Qualitative Research

1. Qualitative Research

2. Qualitative Research Methods • Its aim is to give a complete, detailed descriptions of the phenomena to be studied • Objective facts + values • Key philosophical assumption - understanding how people make sense of their worlds and the experiences people have • Key concern - knowing or understanding from the participants’ perspectives • Key focus - understanding (rather than predicting or controlling) social settings or social phenomena

3. In qualitative research, the researcher constructs knowledge in collaboration with research participants through interaction and reflection Knowledge is considered as a social construct Tries to include values and motives of the actors in the Knowledge Construction Process Focus is to have a deeper understanding of the selected phenomena in its holestic state Qualitative ---

4. Nature of Qualitative Research • the problem is general and ask general questions about the phenomena being studied • As the researcher gets increasing understanding of the phenomena, he/she asks specific questions • The methodology is decided over the course of investigation

5. Qualitative Data • Mostly words, phrases, sentences and may include visual images, audio and video recordings. • Obtained from recordings of interviews, field notes of observations, and analysis of documents as well as reflective notes of the researcher. • Mass of qualitative data is organised, summarised, described and interpreted

6. When to choose? • Describe the phenomena • Build a theory • To gain new insights about a particular phenomena • Develop new concepts or theoretical perspectives about the phenomena • Discover the problem that exists in the phenomena • Verification – to test the validity of certain assumptions, claims, theories or generalization with the real world • Evaluation – to evaluate the effectiveness of a particular policies, design artifacts, programs, etc

7. Define problem Theory Review literature Conceptual framework/ Proposal Collect Data Data Analysis BuildTheory Or Framework Write Research report

8. Type of Qualitative Research • Case study • Phenomenological study • Ethnography • Grounded theory • Content Analysis • etc

9. 4.1.1 Case study • Used to study in depth a particular program, individual, software and hardware and event for a period of time • What is the impact of computer in the organization? • How computer affects the organization performance? • To study a single group and inform practices for similar situations – Single Case Study • Also used to study two or more groups that are different in certain key ways – Cross Case Study • To make comparison • Build theory or propose generalizations • To learn more about a little known or poorly understand situations

10. Case Study - Procedure • Identify the problem • Select the Research case • Proposition, if any • Its Unit of Analysis – individual, organizational, etc

11. Case study … • The Logic linking the data with the propositions • Common method is pattern matching. It is a way of relating data with theoretical propositions • Time series analysis • Yin (2003) recommended two identify two patterns from the data and compare with theoretical proposition (“effects” and “no effect”) • One fits best than the other

13. Case … • The Criteria for interpreting the finding • How do we judge one pattern matches than the other • Data in qualitative research represents a single data so that one can not calculate variance or other statistical test • No precise method so far • More it is the researchers judgment , the pattern of data fits well than the other • Good to develop precise benchmark such efficiency will increase by 30% after using a computer

14. Used for Theory Development • In a Study of MIS implementation Case Research, they develop the following theory • The case study will show why implementation only succeeded when the organization was able to re-structure itself, and not just overlay the new MIS on the old organizational structure (Markus, 1985)

15. Ethnographic Research • It is a qualitative research, used by anthropologists • Used to the study a culture of the people • consists of origins, values, roles, and material items associated with a particular group of people • The researcher describes the different aspects and norms of a cultural group to enhance understanding of the people

16. Contin… • The researcher lives with the community while he/she does the research • The researcher may have an experience or no with the culture being studied • employs cyclic data collection and analysis • E.g if your data identify resistance to use the new software, you need to study the cause in the second round data collection

17. Grounded Theory • Refers to theory that is developed inductively from a corpus of data • Glasser and Strauss (1960s) were the pioneers • Starts with data collection and analysis • It begins by analyzing the first interview data and continue with the second to confirm the first, add new concepts and so on • Stops when new data is found in the field visit – theoretical saturation • Use triangulated data sources

18. Grounded … • Has a framework to analyze data • Context, cause, actions, intervening conditions, strategies and consequences • Begins with a theory or without theory • The ability to perceive variables and relationships is termed "theoretical sensitivity" • Builds a theory • Compares new theory with existing theory for analytical generalization

20. Data collection Method • Collect data using interview, observation, documents, past records and audiovisual materials • Spent an extensive period of time on the site and interact regularly with the people • Record about the context surrounding the case including information about the physical environment, and any historical, economic, and social factors

21. Data Collection Methods for Qualit. • Researchers use any methods that is appropriate • Common data sources are • Interviews • Observations/Field notes – when users use computer in the office Organizational documents • Audio tapes • Sketch notes • Photographs • Or any other suitable means

22. Interviews … • Interviews are rarely structured in qualitative study • Prepare open ended or semi-structured revolving around a few central questions • Unstructured interviews are more flexible and allows the researcher to ask new questions which he did not think before • Try to identify story through your interview • Try to address who, how, when, why, where and with what consequences

23. Observation • You can do with observation check list or without • Recommended to use observation check list • For example • How users solve when they encounter software crash – what feeling they show, what they do, whom they ask, how colleagues were supportive, what consequences observed, etc

24. Type of data to be collected • Provides great deal of information • Ask questions related to the following • Facts (biographical) • People’s beliefs and perspectives about the facts • Feelings • Motives • Present and past behaviors • Standards for behavior (what people think should be done in certain situations) • Conscious reasons for actions or feelings (why people think engaging in a particular behavior is desirable or undesirable)

25. Stages in Qualitative Data Analysis Familiarisation Transcription Organisation Grounded theory Report Writing Coding Framework analysis

26. Transcription Interview

27. Coding • Coding is the process of examining the raw qualitative data in the transcripts and extracting sections of text units (words, phrases, sentences or paragraphs) and assigning different codes or labels so that they can easily be retrieved at a later stage for further comparison and analysis, and the identification of any patterns. Codes can be based on: •  Themes, Topics • Ideas, Concepts • Terms, Phrases • Keywords • found in the data

29. Example • You have uncovered eight descriptions of the principal’s behaviour in staff meetings and the following codes are assigned. B1 – hot tempered; B2 – lost his cool B3 – refused to listen B4 – just went on and on B6 – scolds B7 – ridiculed for questioning B8 – one man show

30. Analysis … • Next you may want to recode the eight descriptions into one or two categories. • the category emerges from the data. • Assign a name for the category. • From the above example B3 and B8 could be recoded to A1 and assigned the category or theme “autocratic”. • Repeat until you have exhausted the data in terms of developing any new codes.

31. Data Analysis in GT • Take one piece of data (one interview, one statement, one theme) and comparing it with all others that may be similar or different in order to develop conceptualizations of the possible relations between various pieces of data. • If new theme extracted from data that does not fit with existing themes, then a new code is added to the list

32. Analysis … • In the process of comparison, the researcher asks analytical questions • For example, by comparing the accounts of two different people computer user behavior, a researcher asks why this is different from that? and how are these two persons related? • Try if it used - object oriented analysis method – common patterns approach, noun phrase approach, etc can work for qualitative analysis

33. Analysis …Interpretation • Aggregate concepts or categories identified from raw data into themes • Identifying relationships between categories or themes • Causal relationship – • A causes B, but does not exist at the same time • Temporal relationship • Software use results in higher productivity • You may also build a theory

34. DFM – Design for Manufacturability Barriers to Effective KM

35. Qualitative research and computer science • Used to understand user problems for design such in diagnosing user problems and needs • Used in artifact evaluation- researchers qualitatively evaluate a product by interviewing and observation • Used to uncover non-technical factors affecting the adoption and evolution of a new software product and other IT systems • Used to develop theories such as HCI theory

36. Application of Qualitative - Example • System Development Research Process that Nunamaker, et al (1991) proposed five stages or activities • construct a conceptual framework, • develop a system architecture, • analyze and design the system, • build the (prototype) system, and • observe and evaluate the system. • The last stage explicitly includes “Develop new theories/models based on the observation and experimentation of the system’s usage”

37. Review Questions • What is the nature of qualitative research • What are the different types of qualitative methods • How one method differs from the other? • What are the main data collection methods • What is the procedure for qualitative data analysis • When do you qualitative methods in computer science research?

38. Summary