence and cooperation of subjects
  • Remain detached yet involved with the group
  • Take note of the observation situations and also
    of non-verbal communication
  • Avoid making extensive notes during observation

153
Documentation in Observation technique
  • Use all senses to describe the setting-physical
    and social environment non-verbal communication
  • Field notes- include observation notes, feelings
    and reflections
  • Direct quotations
  • Technological tools-Tape recorder, camera, Laptop
    etc.

154
Analysis and Report Writing
  • Categorization of data Qualitative part
  • Coding Quantitative aspects and categorized
    data
  • Summarizing Report as percentages and / or in a
    narrative style depending on data
  • Findings combined with other methods to make a
    complete report

155
Advantages Disadvantages
  • Advantages
  • Recording in context possibility of cross check
  • Basic to other more systematic research
  • Emic perspective
  • Discover the relationship between K, A and P
  • Opportunity for identifying unanticipated outcome
  • Disadvantages
  • Ideally long periods of intense field work
  • Local language fluency
  • Replicality a problem
  • Difficult to quantify
  • No use in studying past event or activity
  • Observer bias
  • Change in behaviour

156
Some problems and solutions
  • Observer bias
  • Questionable reliability
  • Observer may influence behaviour
  • Actins can only be observed-not thinking
  • Several researchers make observations
  • Systematically repeat observations
  • Repeat observations. Spent time to reduce
    self-consciousness
  • Mix with other methods like interview

157
Thank You
158
Assessing the quality of qualitative research
  • Strategies to ensure rigour systematic research
    design, data collection, interpretation and
    communication techniques
  • Create an account of method and data which can
    stand up to independent scrutiny
  • Produce coherent explanation of the phenomena
    under scrutiny

159
Ensuring reliability
  • Maintain record of interviews and observations
  • Document entire processes
  • Develop coding framework
  • Presence of audio or video tapes provides
    opportunities for analysis by independent
    observers

160
Safeguarding Validity
  • Internal Validity
  • Quan Measuring what you intend to measure
  • Qual Findings need to reflect the truth
  • External validity
  • - Quan Generalizability through stat
    inference
  • - Qual Transferability through understanding
    of relationship between context and findings

161
Triangulation
  • Main research tool researchers themselves
  • Subjective nature of data can open it to
    criticism
  • Method to enhance quality of data through
    triangulation data, researcher, combining methods

162
Assessing Trustworthiness of Findings
  • Can be assessed by
  • Careful documentation of research process
  • Independent replication of research process
  • Comparison with findings with previous research
  • Triangulation

163
Assessing Trustworthiness Contd..
  • Consistency checks Independent coder given
    research objectives categories and their
    description without raw text
  • Then given a sample of raw text and asked to
    assign section of text from which initial
    categories where developed.

164
Assessing Trustworthiness Contd..
  • Stake holder check Participants, service
    providers, funding agencies comment on categories
    or interpretations made

165
Qualitative data analysis software
  • QDA does not completely analyze data
  • A tool that supports the process of qualitative
    data analysis
  • Large volume of data can be structured very
    quickly and clearly presented
  • Helps the researcher in searching texts, memos or
    coded passage easily

166
Advantages of QDA software
  • Speed
  • Great flexibility
  • Complex analysis becomes feasible
  • Analysis can be more systematic
  • Easy to handle large amount of data
  • Increases the status and believability

167
Disadvantages
  • Danger of loosing touch with data
  • We can perform quick but irrelevant analysis
  • High degrees of complexity can lead to poor
    manageability
  • Can lead to dull and meaningless analysis result

168
QDA software packages
  • Text Base Beta
  • CDC-EZtext
  • Atlas-ti
  • NUDIST
  • nVivo
  • The Ethnograph

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