Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Methods
Defined
Typeofsocialinquiryonthewaypeople
interpret and make sense of their
experiences and the world in which they
live.
cont
Qualitative Researchinvolves finding
outwhatpeoplethink,andhowtheyfeel
-oratanyrate,whattheysaytheythink
andhowtheysaytheyfeel.Thiskindof
information is subjective. It involves
feelings and impressions, rather than
numbers
cont
Qualitative research involves the studied
useandcollectionofavarietyofempirical
materials - case study, personal
experience, introspective, life story,
interview,
observational,
historical,
interactional, and visual texts-that
describe
routine
and
problematic
moments and meanings in individuals
lives.
cont
Qualitativeresearchisthecollectionand
analysis of extensive narrative data in
ordertogaininsightsintophenomenaof
interest
Examples:
TomeasureaveragepopulationsIQ.
Tomeasurelike/dislikeforanyproduct
inamarket
Tomeasurepopulationsopinionabout
anyproblemfacedbysociety
Tomeasurepopulationslevelof
acceptance/rejectionforanysubject
product/solutionetc.
people do
Reasoning:why people act and behave
Quantitative
vs.
Qualitative
Explanationthroughnumbers Explanationthroughwords
Objective
Subjective
Deductivereasoning
Inductivereasoning
Predefinedvariablesand
Creativity,extraneous
measurement
variables
Datacollectionbeforeanalysis Datacollectionand
analysisintertwined
Causeandeffectrelationships
Description,meaning
Whenyouwanttodescribeanevent,activity,
or phenomenon, you use a combination of
methods, such as conducting interviews,
reading documents, watching videos, or
visiting places and events, to understand
the meaning participants place on
whatever'sbeingexamined
For example, there's been an explosion in the last 5 years in online
courses and training. But how do students engage with these
courses?
Theory
Thistheorylookstoprovideanexplanation
or theory behind the events developed
inductively by a corpus of data collected
byaparticipantobserver.
For example, how small retail merchants approve or decline
customers for credit.
Study
A case study involves a deep
understanding through multiple types of
data sources. Studying in depth single
case example of the phenomena. This
can be individual, event, group,
institute.
For example, a case study of how a large multi-national
company introduced UX methods into an agile development
environment would be informative to many organizations.
Systematiccollectionandobjective
evaluationofdatarelatedtopast
occurrencesinordertotesthypothesis
concerningcauses,effectsthosemayhelp
toexplainpresenteventsandanticipate
futureevents.
A. Literature Review
Conductedafterthedatahavebeen
collectedandanalyzed
Rationalefordelayingtheliterature
review:
Toavoidleadingtheparticipantsinthedirection
ofwhathasalreadybeendiscovered
Purposeofliteraturereview:
Toshowhowcurrentfindingsfitintowhatis
alreadyknown
B. Explicating Researchers
Beliefs
Bracketingsettingasideonesbiases
andpersonalviewsonatopic
Investigatorkeepsadiaryofpersonal
thoughtsandfeelingsaboutthetopic
Purpose:theresearcherismadeaware
wheninterpretationsofthedatareflect
personalbeliefsratherthanthoseofthe
participants
C. Subject or Informant?
Peoplebeingstudiedareviewedas
participantorinformant,notsubject
Viewedasactiveparticipantsintheresearch
Theyinformtheresearcherabouttheir
culture
Researcherseekstounderstandthe
participantsculturalknowledge
Hence,requireslearningaboutthe
participantsculturethroughon-going
discussionandinvolvementwiththem
D. Selection of Participants
Methodiscalledpurposivesampling
Participantsmusthavefirst-handexperience
withtheresearchtopic(e.g.,homelessness,
ganginvolvement,attendingmedicalschool)
andbeabletotalkaboutit
Researcherestablishesclearcriteriaand
rationaleforsampleselection
Goalisnotgeneralizationoffindings
butrich descriptionsofphenomenonby
thosewhohaveexperiencedit
driven
Investigatorassumesignoranceofthe
cultureorexperiencebeingstudied
Informantteachestheinvestigator
Dataiscollectedinthefieldthe
naturalworldwherepeopleliveand
experiencelife
Investigatorshould:
benonintrusive
spendaprolongedtimeinthefield
Someresearchersusedmultiple
methods
F. Data Analysis
Researcherimmersesselfindatatobring
orderandmeaningtovastnarrative
Cometotrulyunderstandwhatthedataare
saying
Cyclicalprocessdatacollectionoccurs
simultaneouslywithdataanalysis
Analysisbeginswhendatacollectionbegins
Reading,rereading,intuiting,analyzing,
synthesizing,andreportingondata
Sometimescalledtheoretical sampling(collect
datauntilsaturationisreached)
interviewsarereturnedtoparticipants
forclarificationandelaboration
Lookformeaninginthedataasitis
gathered
Datasimilarinmeaningareclustered
togetherintopreliminarycategories
Requiresanextensiveamountoftime
G. Saturation
Referstoasituationindataanalysis
whereparticipantsdescriptionsbecome
repetitiveandconfirmpreviously
collecteddata
Anindicationthatdataanalysisiscomplete
Whendataanalysisiscomplete,data
collectionisterminated
Threedatacollectionstrategies
introduced:
1. Participantobservation
2. In-depthinterviews
3. Focusgroupinterviews
Qualitativeresearchersmaycombine
morethanonemethod
Participant Observation
Intensive,usuallylongterm,
examinationofasocialgroup,an
organization,etc.
Researcherbecomesaparticipantinthe
livesofgroupmembers
In-depth Interviews
Somestudiescannotemploythe
participantobservationmethod
E.g.,Desrochessstudyofbankrobbers
In-depthinterviewsallowparticipants
todescribetheirexperiencesandthe
meaningofeventstakingplaceintheir
lives
Interviewsareflexibleandallowfor
probing
Interviewmethodisquitediverse,adaptive
6-12participantswithcommonexperience
Transcriptofdiscussionisthedata
Plusaccompanyingnotes
Usecontentanalysisorgroundedtheory
approachtoanalyzethedata
cont
Theavailabilityofcomputerpakages(thatare
specificallydesignedforqualitativedataand
analysis)hassignificantlyreducedtheneedfor
thetraditionalfillingtechniques,calculations
andcomplexrelationshipsanddataanalysis.
Advantages
Automatedanalysis
Directdatainput(text,audio,etc.)
Automatedreportgenerate
Moreeffectiveandaccurate
2007 Pearson Education Canada
6-33
Qualitativeresearchdifferent
assumptions/approachthanquantitative
research
Emphasisonseeingtheworldfromthe
eyesoftheparticipants
Strivetomakesenseofphenomenain
termsofthemeaningspeoplebringto
them
Holisticemphasisstudyingtheperson,
group,cultureinthenaturalsetting
meaningsascribedtothembyparticipants
Theyprovidetheresearcherwithdeepinsightsthat
wouldnotbepossibleusingquantitativemethods
Themajorstrengthofqualitativeworkisthevalidity
ofthedataitproduces
Participantstruerealityislikelytobereflected
Majorlimitationisitsperceivedlackofobjectivityand
generalizability
Researchersbecometheresearchtoolsandmaylack
objectivity