Qualitative Research Methods

Qualitative Research Methods There’s more to it than meets the eye!

Qualitative Methods • Get over the idea that research means counting. Introduction

Qualitative Methods • Get over the idea that research means counting. • The focus is on subjective experiences, or the meanings that people use. Introduction

Qualitative Methods • Get over the idea that research means counting. • The focus is on subjective experiences, or the meanings that people use. • Because meaning resides in language (people think with language), qualitative research largely involves studying text. Introduction

Qualitative Methods • Get over the idea that research means counting. • The focus is on subjective experiences, or the meanings that people use. • Because meaning resides in language (people think with language), qualitative research largely involves studying text. • The best device for collecting and analyzing qualitative information is the human brain. Introduction

Qualitative Methods • Qualitative research is local, concrete. Introduction

Qualitative Methods • Qualitative research is local, concrete. • Observations and findings depend on understanding contexts and the meanings held by the people in those contexts and the meanings of the things in those contexts. Introduction

Qualitative Methods • Qualitative research is local, concrete. • Observations and findings depend on understanding contexts and the meanings held by the people in those contexts and the meanings of the things in those contexts. • Observations are typically of interactions in smaller groups or selectively defined settings. Introduction

Qualitative Methods • Qualitative research is local, concrete. • Observations and findings depend on understanding contexts and the meanings held by the people in those contexts and the meanings of the things in those contexts. • Observations are typically of interactions in smaller groups or selectively defined settings. • Exploration is very often the motive, but not always. Introduction

Qualitative Methods • Qualitative research often provides idiographic (as opposed to nomothetic) causal explanations. Introduction

Qualitative Methods • Qualitative research often provides idiographic (as opposed to nomothetic) causal explanations. • Qualitative research is typically inductive. Introduction

Qualitative Methods • Qualitative research often provides idiographic (as opposed to nomothetic) causal explanations. • Qualitative research is typically inductive. • The research is reflexive—design is flexible and can change given the needs of the research. E.g., Theoretical Sampling Introduction

Qualitative Methods • Qualitative research often provides idiographic (as opposed to nomothetic) causal explanations. • Qualitative research is typically inductive. • The research is reflexive—design is flexible and can change given the needs of the research. E.g., Theoretical Sampling • The researcher must be reflexive as well—the brain tool must be calibrated, understood, active, paid attention to, controlled Introduction

Qualitative Methods • Qualitative research is very practical, logical, and critical of itself. Researchers constantly ask, “Am I accurately depicting the social world given the ways I am collecting and analyzing my data?” Introduction

Qualitative Methods • Qualitative research is very practical, logical, and critical of itself. Researchers constantly ask, “Am I accurately depicting the social world given the ways I am collecting and analyzing my data?” • Good qualitative research is often the most rigorous, difficult research. Introduction

Qualitative Methods • Overview: • We’ll discuss how to focus • We’ll look at data collection approaches. • Types of phenomena best studies by each approach • How to collect data with those approaches • We’ll look at how to analyze qualitative data • We’ll study how to write results from our analyses Introduction

Qualitative Methods So what good are these skills? Subject: qualitative data From: laura xxxxx <xxxxxxxxxx@yahoo.com> Date: Wed, 28 May 2003 14:08:28 -0700 (PDT) To: jdlee@jaguar1.usouthal.edu hello dr. lee. i wanted to write you and let you know that i am working in montgomery for 6 weeks this summer doing an internship with 2 different agencies. the interesting part is this. i am helping out with some qualitative research on childrens programs in alabama. today i made pattern codes from the data someone else collected. next week, i begin my own data collection (with a supervisor of corse). i am traveling to various cities in alabama (in a state car so i'll have A/C) to attend some sort of childrens policy counsils. my job is to collect the data on how all the programs are doing in my area...then CODE them accordingly to see trends and where help is needed. when my supervisor told me what i wsa going to do i was relieved to know what she was talking about. i was quite nervous about the whole thing, i ws not sure what i ws going to be doing. so i wanted you to know that you are the first professor to teach me tools and skills that i will physically actually use. thank you so much. i went out today in montgomery. it is a foreign place to me. it is awful and i want to go back to new orleans. as i was walking to the big 24 story buliding where i was to be working, i felt nausious from fear and anxiety due to the newness of the suituation. after i met everyone and sat down with my supervisor and was given my "summer assignment" i fgelt so relieved. i actually knew what she was talking about she spoke of "pattern codes" even. this is a project alabama has only been doing for the ast 3 years (evaluationg the childrens welfare programs). the data has been collected for the last 2 years but has not been evaluated and the new data for 2003-2004 will start being collected on tuesday adn i get to be a part of it. this long email is meant to say thank you i guess. i was out in the streets of montgomery today and thanks to you and your teaching, i ws not all that unfamiliar. right on dr. lee thanks. ok. i gotta go thank you for all the hard work that was required in your class. i always thought it was qualitative data very valuable information, but know i am seeing it's valueableness in action and it kicks ass. laura xxxxx ps...sorry bout the bad spelling. and you dont have to write me back i know you are busy. have a great summer sir.

Qualitative Methods • It is often difficult to plan qualitative research • Group Discussion: • Spend several minutes generating ideas for a qualitative research study. What are you going to study and why? • Create a plan for: • Sampling • How will you determine whether your sample is representative of a target group? • Data Collection • Data Analysis • How will you evaluate causality? • How will you write about or present your findings? Introduction

Qualitative Methods • Overview of Data Gathering Techniques: • Participant Observation • Interviews • Focus Groups • Archival Research • Documents • Public Records • Personal Documents • Photographs Introduction

Qualitative Methods Before collecting data, you have to determine what you want to accomplish. Basic Research Discovering the ways the world works to build our cache of knowledge and explanations Applied Research Discover answers to human societal problems for the purpose of improving problem-solving Summative Evaluation Determine effectiveness of interventions and programs at meeting their goals to find what works or doesn’t Formative Evaluation Improve interventions or programs by finding strengths and weaknesses to make recommendations for improvement Action Research Discover and solve problems facing a program or community in order to solve them Design

Qualitative Methods Before collecting data, you have to determine what you want to accomplish. Tight versus Loose Design Ask yourself: • How much time do I have? • What resources are available? • What is the purpose of the study? • In what am I really interested? More structure can prevent waste • If we already know about the context, it would be wasteful to go exploring • If you have targeted topic, you can reduce data at the collection stage and cut down on analysis time • Loose produces more data, more “surprise discoveries” can be made Design

Qualitative Methods You should get very clear ideas about what you are going to study because qualitative work quickly exhausts resources and time. Write down your foggy ideas and then get more specific. Your conceptual framework should guide your decisions: • What questions do you want answered? • What is your focus? Research questions follow from these general interests: • Start writing specific questions you want to answer • Start sketching a plan for the kind of information you will need Design

Qualitative Methods From research questions you start planning data collection • What are the important settings? • Who are the important actors? • How would you sample Concentrate on data reduction: • Select some scenes • Select some people • Concentrate on most important issues and not others Design

Qualitative Methods Choose your units of analysis. What do you want to say something about at the end of the study? • Individual people • Certain experiences • Experiences in particular settings • Groups of people • Demographically • Intervention groups • Types of people such as ball players, secretaries • Those in one setting versus another • Organizations Design

Qualitative Methods Define boundaries, recording nothing about cases that exceed certain limits: • Space • Time • Social position • Context The forgoing issues lead to the sampling decisions that are made. Design

Qualitative Methods Rationale of sampling. • We have to make choices…not everything can be studied • What are you interested in? Remember, there are always sub-areas for each area you are interested in. • Sampling is typically purposive rather than random. Random sampling can: • Be senseless • Destroy cohesive picture • Sampling is typically sequential, conceptually driven • Samples should be small, not large Sampling

Qualitative Methods Rationale of sampling. • Sampling is often theory-driven, often with the goal of building theories • E.g., grounded theory • The point is to use analytic findings to create understanding or insight, not to generalize from our sample to a population • Selecting variation is good—analytic findings ought to hold in other contexts (or they should be revised) • Sampling includes people, topics within persons’ experiences, contexts, settings Sampling

Qualitative Methods Types of sampling. (pp. 230-242, Patton) (What would be some examples from a setting such as a baseball stadium) • Extreme or deviant case sampling • Intensity sampling • Heterogeneity sampling • Homogeneity sampling • Typical case sampling • Critical case sampling • Snowball or chain sampling • Criterion sampling Sampling

Qualitative Methods Types of sampling. (pp. 230-242, Patton) (What would be some examples from a setting such as a baseball stadium) • Theoretical sampling • Confirming or disconfirming cases • Stratified purposeful sampling • Opportunistic or emergent sampling • Purposeful random sampling • Sampling politically important cases • Convenience sampling Sampling

Qualitative Research Methods