Qualitative Research

1
Qualitative Research

• an inquiry process of understanding a social or
  human problem
• based on building a complex, holistic picture
• formed with words, reporting detailed views of
  informants
• conducted in a natural setting
• (Creswell, 2002)

2
Assumptions

• Qualitative researchers are
• concerned primarily with process, rather than
  outcomes or products
• interested in meaning - how people make sense of
  their lives, experiences, and their structures of
  the world.
• the primary instrument for data collection and
  analysis. Data are mediated through this human
  instrument, rather than through inventories,
  questionnaires, or machines.

3
Assumptions

• Qualitative research
• involves fieldwork.
• observe or record behavior in its natural setting
• is descriptive
• the researcher is interested in process, meaning,
  and understanding gained through words or
  pictures.
• is an inductive process
• the researcher builds abstractions, concepts,
  hypotheses, and theories from details.
• (Merriam, 1988)

4
Data Collection Procedures

• Setting the boundaries for the study
• Collecting information through observations,
  interviews, documents, and visual materials
• Establishing the protocol for recording
  information
• (Creswell, 2002)

5
Parameters for data collection

• the setting - where the research will take place
• the actors - who will be observed or interviewed
• the events - what the actors will be observed
  doing or interviewed about
• the process - the evolving nature of events
  undertaken by the actors within the setting
• (Miles and Huberman, 1984)

6
Types of data to be collected

• Gather observational notes by conducting an
  observation as
• a participant
• an observer
• Conduct an unstructured, open-ended interview
• and take interview notes
• audiotape the interview

7
Types of data to be collected

• Keep a journal during the research study
• Have an informant keep a journal during the
  search study
• Collect personal letters from informants
• Analyze public documents (e.g., official memos,
  minutes, archival material)
• Examine physical trace evidence (e.g., foot
  prints in the snow)

8
Types of data to be collected

• Videotape a social situation or an
  individual/group
• Examine photographs or videotapes
• Have informants take photographs or videotapes
• Collect sounds (e.g., musical sounds, a child's
  laughter, car horns honking)
• (Creswell, 2002)

9
Qualitative Research and HIV/AIDS

• For HIV/AIDS, the benefits of qualitative
  research are clear it facilitates collection of
  timely and focused information about risk
  behaviors in different cultures and circumstances
  and permits the rapid translation of that
  information into public health prevention.
• (OReilly, 1995)

10
Qualitative Research and HIV/AIDS

• Qualitative studies will advance the knowledge of
  the impact of HIV/AIDS on people's lives, their
  families, and communities in underdeveloped
  countries.
• The qualitative information will improve
  researchers understanding of the underlying
  causes of the HIV/AIDS pandemic by elucidating
  the factors that influence human behaviors

11
Qualitative Research and HIV/AIDS

• Face-to-face interview
• researchers to obtain valuable information from
  HIV positive or AIDS patients who would otherwise
  not release such information during any standard
  quantitative data collection procedures such as
  surveys or hospital records.

12
Qualitative Research and HIV/AIDS

• Focus group interview
• allows researchers to observe a large degree of
  interaction on a topic in a limited period of
  time to explore issues and generate hypotheses,
  and provides an opportunity to collect data from
  group interaction (Morgan, 1988).
• Enable members of a target population to express
  their ideas in a spontaneous, unstructured manner
  (Bertrand, Brown, Ward, 1992).

13
Qualitative Research and HIV/AIDS

• Case study approach
• allows researchers to
• view the social reality
• understand the dynamics of relationships and
  other important variables that lead to decisions,
  attitudes, and behaviors by examining a social
  unit (i.e., a person, a family or household, a
  community, or an organization)
• (McDermott and Sarvela, 1999).

14
Qualitative Research and HIV/AIDS

• The content analyses of the existing HIV/AIDS
  related publications and records from various
  local media sources will be conducted to reveal
  the focus and the trend of attention and to
  discover the patterns (Johnson and Kittleson,
  2000) of attitudes, perceptions, and practices of
  risky HIV/AIDS behaviors.

15
Qualitative Research and HIV/AIDS

• Unobtrusive observations
• play an important corroborative role by providing
  the triangulation evidence
• allows researchers to construct a more complete
  descriptive or predictive picture of HIV/AIDS
  crisis
• design effective programs to educate, prevent,
  and care for the affected individuals, families,
  and communities.