Qualitative Research Approaches

1. Qualitative Research Approaches Research Methods Module Assoc Prof. Chiwoza R Bandawe

2. MALAWI DHS 2010 • Maternal Mortality 675/100,000 • Under 5 Mortality 112/000 • Infant Mortality 66/000 • Age of first sexual intercourse Female: 17.3, Male 18.6 • Literacy rate: Male 81%, Female 67.6% • Malnutrition stunted 47%

3. “Through qualitative research we can explore a wide array of dimensions of the social world, including the texture and weave of everyday life, the understandings, experiences and imaginings of our research participants, the ways that social processes, institutions, discourses or relationships work, and the significance of the meanings that they generate”Jennifer Mason

4. Qualitative research approaches: • “Celebrate richness, depth, nuance, context, multi-dimensionality and complexity” of the social world • Can help us see “how things work in particular contexts” • Have grown out of a wide range of disciplinary and intellectual traditions

5. Qualitative research theories • Assumes a psychological reality and that methods are a way of getting to this reality • Wide range of theories. It is a theory method • Discourse analysis: Language a reflection of inner reality. Language constructs identity. Language centred, what it does, how it operates

6. Quantitative Research methods • Repeatability • Facts. How many, how long?, how much? • Predetermined categories of analysis • Structured, based on analysis • Compare groups and focus on variables • Weakness: Not all social problems addressed

7. What are qualitative research approaches? • Based on interpretation: Asks why • Holistic understanding of behaviour • Based on language • Captures the perspective of the population in their world view experience • Patterns of themes said, not said • Context sensitive

8. Challenges of qualitative research • Systematically and rigorously conducted • Strategically conducted, flexible, contextual • Active reflexivity (researcher is a player) • Produce explanations or arguments. • Be generalisable and show wider resonance

9. Qualitative Tenets • There are “multiple realities” not just one objective reality. • Truth is in informant’s perspective, not the assessors. • Assessment “emerges” from data, rather than being determined ahead of time.

10. Which is better Qualitative or Quantitative research? • Complimentary: • Qualitative can help develop quantitative instrument • Quantitative findings embellish qualitative findings • Qualitative data explains quantitative findings

11. Qualitative vs. Quantitative • The different enquiry approaches demand different knowledge (Stevenson & Roger, 1995). • Synergetic effect: “The outcome of the two used together is greater than the effects of either used separately” Steckler et al. (1992) .

12. Qualitative Approaches • Ethnography • Grounded theory • Phenomenology • Case studies

13. Ethnography • Concerned with experience as it is lived, felt or undergone • Participates in people’s daily lives • Purpose is to uncover social, cultural, or normative patterns • Participants are the experts • Is essentially a cultural description

14. Ethnography • Behavior occurs in a context and ethnography takes that context into account • Assessors must become immersed in a particular situation in order to describe and interpret people’s actions • Involves observation, interviews, construction of working hypothesis and action

15. Ethnography uncovers… • Understandings (e.g., beliefs, perceptions, knowledge) which participants share about their situation • Routine methods (e.g., social rules, expectations, patterns, roles) by which their situation is structured • The legitimizations by which participants justify the normality and unquestioned character of their situation • Motives and interests (e.g., purposes, goals, plans) through which participants interpret their situation

16. Ethnography strengths & weaknesses • Strengths • Uses multiple methods of collecting data • Can provide rich data • Weaknesses • Assessor is assessment tool, subject to subjectiveness • Time consuming for data collection • Time consuming for analysis • May be difficult to gain access to group

17. Case studies • Single group e.g students • Single village • Single family • Individual e.g. Eugene de Kock

18. Qualitative Methodologies • Interviews • Focus Group Discussions • Participant Observation • Direct Observation • Diary Methods • Role Play and Simulation

19. Interviewing • Informal interviewing • Unstructured interviewing • Semi-structured interviews • Fully structured/formal • Probing: Silent, Echo, Uh-hum, Probing by leading.

20. Focus Group Discussions • Quick effective, homogenous group • Focussed on specific topic • 6-12 persons, 45-90 minutes • Set agreed rules • Observe group dynamics • Record and transcribe

21. Participant observation • Ethnographic approach • Structured to unstructured continuum • Unobtrusive note taking • Context, participants, observer, actions, interpretation, alternative interpretation, feelings • Why observe, who observe, what used?