Nicanor Reyes St.

, Sampaloc, Manila
Accountancy, Business, and Management

Practical Research 1

Lesson 4:
TYPES OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

Learning Objectives:
At the end of the lesson, students are expected to:
1. understand the nature of qualitative research
2. demonstrate their understanding of the various types of qualitative research
3. identify a research topic with appropriate research design they are comfortable writing

I. Types of Qualitative Research Design

• Phenomenological Studies
• Ethnographic Studies
• Grounded Theory Studies
• Historical Studies
• Case Studies
• Action Research Studies

1. Phenomenological Studies
- examine human experiences through the descriptions provided by the people involved
- experiences are called lived experiences
- respondents are asked to describe their experiences as they perceive them
- goal: to describe the meaning that experiences hold for each subject
- bracketing: a process where the researcher identifies what he/she expects to discover and
deliberately put aside these ideas and tries to understand the lived experience from the
vantage point of the subject.
- Example of question asked: what is it like for a mother to live with a teenage child who is
dying of cancer?
o the researcher then tries to uncover the meaning of the lived experience for each
subject. Themes and patterns are sought in the data. Data collection and data analysis
occur simultaneously.

2. Ethnographic Studies
- involve the collection and analysis of data about cultural groups
- encountering alien worlds and making sense of them (Agar, 1986)
- systematic process of observing, detailing, describing, documenting, and analyzing the
lifeways of particular patterns of a culture (or subculture) in order to grasp the lifeways or
patterns of the people in the familiar environment (Leininher, 1985)
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- the researcher frequently lives with the people and becomes a part of their culture; he/she
explores with the people their rituals and customs
- key informants: people who are most knowledgeable about the culture
3. Grounded Theory Studies
- developed by two sociologists: Glaser and Strauss in 1967
- studies in which data are collected and analyzed and the theory is developed that is grounded
in the data
- more concerned with the generation rather than the testing of hypotheses
- GT method uses both an inductive and deductive approach to theory development.
- data are gathered in naturalistic settings (field settings), data collection primarily consists of
participant observation and interviews, and data recorded through handwritten notes and tape
recordings
- constant comparison: a process in which data are constantly compared to data that have
already been gathered
o pertinent concepts are identified and assigned codes
o there codes are then constantly reviewed as new interpretations are made of the data
o codes developed frequently are gerunds like soothing, placating, and asserting
o once concepts have been identified and their relationship specified, the researcher
consults the literature to determine id any similar associations have already been
uncovered
4. Historical Studies
- concern the identification, location, evaluation, and synthesis of data from the past
- seeks not only to discover the events of the past but to relate these past happenings to the
present and the future
- data for historical research are usually found in documents or in relics and artifacts;
documents may include a wide range of printed materials, and oral reports
- primary sources: those that provide firsthand information or direct evidence
- secondary sources: secondhand information or sometimes third or fourth hand
- Method of evaluation:
o External criticism: concerned with the authenticity or genuineness of the data and
should be considered first; establishes validity
o Internal criticism: examines the accuracy of the data and is considered after the data
are considered to be genuine; establishes reliability
5. Case Studies
- in-depth examinations of people or groups of people or institution
- has its roots in sociology and has also been used a great deal in anthropology, law, and
medicine
- it can be considered as quantitative or qualitative research depending on the purpose of the
study and the design used by the researchers
- researcher is interested in the meaning of experiences to the subjects themselves, rather than
in generalizing results to the groups of people
- data collection: through questionnaires, interviews, observations, written accounts by the
subjects
- content analysis: involves examining the communication messages; the researcher searches
for patterns and themes
6. Action Research Studies
- made popular by Kurt Lewin in 1946
- seeks action to improve practice and study effects of the action that was taken (Streubert and
Carpenter, 2002).

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- Participatory Action Research: a special kind of community-based action research in which

there is collaboration between the study participants and the researcher in all steps of the
study: determining the problem, research methods, data analysis, and use of study results.

II. Qualitative Research Procedures

According to Hontiveros (2017), there are five (5) steps involved in doing a qualitative
research. This involves:

1. Identifying the topic to be studied.

In this step, it is essential to identify the questions that need to be answered. A
good research question needs to be clear, specific, and manageable. The question should
explore on reasons for why people do things or view or believe in something.
Sample questions:
• What is the concept of student leadership to senior high school students?
• How do Mangyan authoritarian fathers define discipline to children?
2. Designing the study.
This refers to the who, when, where, and how of the study.
• Who refers to the target participants
• Where identifies the place or location where the data will be gathered,
normally the natural setting of the research participants
• When specifies the period that the researcher intends to gather data
• How covers for the ways the researcher can gather the data or if the
participants need to prepare something or anything
3. Collecting Data.
The usual sample size of 10 participants can be sufficient for gathering as
compared to quantitative research that should be more than 50 participants. Data
collection in qualitative studies are continuous or until the information is sufficient.
The researcher moreover observes or gathers data from the participants in their
actual and natural settings and questions are normally open-ended and less structured.
4. Analyzing Data.
In many cases, data are only descriptions or products of inductive reasoning and there are
no calculations involved in qualitative data analysis. The most common analysis used is
thematic analysis and narrative analysis.

5. Generating findings.
This step involves combining and synthesizing the notes, videos, and evidences.
Since the interview format is open-ended, there can be too many answers supplied. The
researcher can identify patterns and group all the answers into themes.