Qualitative Research

1
Qualitative Research

• Theoretical Approaches
• Modalities of Qualitative Research
• Sampling Methods
• Software Packages

2
Qualitative Research

• Qualitative research seeks to gain a
  comprehensive and holistic view of social life
  through the study of people in a wide range of
  natural settings.
• It is used to capture expressive information not
  conveyed in quantitative data about beliefs,
  values, feelings, and motivations that underlie
  behaviors.

3
Questions

• How can you gather good data?
• What should you do with the data?

4
Theoretical Approaches

• Grounded Theory Theory that emerges from data
• Superimposed Theory Start with theory
  determine if the data support your theory

5
Qualitative Techniques

• Observational Studies
• Unstructured data collection
• Structured data collection
• Categorizing phenomena
• Checklists
• Rating scales
• Interviews central to the relevant group or
  process
• Focus groups
• Key Informants
• Critical incident reports
• Case study evaluation

6
Qualitative Techniques

• Recording and analysis of key interactions
• Audiotape or videotape
• Attention to data validity
• Triangulation collection from independent
  sources using differing means
• Feedback from study participants
• Thorough examination of outlying cases
• Attention to data reliability
• Detailed documentation of analysis
• Parallel review by independent investigators

7
Content Analysis

• Researchers thoughtful reflections
• Researchers analyze the data based on themes
• Statistical packages

8
Software Packages

• Advantages
• Organize data
• Store data
• Easy to retrieve data
• Frequency count of words
• Easier to examine relationship between data

• Disadvantages
• Slow down analysis phase
• Stifle creativity
• Doesnt do thinking for you
• Researcher is part of the analysis
• Loose context
• Dont know what was said before,
• Can include more information as you input the
  data

9
Strategies for Combining Qualitative
Quantitative Methods The Priority Sequence Model

• Qualitative method serves as an input to a
  primarily quantitative study
• Can generate hypotheses, develop content for
  questionnaires interventions
• Example You are uncertain about how to
  communicate with a particular group, so you
  conduct focus groups to develop the content for a
  survey or intervention
• Source David Morgan (1999)

10
Strategies for Combining Qualitative
Quantitative Methods The Priority Sequence Model

• Quantitative method serves as an input to a
  primarily qualitative study
• Can guide purposive sampling, establish
  preliminary results to pursue in depth
• Example You are unsure which groups have the
  characteristics you are interested in, so you
  conduct a brief survey, prior to selecting the
  groups you will study in depth
• Source David Morgan (1999)

11
Strategies for Combining Qualitative
Quantitative Methods The Priority Sequence Model

• Qualitative method serves as an extension to a
  primarily quantitative study
• Can provide interpretations for poorly understood
  results, help explain outliers
• Example You want to understand more about why
  the results of a survey or intervention came out
  the way they did, so you run focus groups to help
  interpret the results
• Source David Morgan (1999)

12
Strategies for Combining Qualitative
Quantitative Methods The Priority Sequence Model

• Quantitative method serves as an extension to a
  primarily qualitative study
• Can generalize results to different samples, test
  elements of emergent theories
• Example You want to determine where else the
  conclusions from a case study are likely to
  apply, so you use a brief survey to determine the
  characteristics of other sites
• Source David Morgan (1999)

13
Measurement Bias

• Researchers frequent immersion in the day-to-day
  lives of their subjects make some qualitative
  studies susceptible to measurement bias
• Researcher is not detached or unbiased
• Full disclosure has been suggested as a way to
  deal with bias
• Minimize bias in other ways

14
Inclusion of Qualitative Approaches in NIH grant
applications

• Systematic description of the nature of the data
  collection methods to be used
• Presentation of a clear and convincing rationale
  why qualitative approaches are not only
  appropriate for addressing the research questions
  at hand but why they are the most likely to
  produce useful findings
• Source Qualitative Methods In Health Research,
  Office of Behavioral Social Sciences Research,
  NIH

15
Inclusion of Qualitative approaches in NIH grant
applications

• Focused discussion of the universe studied and
  the sample recruited for qualitative assessment
  (including accounting for the relationship
  between the sample to the universe, by using a
  clearly described sampling plan)
• Specification of the timeframes that bound data
  collection (e.g., observations designed to sample
  variation across hours of the day, days of the
  week, and weeks of the year
• Source Qualitative Methods In Health Research,
  Office of Behavioral Social Sciences Research,
  NIH

16
Inclusion of Qualitative approaches in NIH grant
applications

• Careful presentation of the nature of the data to
  be collected
• An orderly account of the analytic procedures to
  be performed, including specification of how
  findings can be interpreted
• Source Qualitative Methods In Health Research,
  Office of Behavioral Social Sciences Research,
  NIH

17
References

• Daly, Kerry. The Fit Between Qualitative
  Research and Characteristics of Families. In Jane
  Gilgun, Kerry Daly, and Gerald Handel (Eds),
  Qualitative Methods in Family Research (pp.3-11).
  Newbury Park, CA Sage, 1992.
• Emerson, Robert, Rachel I. Fretz, and Linda L.
  Shaw. In the Field Participating, Observing and
  Jotting. In Emerson et al., Writing
  Ethnographic Fieldnotes (pp. 17-38). Chicago
  University of Chicago Press, 1995.
• Gold, Seven. Ethical Issues in Visual Field
  Work. In Grant Blank, James McCartney and Edward
  Brent (Eds.) New Technologies in Sociology (pp.
  99-109). New Brunswick, New Jersy Transaction,
  1989.
• Harrell-Bond, Barabra. Studying Elites Some
  Special Problems. In Michael Rynkiewich and
  James Spradley, Ethics and Anthropology (pp.
  110-122). New York Wiley, 1976.
• Lofland, John and Lyn Lofland. Data Logging in
  Observation Fieldnotes. In John Lofland and
  Lynland, Analyzing Social Settings (pp. 89098).
  Albany, New York Wadsworth, 1995.
• Morgan, David. Planning and Research Design for
  Focus Groups. In David Morgan, Focus Groups as
  Qualitative Research (pp. 31-45). Newbury Park,
  CA Sage, 1997.
• Weiss, Robert. Writing the Report. In Robert
  Weiss, Learning from Strangers The Art and
  Method of Qualitative Interview Studies (pp.
  183-206). New York Free Press, 1994.