Research Methods

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Research Methods
Lecture 5 Research using Primary Data
Qualitative
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Format of Lecture 5

• Investigation of the characteristics of
  qualitative data and qualitative research
  generally
• Review of some of the qualitative strategies and
  techniques used by researchers in the process of
  conducting qualitative research
• Review of some of the issues involved in the
  analysis of qualitative data

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Quantitative Data

• Based on meanings derived from numbers
• Collection results in numerical and standardised
  data
• Analysis conducted through the use of diagrams
  and statistics

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Qualitative Data

• Based on meanings expressed through words
• Collection results in non-standardised data
  requiring classification into categories
• Analysis conducted through the use of
  conceptualisation

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Qualitative Research

• Associated with ambiguous concepts
• Richness and fullness of data

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Qualitative Research

• Can be described as research that produces
  results that are not obtained by statistical
  procedures or other methods of quantification.
• Research that produces data involving peoples
  own spoken or written words or observable
  behaviour.
• Essence of qualitative research- views events
  through the perspective of the people who are
  being studied.

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Qualitative Research

• Emphasis on process, context-
• Relatively open structure of qualitative research

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Qualitative Research

• Instead of formulating hypotheses before an
  investigation begins (as is normally the case
  with research involving quantitative data),
  investigating and testing of theories can occur
  simultaneously.
• Qualitative research- more concerned with depth
  of knowledge, rather than breadth.

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Comparison of Quantitative and Qualitative
Research
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Research Using Primary Data- Qualitative

• Participant Observation
• Qualitative Interviewing
• Focus Groups
• Case Study
• Approaches to analysis of qualitative data

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Participant Observation

• ..where the researcher attempts to participate
  fully in the lives and activities of subjects and
  thus become a member of their group, organisation
  or community. This enables the researcher to
  share their experiences by not merely observing
  what is happening, but also feeling it. (Gill
  and Johnston 1997 113)

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Participant Observation

• immersion (by the researcher) in the research
  setting, with the objective of sharing in
  peoples lives, while attempting to learn their
  symbolic world. (Delbridge and Kirkpartick 1994
  37)
• trying to get to the bottom of the processes by
  which the individual constantly constructs and
  reconstructs his/her identity. (Saunders et al.
  2000)

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Components of Participant Observation

• Complete participant
• Complete observer
• Observer as participant
• Participant as observer

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Factors influencing use of participant observation

• Purpose
• Time
• Personal suitability
• Organisational access
• Ethical issues

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Participant Observation- data collection and
analysis issues

• Primary observations
• Secondary observations
• Experiential data

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Participant Observation

• Advantages
• Good at explaining at what is going on
• Heightens researchers awareness of significant
  social processes
• Useful for researchers working within their own
  organisations
• Some settings allow the researcher to experience
  for real the emotions of those being researched
• Virtually all data useful

• Disadvantages
• Can be very time consuming
• Can pose difficult ethical research dilemmas
• Role conflict scenarios
• Observer bias
• Very demanding role, not suitable for all
  personality types
• Access issues
• Difficulties with regard to recording data

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Interviews

• Definition-
• Conversation initiated by the interviewer for the
  specific purpose of obtaining research-relevant
  information and focused by him/her on content
  specified by research objectives of systematic
  description, prediction or explanation (Cohen and
  Manion)
• the interview is a conversation with a purpose.

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Types and styles of research interviews

• Fully structured interview
• Semi-structured interview
• Unstructured (completely informal) interview

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Principles Informing Research Interviews

• Open-ended as possible,
• Questioning techniques facilitating communication
• Key objective- that discussion is as frank as
  possible.

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• Frank discussions can be impeded in several ways
• rationalisation
• lack of awareness
• being shown up
• overpoliteness

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• Ways of dealing with the above problems
• Relaxed and unselfconcious interviewer puts
  respondents at ease.
• Research on the interviewer effect

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General Advice for Interviewers

• Listen
• Straightforward questions,
• Eliminate cues
• Enjoy it (or look as though you do!)
• Full record

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General Advice for Interviewers

• Questions to avoid
• Long questions
• Double-barrelled or multiple questions
• Questions involving jargon
• Leading questions
• Biased questions

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The Interview Process

• The Sequence of Questions
• introduction
• warm-up
• main body of the interview
• cool-off
• closure

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The Interview Process

• More general advice for interviewers
• appearance
• approach
• familiarity with questions
• question wording and sequence
• answers
• probes

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Interviewing Skills

• Interviewing skills- acquired by extensive
  preparation and practice.

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Interviews

• Advantages
• Possibility of modifying ones line of enquiry
• Following up of interesting responses and
  investigating underlying motives
• Non-verbal cues may give messages which help in
  understanding verbal responses

• Disadvantages
• Calls for considerable skills and experience in
  the interviewer
• The lack of standardisation- concerns about
  reliability
• Time consuming- anything under 30 mins, likely to
  be of limited value while anything over 1 hour
  may be making unreasonable demands on
  participants
• Careful preparation needed
• Logistics
• May be potentially difficult to get co-operation
  from potential interviewees

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Qualitative Interview Variants

• Degree of structure
• Location
• Length
• Depth
• Purpose
• Interviewer style
• Relationship between the parties

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Focus Groups- Group Interviews

• Researcher- acts as the facilitator
• Group interview-
• Value of group discussions-

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Focus Groups

• Disadvantages
• One informant may dominate.
• Risk of stirring up antagonisms/conflicts of
  interest.
• If subject being discussed is sensitive, there
  may be a more acceptable public response
  presented rather than more detailed, honest
  information.
• Groups of individuals may withhold information
  from interviewer.

• Advantages
• May establish rapport and atmosphere of
  confidence more easily.
• Can produce two versions of events rather than
  one this may make information more trustworthy.
• Story that emerges may be more complete.

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Case Study

• A Case Study...
• investigates a contemporary phenomenon within
  its real life context, especially when the
  boundaries between the phenomenon and context are
  not clearly defined. (Yin 1994)
• Context important.

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Case Study

• Case Study- a strategy that can employ a number
  of different methods.
• Basic idea of case studies- one case (or perhaps
  a small number of cases) will be studied in
  detail, using whatever methods seem appropriate.
• General Objective- to develop as full an
  understanding of the case as possible.

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Case Study

• Case study has a holistic focus.

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Case Study

• Involves many more variables of interest than
  data points
• therefore, multiple sources of evidence relating
  to the case are used, with data needing to
  converge in triangulatory fashion.
• Data collection and analysis implications

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Case Study

• What is a case?
• a case may be an individual, or a role, or a
  small group, or an organization, or a community
  or a nation. It could also be a decision, or a
  policy, or a process, or an incident or an
  event. (Miles and Hubermann 1994)

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Case Study Research

• Three main types of case study
• Intrinsic
• Instrumental-
• Collective

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Case Study

• Main characteristics (Punch 1998)
• Has boundaries.
• Unit of analysis
• Wholeness of the case.
• Multiple sources of data and multiple data
  collection methods are used. Can therefore employ
  some quantitative techniques, though overall
  approach is qualitative.

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Case Study Research- Generalisability

• Lack of statistical generalisability (i.e.
  findings cannot be translated from a sample to a
  wider population).
• This problem is overcome in case studies by
• Concentrate on conceptualising, rather than
  describing and
• On developing propositions as a result.

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Qualitative Data Analysis Techniques

• Qualitative data- its collection and analysis are
  closely interrelated.
• Analysis- identifying themes
• Qualitative research- unlike quantitative
  research, the researcher does not seek to prove a
  hypothesis instead the aim is to show that the
  hypothesis is plausible.

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Qualitative Data Analysis

• Demanding process.
• Non-standardised and complex nature
• Most likely aid to analysing qualitative data-
  conceptual framework,

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Qualitative Data Analysis

• Categorisation of data
• Unitising data (Saunders et al. 2000)
• Recognising relationships and developing
  categories
• Interactive Process

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Qualitative Data Analysis

• Strategies for qualitative analyses
• Use of a theoretical or descriptive framework
  (predicted theoretical explanations approach)-
• Pattern-matching
• Explanation building
• Exploring without a predetermined theoretical or
  descriptive framework (grounded theory approach)-
• Open coding
• Axial coding
• Selective coding

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Qualitative Data Analysis

• Use of Computer Software Packages (e.g. CAQDAS,
  QSRNUDIST)
• These can be of assistance with particular regard
  to
• project management
• coding and retrieval
• data management
• hypothesis building and theorising.

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When to Start Analysis

• As early as possible
• Do not leave until all data collected
  

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Analysis and Interpretation

• Need to differentiate between analysis and
  interpretation
• Analysis is about organising data in ways that
  permit researchers to identify patterns,
  relationships etc
• Involves data management, coding and displaying
  data to aid interpretation

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What is Coding?
Organising data so you know what data you have
and where these are located
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Where do codes come from?

• Pre existing codes
• Inductive codes

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Coding- Getting Started

• Start with a single interview and segment it
• Identify what the segment refers to
• Attach code to segment (in margin)

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• List codes
• Repeat for other interviews
• Compare and refine lists of codes
• Apply refined list to other interviews

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Broad Analysis Approach

• Cross-case or cross sectional approach
• Focus on what is common across
• cases
• What causes stress amongst managers and how do
  they manage it

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• Case Approach
• Focus on the individual properties of each case
• How do part-time students organise their personal
  and professional lives to make time for study?

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Steps in Analysis
5. Integrate into Explanatory Framework
4. Testing/Checking Themes Patterns
3. Identify Themes Patterns
2. Coding Text
1. Creating Working Text