8 Qualitative Research

Dr Chiew Wye Mei

Definition Qualitative Research

QR interpretation of phenomena in their natural settings to make sense in terms of the meanings people bring to these settings. It is a study of social and cultural-oriented phenomena. Qualitative data is obtained from interviews, documents, observation, personal experiences, introspection, stories of life, interactions, visual text all of which is significant in peoples life. Through qualitative research we can explore a wide array of dimensions of the social world, including the understandings, experiences and imaginings of our research participants(Mason, 2002)

The preferences of qualitative researchers preference for qualitative data understood simply as the analysis of words and images rather than numbers. preference for naturally occurring data observation rather than experiment, unstructured versus structured interviews. preference for meanings rather than behaviour attempting to document the world from the point of view of the people studied (Hammersley, 1992: 165). Reject natural science as a model. preference for inductive, hypothesis-generating research rather than hypothesis testing (cf. Glaser and Strauss, 1967). Source: adapted from Hammersley, 1992: 16072

Theoretical paradigm / orientations

Positivist The social world is composed of observable facts. Reality is Objective Independent of researcher QUANTITATIVE inclination

Theoretical paradigm / orientations

Interpretivist Social world is constructed of symbolic meaning observable in human act, interactions and language. Reality is Subjective and multiple as seen from different perspective Feminist Social world is governed by power relations that influence acts and perceptions Reality is Negotiated and differs according to status and power Both are QUALITATIVELY inclined

Approaches In QR
The most useful attempt to depict these different approaches within qualitative research is in Gubrium and Holstein (1997). They use the term idiom to encompass both the analytical preferences and the use of particular vocabularies, investigatory styles and ways of writing. They distinguish (and criticise) four different idioms: Naturalism - A reluctance to impose meaning and a preference to get out and observe the field. Ethnomethodology - Shares naturalisms attention to detail but locates it in the study of talk-in-interaction. Emotionalism - Desires intimate contact with research subjects, favours the open-ended interview, and attempts to understand the impact of the biography of both researchers and subjects. Postmodernism - Seeks to challenge the concepts of subject and the field and favours pastiche rather than science.

Purpose of QR
1. Description reveal nature of certain situation, settings, processes, & relationships 2. Interpretation enable researcher to gain new insights about a particular phenomenon & develop new concepts or theoretical background about the research issue. 3. Verification allow researcher to test the validity of certain assumptions, theories & claims within real-world contexts. 4. Evaluation provide a means in which a researcher evaluate effectiveness of particular findings / innovations. 5. What? How? Why? Emphasise on richness, depth, nuance, context, multi-dimensionality and complexity.

Answering questions such as

Why customers choose brand A and not B? How does the customers want their car to look like? Reasons behind poor services by the sales personnel. Low demand why customers do not buy our product even though price has been slashed?

Types of QR methods
Action research Case study Ethnography Grounded theory Content analysis

1. Action Research A continuous process of research & learning with a problem. Institute a process of change & then draw conclusion. Stages - diagnosing = identify RQ. - action planning = determine actions to be undertaken to address problem. - action taking = conduct & monitor planned actions. - evaluation = determine if action have addressed the RQ. 2 reasons to involve practitioners. - to improve a certain field of study.

2. Case study An empirical investigation between the phenomenon within its environment context, where the relationship between both is not clear. Study a case to understand the issue / provide input to an existing theory / contribute new thoughts to a new concept. The case study is associated with the entity concept. Can have single or multiple cases draw conclusion of the similarities / differences among the cases. Single case to study extreme cases in order to confirm / challenge a theory / previously did not have access to. Be wary of interpreting. Multiple cases gather data to make conclusion. It can confirm the evidence because it enhances reliability & validity.

3. Ethonography involves description of people & exploring nature of phenomena. Work with unstructured data & analysing data through interpretation of the meanings attributed by respondents. Need long observations period. Need commitment from the researcher to jot down field notes. Jot down notes Track phrases used by subjects Attention to details Record sequence of events chronologically Avoid making evaluative judgement/summarising retrieved facts & respondents.

4. Grounded theory The discovery of theory from data systematically obtained from social research. A category may emerge from data & becomes a conceptual element. Grounded refers to the idea Theory emerged (refers to relationships that exist among concepts generated from the data) from the study that is derived from and grounded (based on) in data collected in the field, rather than from lit. review. Useful if current theories inadequate / non-existent. Use observation, interview, documents analysis. Useful for exploratory studies where little is known.

5. Content analysis A detailed and systematic examination of the contents of a particular material to identify patterns / themes. Analyse journals, books, printed media, recorded human interactions (audio/video). Needs to have research problems & RQ specified clearly. Steps: Identify specific body of material to be explored Define characteristics / qualities to be examined in precise terms Break into small & manageable segments to analyse Scrutinise and sort materials based on the defined characteristics.

Sampling
Not important to have rigorous & systematic sampling, as usually small sample. Social actors are not predictable like objects Randomised events are irrelevant to social life Probability sampling is expensive and ineffective Therefore Non-probable sample is the best: o Convenient sample people who are easy to find o Snowballing (chain referral) find few people relevant to topic studies, then ask them to refer you to more of them o Quota select population according to specific qualities, create quotas from these, then select respondent from each quotas

What & who to sample?

Texts (published / unpublished sources) Printed or Virtual documents Settings and environments Objects Events / happenings Organisations / institutions Who can speak or represent this organisation? Key figures (managing director, workforce, customers, clients, competitors etc) Key figures need to think through who will be accessible to the appropriate knowledge (while interviewing you might be told of another appropriate person Draw on a range of publications or text about the organisation Company records

How many to sample?

How many is enough to address RQ Can I make meaningful comparisons How do I focus strategically (NOT representative) Have I searched for negative instances Have I challenged my own assumptions Qualitative samples are usually small For practical purposes & cost Sample until you reach theory-saturation point Till you know you have a picture of what is going on and can generate an appropriate explanation for it This is when your data stop telling you new thing about the social process studied How ? sample size should help you understand phenomenon Dynamic and ongoing practice AND not about representing population

Types of qualitative data

Audio recordings and transcripts from in-depth or semi-structured interviews Structured interview questionnaires containing substantial open comments including a substantial number of responses to open comment items. Audio recordings and transcripts from focus group sessions. Field notes (notes taken by the researcher while in the field [setting] being studied) Video recordings (eg, lecture delivery, class assignments, laboratory performance) Case study notes Images Documents (reports, meeting minutes, e-mails) Diaries, video diaries Observation notes, Press clippings, Photographs

Qualitative data analysis

Begins with a large body of knowledge & information and deploys inductive reasoning, sorting, categorising key themes. Steps: Organise data into several forms (database, sentences, individual words). Peruse data sets several times to gain complete picture or overview of what it contains as a whole. Jot down notes / key points for possible categories / interpretations. Identify general categories / themes. Then categorise data. Integrate & summarise data for audience. Can come out with hypotheses of relationship among the categories. Data summarised in table, figure, matrix.

Stages in qualitative data analysis

Familiarisation

Transcription
Analysis using Grounded theory / Framework analysis approach

Organisation

Report writing

Coding

1. Familiarisation listen to tapes/ watch video /read and re-read field notes, make memos & summaries. 2. Transcription process of converting audio / video-recorded data into verbatim form (written / printed)for easy reading; to avoid missing out / ignoring certain part. Reduce bias. 3. Organisation organise data for easy retrieval. Have a code book with codes of participants, themes, etc for easy cross checking. Must be kept confidential & destroyed after completion of research. Transcripts only contain codes. E.g. Interview managers named Ahmad, Tan, Selva, etc. The code use is M1, M2, M3

The transcript will then be numbered. 4. Coding process of examining raw data in the transcripts and extracting sections of text units (words, phrases, sentences, or paragraphs) and assigning different codes. Use numerical reference, symbol, descriptive words or category words. Most of the transcript will be marked and later refined / combined to form themes or categories. 5. Analysis Choose grounded theory or framework approach. a) choose grounded theory approach if interested to generate theory & is not sure what to expect. Useful for exploratory studies where little is known OR as a procedure for conceptualising & analysing data without following the whole method.

 Uses the constant comparison technique categories or concepts that emerged from a stage of analysis are compared with categories or concepts from previous stage. Continues on till theoretical saturation (where no new significant categories or concepts emerge). It is cyclical, involves frequent revisiting of data due to emergence of new categories or concepts. The resultant theory is accepted as provisional only till proven valid of data by others.

b) Choose framework analysis approach Use in applied research because it needs findings & recommendation within short period to be adopted. Determine and set categories and themes from the beginning, but could also emerge during data analysis stage. Identify specific pieces during data gathering to correspond to the categories / themes

Data analysis spiral

Final report
Synthesis Offer hypothesis / prepositions Construct tables, diagrams, hierarchies Classification Group data into categories /themes Find meanings in data Perusal Get overall sense Jot preliminary interpretations

Organisation Filling Create database Break up large unit

Raw data

A study about working women and their ability to make decision. Interviewer: Do you have to account for the money you spend? Participant: No, we bothwhen he brings his salary, he tells me that [it] is this much; and I also tell him like this. If we have borrowed [money] from anybody, we decide together whom to repayAnd after all this, only one hundred rupees remain from both our

Coding

Financial decision making Borrowing money

My mother encourages me a lot to do a job. But my husband tells me not to work, not to work with other men. My husband says, Whatever will be, will be. You can work after I die. While I am alive do not work. I do not like it when you go to work. Now, you are working with other menand I am not thereHe has doubt about me.

Coding

Attitudes toward working women

External control Sexual faithfullness

Differences between QR & QttR

QR focus on the subject instead of the perspective of researcher emic (insider perspective) rather than etic (outsider perspective). Researcher is the main person in QR. Researcher must participate in field work. Uses inductive approach due to lack of theory that can explain a phenomenon. Concept, insight & understandings are developed from patterns in the data. Build abstractions, concept, hypothesis, theories rather than testing. Focus on process & understanding based on rich data. Data is in the form of communication of the respondents itself, extract from documents, multimedia resources. Look at settings and people in total / holistically.

Induction qualitative explore participants meaning and understanding, generating theory from data

Claimed features of qualitative and quantitative methods Qualitative Quantitative Soft Hard Flexible Fixed Subjective Objective Political Value-free Case study Survey Speculative Hypothesis testing Grounded Abstract Source: Halfpenny, 1979: 799

 Qualitative research is influenced by the researchers political values. Conversely, other people might argue that such value freedom in social science is either undesirable or impossible. The same sort of argument can arise about flexibility. For some people, such flexibility encourages qualitative researchers to be innovative. For others, flexibility might be criticised as meaning lack of structure. Conversely, being fixed gives such a structure to research but without flexibility. Quantitative researchers are reluctant to move from statements of correlation to causal statements. E.g. if father is a non-manual worker, probably son is also a non-manual worker. There is correlation as found in quantitative study. But both fathers and sons occupations may be associated with another variable (say inherited wealth) which lies behind the apparent link between occupations of father and son. Because of such an antecedent variable, we cannot confidently state that fathers occupation is a significant cause of sons occupation. The association between the occupations of fathers and sons is misleading or spurious.

Validity and Reliability

Validity relates to the honesty and genuineness of the research data, while reliability relates to the reproducibility and stability of the data. The validity of research findings refers to the extent to which the findings are an accurate representation of the phenomena they are intended to represent. The reliability of a study refers to the reproducibility of the findings. Validity can be substantiated by a number of techniques including triangulation use of contradictory evidence, respondent validation, and constant comparison. Triangulation is using 2 or more methods/different sources (or time), > researchers, > theory, to study the same phenomenon; or cross-examination.

Strength of QR
Issues can be examined in detail and in depth. Interviews are not restricted to specific questions and can be guided/redirected by the researcher in real time. The research framework and direction can be quickly revised as new information emerges. The data based on human experience that is obtained is powerful and sometimes more compelling than quantitative data. Easier to gain a better understanding of the target market because the types of questions that are asked during the research process begin with the word why. Why is a much more powerful word than when, how much, and what.

With the understanding of why then they could reach out to even more people with that knowledge in the event that they advertise new and existing products Subtleties and complexities about the research subjects and/or topic are discovered that are often missed by more positivistic enquiries. Data usually are collected from a few cases or individuals so findings cannot be generalized to a larger population. Findings can however be transferable to another setting. Less expensive. Useful for describing complex phenomena. Data are usually collected in naturalistic settings

Limitations of QR
Research quality is heavily dependent on the individual skills of the researcher and more easily influenced by the researchers personal biases and idiosyncrasies. Rigor is more difficult to maintain, assess, and demonstrate. Need more time to collect data. The volume of data makes analysis and interpretation time consuming. It is sometimes not as well understood and accepted as quantitative research within the scientific community. The researchers presence during data gathering, which is often unavoidable in qualitative research, can affect the subjects responses.

 Issues of anonymity and confidentiality can present problems when presenting findings. Findings can be more difficult and time consuming to characterize in a visual way. QR collects data about what your select group of participants feel or think, or how they behave. You can't necessarily use this data to make assumptions beyond this specific group of participants. Difficult to make quantitative predictions.