Understanding Qualitative Research: Methods, Types, and Applications, Lecture notes of Qualitative research

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Introduction to

Qualitative Research

ScWk 240 – Week 9 Slides

1

What is Qualitative Research?

§ Being in the field

§ Anthropology, journalism

§ Social context,

comprehensiveness, rich

texture of life

§ Patterns, themes, common

categories

2

Qualitative Research is Sometimes called “ Naturalistic Inquiry ” Meaning that the researcher just reports on what’s there – and does not try to manipulate or intervene in any way. Sometimes naturalistic inquiry is compared to newspaper reporting.

Comparing Quantitative to Qualitative QUANTITATIVE QUALITATIVE §Theory/hypothesis testing §Theory/hypotheses generating §Explanation §Understanding §Quantification and statistics (what/how much?) §Description (in what context?) §Deductive §Inductive §Focus on Objective Data §Focus on Observation 5

Topics OK for Qualitative Research

§ Exploratory research questions

§ Topics and peoples in natural

settings

§ Data: written or spoken words and

observations

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Qualitative Research Tends To:

— Answer research questions rather than test a hypothesis. — Seldom look at the effectiveness of an intervention. — Examine the perceptions, actions, and feelings of participants. — Obtained detailed information from interviews, content analysis, or observations. 8

Grounded Theory " Grounded theory refers to an inductive process of generating theory from data. This is considered ground-up or bottom-up processing. " Grounded theorists argue that theory generated from observations of the empirical world may be more valid and useful than theories generated from deductive inquiries. " Grounded theorists criticize deductive reasoning since it relies upon a priori assumptions about the world. " However, grounded theory incorporates deductive reasoning when using constant comparisons. " In doing this, researchers detect patterns in their observations and then create working hypotheses that directs the progression of the inquiry.

Ethnography

" Ethnography emphasizes the observation

of details of everyday life as they

naturally unfold in the real world. This

is sometimes called naturalistic research.

" Ethnography is a method of describing a

culture or society. This is primarily used

in anthropological research.

Field Research " Field research is a general term that refers to a group of methodologies used by researchers in making qualitative inquiries. " The field researcher goes directly to the social phenomenon under study and observes it as completely as possible. " The natural environment is the priority of the field researcher. There are no implemented controls or experimental conditions to speak of. " Such methodologies are especially useful in observing social phenomena over time.

Methods for Data Collection

§ Interview

Ø Individual

(1) informal

conversational

(2) interview guide

Ø Group: focus group

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A View for Qualitative Analysis