Qualitative Research Methodology

Evaluation grounded theory

- 4 key areas for consideration when evaluating grounded theory research efforts:o Judgments about the validity, reliability and credibility of the data.o Judgments about the theory itself.o Decisions regarding the adequacy of the research process through which the theory is being generated, elaborated, or tested.o Conclusions about the empirical grounding of the research. - 7 criteria to use when evaluating the research process: o Rationale for the selection of the original sample. o Elaboration of the major categories that emerge. o Events, incidents, or actions pointing to the major categories identified. o Explanation of how theoretical formulations influenced or guided data collection. o Elaboration regarding hypotheses and justifications for the establishment of relationships between categories and the approach to validation. oAccounting for discrepancies in the data and resulting theoretical modifications. o Rationale for the selection of the core or central category. - The empirical grounding of a study should be evaluated to assess the development of relevant categories and concepts that are the building blocks of the theory. The consideration of 7 criteria for the assessment of the grounding of a study include an examination of: o Quality of the concepts generated. o Systematic relationships between the concepts. o Clarity and density of conceptual linkages. o Inclusion of variation into the theory. o Clear description of the conditions under which variation can be found. o Account of the research process. o Significance of theoretical findings. - A theory built from the grounded theory research approach may prove its value in practical applications. Theory is viewed as adequate if it is a reasonably good guide to understanding and directing action. Emphasis on utility may de-emphasize the importance of the theory's truth or accuracy.

Using grounded theory research for theory building

- 5 phases of the general method of theory-building research in applied disciplines by Lynham: 1. Conceptual development. 2. Operationalization. 3. Confirmation / disconfirmation. 4. Application. 5. Continuous refinement and development. - Claims that the grounded theory process engages in confirmation and disconfirmation and in continuous refinement and development are limited: due to the dependence of grounded theory on saturation from a narrowly defined group of study participants and setting. - The development of generalizable theory based on relatively limited exposure to the phenomenon under study has been criticized. - Confirmation of a theory must extend beyond theoretical saturation within the narrow context in most grounded theory research. - Grounded theory research theories may need to rely on other research approaches in the final two stages of Lynham's model.

Features of a Focus Group

- Data is generated by interaction between group participants. - Group interview: collection of individual interviews with comments directed solely through the researcher: lacks depth of individual interviews and richness of group process. - Spontaneity arises from stronger social context: opportunity to see how ideas and language emerge in a more naturalistic setting than an in-depth interview, how they are shaped through conversation with others.

Traditions and approaches within qualitative analysis

- Ethnographic accounts: largely descriptive, detail the way of life of particular individuals, groups or organizations. - Life histories: can be analyzed as single narratives, as collections of stories around common themes, or quarried to construct an argument based on comparison. - Narrative analysis: identifies the basic story told, focusing on the way an account or narrative is constructed, the intention of the teller, the nature of the audience and the meaning of the plot. - Content analysis: content and context are analyzed, themes are identified, analysis linked to outside variables. - Conversation analysis: focuses on the structure of conversation and classified interaction in terms of key linguistic systems. - Discourse analysis: concerned with the way knowledge is produced within a particular discourse through the use of distinctive language or through the adoption of implicit theories in order to make sense of social action. May focus on what is going on in an interaction in terms of performances, linguistics styles, rhetorical devices and ways in which talk and text set out to convince and compete with alternative accounts. - Analytic induction: aims to identify deterministic laws and the essential character of phenomena, involving an iterative process of defining a problem, formulating and testing a hypothesis, then reformulating the hypothesis or redefining the problem until all cases fit the hypothesis. - Grounded theory: involves the generation of analytical categories and their dimensions, and the identification of relationships between them. - Policy and evaluation analysis: analysis is targeted towards providing answers about the context and effectiveness of social policies and programmes.

Focus Group Size

- Focus groups typically involve 6-8 participants, but the optimum group size will depend on: o The amount that group participants are likely to have to say on the research topic. o The sensitivity or complexity of an issue.o The extent to which the researcher requires breadth or depth of data. o The population group involved. o The structure and tasks involved in the session. - Larger group: active participation will be uneven. - Smaller group: researcher needs to energize or challenge the group.

Types of Observational Research

- Four types of researcher roles: o Complete observer: as detached as possible from the setting under study. Not seen or noticed. o Observer-as-participant: researcher is known and recognized, but related to the subjects of study solely as a researcher. o Participant-as-observer: fully integrated into the life of the group under study and more engaged with the people. Activities as researcher are acknowledged.o Complete participant: disappears completely into the setting. - Roles in terms of membership:o Peripheral membership: observe and interact closely with the people under study, and thereby establish identities as insiders, but do not participate in those activities constituting the core of group membership. o Active membership: engage in core activities, but try to refrain from committing themselves to values, goals and attitudes. o Complete membership: study settings in which they are active and engaged members.- Participant observation: process of learning through exposure to or involvement in the day-to-day or routine activities of participants in the research setting.

The process of grounded theory research

- Grounded theory research is holistic, naturalistic, and inductive, not a linear process. - Assumptions about grounded theory research: o Aim is to generate or discover a theory. o Researcher has to set aside theoretical ideas to allow a substantive theory to emerge. o Theory focuses on how individuals interact in relation to the phenomenon under study. o Theory asserts a plausible relation between concepts and sets of concepts. o Theory is derived from data acquired through fieldwork, interviews, observations, and documents. o Data analysis is systematic and beings as soon as data become available. o Data analysis proceeds through identifying categories and connecting them. o Further data collection (or sampling) is based on emerging concepts. o Concepts are developed through constant comparison with additional data. o Data collection can stop when new conceptualizations emerge. o Data analysis proceeds from open coding (identifying categories, properties and dimensions) through axial coding (examining conditions, strategies, and consequences) to selective coding around an emerging story line. o Resulting theory can be reported in a narrative framework or as a set of propositions. - Grounded theory research has the capacity to predict and may produce the identification of hypotheses for potential testing.

Grounded theory research in HRD (Human Resource Development)

- Grounded theory research is important to HRD because of its potential for contribution to an overall agenda being established. - Most salient link in the grounded theory research approach is its connection between theory and practice. - The strengths of grounded theory lie in: o Strategies that guide the researcher step by step through an analytic process. o Self-correcting nature of the data collection process. o Methods' inherent bent toward theory and the simultaneous turning away from acontextual description. o Emphasis on comparative methods. - The transdisciplinary nature of grounded theory along with its aim to capture tacit knowledge are important in considering the use of this research approach in HRD.

What is Grounded Theory?

- Grounded theory: the discovery of theory from data. - Discovered empirically, through induction, not deduction. - Focus on evidence. - Importance of theory fitting the situation being researched. - Development of a rigorous theory was most likely when it emerged from a thorough analysis of contextual data. - Researchers must pay attention to their theoretical sensitivity: the relevance of categories as they emerged from data comparisons. - An appropriate approach is to initially ignore related literature and existing theory to reduce the likelihood of contamination of the data with existing or biased concepts. - If warranted by the analysis later in the study, the researcher can apply existing research at a subsequent point in the research process.

Descriptive accounts (analytical hierarchy)

- Identifying key dimensions and mapping the range and diversity of each phenomenon. - Two features of qualitative data which are central to descriptive analyses: o Language: the actual words used by study participants. o Substantive content: descriptive coverage and assigned meanings. - Typologies: specific forms of classification that help to describe and explain the segmentation of the social world or the way that phenomena can be characterized or differentiated. - Patton's way of differentiation between two forms of typologies: o Indigenous: classification systems devised by participants themselves. o Analyst constructed: created during the analytical process, classify patterns, categories or themes emerging from the data. - Lofland's way of differentiation between two forms of typologies: o Static analysis: at a particular time. o Phase analysis: process over time.

In-Depth Interview

- Intended to combine structure with flexibility. - Interview is interactive in nature. - Researcher uses a range of probes and other techniques to achieve depth of answer in terms of penetration, exploration and explanation. - Interview is generative: new knowledge or thoughts are likely to be created. - Qualitative interviews are almost always conducted face-to-face. The aim is to achieve both breadth of coverage across key issues and depth of coverage within each.

In-Depth, Iterative Probing

- Iterative probing involves asking for a level of clarification and detail that can sometimes feel unnatural. - Questions which may feel obvious or banal can reveal a layer of complexity or detail that the researcher would otherwise have missed. - Researcher is alert to clues that they have not yet heard the full answer.

Some general features of data management

- Meaning is being attributed to the original material: the analyst decides what is being said and what the content is conveying. - Clear documentation of the data management stage is needed so that there is some record of what took place in the conceptualization and assignment of different parts of the evidence. - It is important that there is always access back to the original material for cases where earlier interpretations come under question as the analysis becomes more refined. - The process of actually writing a summarized or synthesized account begins to trigger the vital insights into, or questions about, the data that will lead to the later interpretative stages of analysis.

Perspectives on an In-Depth Interview

- Miner metaphor: sees knowledge as given. - Traveler metaphor: sees knowledge as created and negotiated. - The emphasis on knowledge as something that is created within the interview has led to concerns about stability and validity of interview data. - Postmodern approaches: emphasize the way in which a reality is constructed in the interview, and the relationship that develops between researcher and interviewee. - Creative interviewing: researcher moves away from the conventions of interviewing, with lengthy or repeated interviews taking place in people's everyday world situations, and an emphasis on free expression. - Dialectical interviewing: interview focuses on contradictions in the social and material world and on the potential for action and change, with an emphasis on the transformative aspects of an interview. - Heuristic approaches: emphasize the personal experience of the interviewer, and see the process of interviewing as a collaboration. - Feminist research: raised issues about the form and features of in-depth interviewing. - Feminist interviewing: reflexive, interactive, non-hierarchical approach, interview seen as a collaboration, reciprocity is emphasized. - Biographic, narrative, life history and oral history approaches: concerned with understanding cultural milieu and social worlds through personal accounts and narratives. Intensive and extended data collection. o Life history and biographical interviews: cover whole life. o Oral history: concentrates on specific events or periods.

Definition of Observation

- Observation forms the basis for our ability to make commonsense judgments about things. - Observation: the act of noting a phenomenon, often with instruments, and recording it for scientific purposes.

Tasks of Observational Research

- Observational techniques are suitable for research dealing with: o Specific settings. o Events: sequences of activities, specific location, defined purpose, involve more than one person, recognized history, repeated with regularity. o Demographic factors. - Qualities necessary for an observer: o Language skills. o Explicit awareness: becoming aware of the mundane details that most people filter out of their routine observations. o Good memory. o Cultivated naïveté: never being afraid to question the obvious. o Writing skills.

Role of Researcher in Focus Group

- Process of gathering information on a specific topic of enquiry. - Partial role of moderator, partial role of facilitator. - Researcher skills: adaptability, confidence, ability to encourage the group, combination of assertiveness and tact.

Conclusion Grounded Theory and HRD

- Reciprocity between HRD theorists and those participating in HRD-related phenomena is vital to the successful development of grounded theory research. - Process invites initiation and participation. - Of most importance is the potential for data collection amid HRD-related activities for the purposes of theory building. - Grounded theory research provides opportunities for practitioners and educators to both actively engage in the theory-building process through their own development of grounded theory research and to collaborate with theory-building experts. - Insights from grounded theory studies have the potential to influence organizational practices in both narrow and broad contexts. - Participation in grounded theory research by those involved in HRD will provide opportunities for the further refinement and clarification of the grounded theory research method itself.

Types of Focus Groups

- Reconvened groups can be valuable when studies address issues that are intangible or unfamiliar to respondents. - Intervening period provides opportunity to reflect on what members have heard and for the issue to become more familiar to them. - New emphasis on using research for consultative purposes led to innovations in the application of research methods, and particularly of group discussion methods. - Nominal groups: views are gathered from group members individually and collated and circulated for comment. No meeting in real life. - Delphi technique: a panel of experts is asked individually to provide forecasts in a technical field, with their views summarized and circulated for iterative forecasting until consensus is reached. - Virtual groups: teleconferencing technology, not meeting in person.

Key features of different approaches

- Status of the data: o May be treated as referring to and representing phenomena which exist apart from the data and the setting in which the data were captured or generated. The analyst is concerned with the accuracy of the data and of his account. o May be treated as the phenomena under study, in which case the analyst seeks to understand the way in which plausible accounts of the world are constructed. - Primary focus of analysis: o Some focus on language and the construction and structure of talk, text and interaction. o Others are concerned with capturing and interpreting common sense, substantive meanings in the data. - The way data are reduced o May involve paring down statements to their core meaning. o May involve thematic summaries or précies of content. o May involve collective analytical categorization which subsumes a wide array of data under each category.o May involve identification of an overall structure in the data. o May involve graphic displays of synthesized data. - Kinds of concepts generated o Concepts may refer to the substantive meaning of the data, or to the structure of an account. o Concepts vary in their source and level of abstraction. - The way concepts are applied to the data o Cross-sectional code and retrieve methods: researcher devises a common system of categories which is applied across the whole data set and used as a means of searching for and retrieving chunks of labelled data. o Non-cross-sectional methods: looking at particular parts of the data separately each of which may require a different conceptualization of categories. - The extent to which data are retained in context o Code and retrieve approaches are sometimes criticized for grouping and comparing chunks of data outside the context in which they occurred. o Some researchers positively commend the breaking up and reconstituting of data as the only way to further analytical understanding. o Some researchers emphasize the importance of retaining links to the original data and revisiting them constantly as an integral part of the analysis process. - The way 'analyzed' data are accessed and displayed o Some appear to work directly from raw data or from annotated transcripts and fieldnotes. o Some researchers organized and display summarized and sorted data in diagrammic form in order to spot connections and interrelationships which are difficult to see in an ordinary text-based format. - Explicit level of abstraction o Some researchers acknowledge the legitimacy of different levels of abstraction, and maintain that the type of analysis will depend on the nature of the research question and the purpose of the study. o Others are committed for epistemological reasons to different kinds of analytical output. o Others argue for the primacy of wider inference and the generation of theory. - Status of categories and logic of explanation o Some writers treat categories as variables: entities that can be uniformly conceptualized and captured in a way that will change in relation to other phenomena. o Others argue that qualitative data cannot be reduced to such standardized categorizations. They prefer to see categories as ways of grouping, displaying and discussing data thematically such that comparisons between conceptual content can be made or further lines of enquiry pursued. o Others talk about using a quasi-variable approach in which certain variables are used in combination with conceptual categories to investigate patterns. - Place of researcher in analytical account o Some accounts omit of make only passing reference to the researchers. o Others treat the role of the researcher as an integral part of the interpretation offered.

Computer-assisted qualitative methods

- Text retrievers: facilitate the searching of large amounts of data for instances of words or phrases. - Textbase managers: data management, provide a structure to the data stored and are usually searchable in a similar way to text retrievers. - Code and retrieve programs: allow you to label passages of text that can later be retrieved according to the codes applied. - Code based theory builders: support the conceptualization of data, may also have extended hyperlinking facilities which allow the analyst to create links between different aspects of the data set. - Conceptual network builders: facilitate the graphic display and investigation of conceptual, cognitive or semantic networks within a data set. - Emphasis on finding the right package to suit the analytical task, rather than allowing the software to dictate how the researcher carries out qualitative analysis. - Initial reservations about any use of computers in qualitative data analysis have largely been replaced by concern about the implications of different software types for analytical process and output. - Computer-assisted analysis software should not obviate the crucial role of the searcher within the analytical process. - CAQDAS: computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software.

Explanatory accounts (analytical hierarchy)

- The ability to explain lies at the heart of qualitative research. - Because qualitative research is particularly concerned with the way in which people understand and give meaning to their social world, some writers believe that the concept of cause is not necessarily helpful. o Some writers argue in favor of explanations at the level of meaning rather than at the level of cause. o Other writers suggest that causal explanations may be developed within qualitative research but use the term cause in a loose sense to refer to conjectures, rather than narrowly deterministic laws. o Other writers maintain that universal deterministic causes are not achievable in either qualitative or quantitative social research.

Challenges and limitations of Grounded Theory

- The goal of grounded theory research is to explain how social circumstances could account for the behaviors and interactions of the people being studied. - Grounded theory research is often confused with other qualitative methods, such as phenomenology. - Grounded theory research may be underdetermined and not viable because the raw data are actually facts taken from within the framework of some other theory or theory-in-use not understood by the researcher and recast inappropriately.

Ethics and Observational Research

- The relatively unobtrusive nature of observational research lessens the opportunities for unfavorable interpersonal encounters between researcher and subjects. - It is the quality of unobtrusiveness that opens it to abuse in the form of the invasion of privacy. - Studying sensitive subjects is not taboo, but doing so without the permission of the participants is ethically wrong. - It is now generally agreed that:o It is unethical to deliberately misrepresent researcher's identity for the purpose of entering a private domain.o It is unethical to deliberately misrepresent the character of the research in which he is engaged. - Researchers are reminded that they must take into account subjects' rights to freedom from manipulation when weighing the potential benefits of the research role against the harms that could accrue.

The key requirements of analytic tools

- The researcher needs certain facilities not only to do full justice to the evidence collected but also to make the task one that is manageable within the resources and time scales that will be available. - Important hallmarks to look for in any system or method: o Remains grounded in the data: method needs to provide a structure that allows emergent ideas, concept and patterns to be captured and revisited. It is also vital to have quick and easy access to the original data at any stage. o Permits captured synthesis: synthesis should be captured, partly to ensure that it can always be checked back against the original material but also the have a record of the conceptualization or interpretation that takes place. o Facilitates and displays ordering: data will need to be organized and sorted so that they can be inspected in largely related blocks of subject matter. o Permits within and between case searches: facilities for 3 types of search: Thematic categories and patters across different cases. Associations between phenomena within one case. Associations in phenomena between groups of cases. o Allows systematic and comprehensive coverage of the data set: important to allow each unit of analysis to be given the same analytic treatment. o Permits flexibility: new ideas and refinements can occur at any stage of an analysis; should be possible to add and amend features. o Allows transparency to others: method needs to allow others to review the analytical building blocks as well as the final outputs.

Stages of an Interview

1. Arrival: establishing relationship, put participant at ease. 2. Introducing the research: providing a clear reiteration of the nature and purpose of the research, reaffirming confidentiality, seeking permission to record the interview, ensuring the environment is comfortable. 3. Beginning the interview: collect contextual information. 4. During the interview: guiding participant through key themes. 5. Ending the interview: gradually return to the level of everyday social interaction, check that participant has not been left with any unfinished business. 6. After the interview: thanking, say something about how contribution will help research, reassurances about confidentiality or use of interview, answer questions, give information about support groups.

Steps of the process of grounded theory research:

1. Initiating research. - Selection of an area of inquiry and a suitable site for study. - Researcher should focus on relaying initial observations and maintaining a theoretical sensitivity for the development of categories emerging from the data and then relating them to categories. 2. Data selection. - Location and identification of potential data sources associated with the research question. - Ongoing decisions about the direction of data collection are dependent on the emergence of categories and grounded theory. - Data selection is a flexible and dialectic process. - Ongoing sampling adjustments are possible and expected. 3. Initiation and ongoing data collection. - Important to collect data from a variety of sources as both a way to expose variation and a way to establish conceptual frameworks. - Data collection is not time discrete but is woven in with data analysis until the researcher has determined a point of saturation. - Through the data collection phase, concepts become more specific and methods of inquiry more structured. 4. Data analysis. - Constant comparative method for generating and analyzing data. - Nine substeps: 1. Coding the first set of data. 2. Ongoing application of codes and potential changes in sites or respondents. 3. Comparing and revising codes. 4. Checking for emerging categories. 5. Forming category sets. 6. Applying and modifying categories and their properties. 7. Assessing the level of needed elaboration of categories and their properties. 8. Detailing conceptual grounding or clarification of developed concepts. 9. Describing and clarifying the analytical rationale for the research process. (naming, coding, and memoing) - Category: o Considered independent from a conceptual component of a theory. o Not regarded as representations of the data but instead as being indicated by the data. oMust be sensitizing: providing a meaningful picture that helps the reader to see and hear vividly from the perspective of study participants. - Property: element or aspect of a category. - Categories and properties may vary in degree of concreteness or abstraction. - The possibility for hypotheses about the relationships between categories is always present, but the forcing of such relationships without clear support from the data is inappropriate. 5. Concluding the research. - Researcher has observed a point of data saturation and a sufficient theory has emerged from the data. - Once data saturation is evident, documentation becomes the single focus of the researcher. - A structural framework is developed through the clarification of associations between the central categories and the supporting categories and properties. - Grounded theory building: o Foundation: bounds the theory. o Description: elaborates on the structure and design of the theory. o Inventory: establishes the data-based building materials that compose the theory. - Constant comparison and elaboration of comparison groups (theoretical sampling) in the application phase and conceptual development and operationalization, lead to the full or partial fulfillment of the theory requirements.

Stages of a Focus Group

1. Scene setting and ground rules. - Thank participants for coming, friendly conversation, stress confidentiality. - Emphasize points that may increase participants' motivation to take an active role in the discussion. - Indicate expected roles. - Explain need for recording discussion. 2. Individual introductions. - Let group introduce themselves, to: o Allow participants to build up familiarity. o Provide a chance to both speak and listen. - Make a brief comment about the composition of the group as a whole. 3. The opening topic. - Introducing opening topic. - Aim is to promote discussion and engage as many participants as possible. - Researcher is active. 4. Discussion. - Role of the researcher is juggling: balancing the need to promote group interaction against the need for some individual detail, and the value of free-flowing debate against the need for coverage of specified topics. - Researcher listens and probes. - Include everyone, balance contributions. 5. Ending the discussion. - Try to finish on a positive and completed note. - Pace the end of the discussion in order to allow time for the group to prepare for it and to avoid too abrupt a finish. - Thank group, stress how helpful the discussion has been, reaffirm confidentiality.

Steps of Observational Research

1. Site selection. 2. Gain entrée into the community by approaching gatekeepers. 3. Begin observing / training / spend orienting time: culture shock. 4. Make note of just about everything. 5. Observations will fall into patterns, which suggest further questions to pursue. 6. Observations continue until theoretical saturation (new findings replicate earlier ones) is achieved.

Descriptive accounts

Defining elements and dimensions, refining categories and classifying data - Main task is to display data in a way that is conceptually pure, making distinctions that are meaningful and provides content that is illuminating. - 3 key steps: o Detection: identify substantive content and dimensions of a phenomenon. o Categorization: refine categories and assign descriptive data. o Classification: assign groups of categories to classes, usually at a higher level of abstraction.- In the more abstract categorization, three things happen: o Analyst has begun to assign labels to the data that have moved beyond the original text and has begun to interpret the data in a more conceptual way. o Categorizations being used show that the same features are appearing in different cases, even though they were differently described originally. o Other categories are emerging that are very similar in conception and which could be collectively described under a slightly broader heading. - Categories will be considered to see if they link with or are similar to others. - Higher levels of abstraction will take place, to yield sets of categories within a broader classification. - The connection between the original data and the classification taking place should remain visible so the elements that have been aggregated can be seen and revisited. - There will often be potential to conceptualize classifications in a different way, so the internal composition of the classes needs to be clearly identified. - First level of description categorization should remain close to the data. Consider whether the initial categorization that has been used would be easily recognized by the study participants. - A decision about the level of detail captured in the categorization will depend on the objectives of the study and the centrality of the phenomenon being described within those objectives. - It is important that the categorization is comprehensive. - Recurrence and numerical counts of recurrence should not be ignored, but they should not be presented as primary findings in themselves since they will have no statistical value at all. Rather, they should be used to find the significance of the recurring phenomena through other means. - Categorization and classification can be used to describe the form or nature of any social phenomena. Establishing typologies - Two important characteristics of typologies: o Usually multidimensional or multifactorial classifications: they combine two or more different dimensions so that a more refined or complex portrayal of a position or characteristic can be identified. o They offer a classification in which categories are discrete and independent of each other. A feature or individual can only be assigned to one category. - Steps to be taken in the detection of a typology: o Identify the relevant dimensions of a typology. o Ensure that all the cases can be assigned to each of the dimensions. o Make cross-fertilization into typographical categories. o Restart process of testing to ensure that all cases can be allocated to only one of the categories. - While the categories themselves need to be discrete from each other, some variations within categories may occur in relation to the dimensions used for construction. Capturing any variation within categories will form part of the descriptive account of the typology. - It is also possible to use predefined typologies that are established prior to the study. An important typology might be used as a key criterion in sampling. - Not every qualitative study will lend itself to the creation of a typology. - To be effective, a typology should give good purchase on the data, and help explain differences, rather than be a purely conceptual exercise.

Explanatory accounts

Detecting patterns; associate analyses and identification of clustering Linkages between sets of phenomena (matched set linkages) - Often, it is not clear that one phenomenon explains the other but only that they tend to co-exist. - Matched linkages cannot be verified until the full data set is reviewed although they may begin to emerge at a much earlier stage of analysis.Attachment to subgroups - Investigate whether there are any patterns occurring in the data within particular subgroups of the study population. - Typologies and other group classifications are useful in displaying associations in qualitative data by showing how particular views or experiences may attach to particular groups or sectors of the population. - Central chart: displays a mixture of demographic data and classifications developed during the descriptive stage of analysis. - The search for patterns or differences takes place as for matched set linkages, but the focus of the search is known in advance (to detect differences between identified groups) so the data can be ordered in a way that makes inspection easy. Verifying associations - It is necessary to explore why linkages and associations exist. Steps: 1. Check how the level of matching between the phenomena is distributed across the whole data set. 2. Interrogate the patterns of association. - A pattern of association is used as a pointer towards further stages of analysis. - In the search for explanations, the analyst looks not only as cases that fit the pattern but also at cases that do not. Developing explanations - Explanations rarely just emerge from the data, they are often actively constructed. - At an analytic level, explanations may be based on the explicit reasons that are given by participants themselves, or implicit reasons that are inferred by the analyst. - Explanations may be dispositional (derived from the behavior and intentions of individuals) or situational (attributed to factors from a context or structure which are thought to contribute to the outcome).Using explicit reasons and accounts - Feelings, beliefs and ways of acting are important explicit accounts in understanding motivations and intentions. - The researcher may decide to present the recurrence, range and diversity of explanations given by participants, or to look for patterns among and offer explanations for these explicit accounts.Inferring an underlying logic - Deeper explanations of a phenomenon may not be immediately conveyed or clearly understood by the individuals themselves. Three approaches: o Researcher may tease out an explanation based on the juxtaposition or interweaving of two apparently unconnected themes. o Explanation may be based on the repeated coexistence of two sets of phenomena although they do not necessarily appear in proximity in the interview. o Use the absence of phenomena to inform the underlying logic of an explanation. Using common sense to search for explanations - Premises or assumptions may either fit a pattern commonly known to exist or simply make straightforward sense through something seen in the data.Developing explanatory concepts - Sometimes a powerful analytical concept which is developed in the course of the study can itself explain a phenomenon. - Often these are underpinning or meta concepts that make it possible to place important emergent themes within a broader explanatory framework. Drawing from other empirical studies - Researcher may borrow concepts or explanations to see how well they fit findings. Using theoretical frameworks - Where researchers are interested in a particular field or body or literature, or where they are committed to a particular theoretical perspective, they may wish to relate their local findings to a broader context and develop local explanations in accordance with their chosen theoretical or analytical framework. - Explanations must be carefully checked to ensure that they reflect the uniqueness and diversity of the data and do not bully the findings to fit preconceived ideas. Seeking wider applications - Final tier of analysis involves a consideration of whether evidence from the study has some wider application. - Any consideration of the wider applications of research findings forms part of the analytical output from a study. - It needs to be strongly supported by evidence with a clear exposition of how the inferential or explanatory arguments have been developed.

Further Focus Group Strategies

Encouraging in-depth exploration of emergent issues - If a potentially interesting issue has been raised by a group member, the researcher may allow the discussion to continue, seeing whether others will pick up on it. - The researcher may decide to draw attention more directly to the point, asking for more comments on it or asking a specific question about it. - They may encourage the group to reflect on the links or relationships between what individual participants are saying. - If divergent views are being expressed, the researcher may ask whether these are in conflict with each other or can be reconciled, what the appropriate balance between them is, or why such differences of view arise. - They may encourage respondents to focus on the implications or consequences of what has been raised in individual examples. - If the group is working well together, they may deepen the commentary themselves. This happens when group members are really engaged with the research subject, and if they are particularly articulate and informed about it. - Researcher will be making decisions about what to probe to focus and deepen the discussion, and to include other participants or issues. Exploring diversity of view - There is a particular opportunity in group discussions to delve into diversity. - People may agree with each other, even though they are inconsistent or contradictory: ask group to clarify things, to encourage them to confront and acknowledge diversity and to refine what is being said in the light of it. Challenging social norms and apparent consensus - Ways of challenging social norms and apparent consensus: o Asking whether anyone has a different view. o Stressing the disagreement or difference in view is acceptable and wanted. o Trying to find the boundaries of social norms by asking whether there are circumstances or situations under which the group would feel differently. o Playing the role of devil's advocate, or challenging unanimity by presenting an alternative viewpoint. - Encourage the group to recognize and confront the normative view. - If the researcher is able to create an environment in which people feel safe and comfortable with speaking frankly, group-based research can be very effective for discussing topics which involve social norms. Enabling and projective techniques - Techniques help to focus discussion and to refine the formulation and expression of views.

Conducting a Discussion in a Focus Group

Flexibility or structure: controlling the discussion - Allow as much relevant discussion to be possible to be generated from within the group while at the same time ensuring that the aims of the research are met. - Researcher will remain as non-directive as possible, but will nevertheless be pacing the debate to ensure that all the key issues are covered as fully as possible. - Decide what is relevant and when to move on. - Introducing a question linked to the relevant subject area will help to steer the discussion back. Probing for fuller response - Aim is to clarify, to delve deeper and to cover all angles, rather than accepting an answer at its face value. - After probing an individual's comment if this is needed to understand it fully, the group researcher would then open out the discussion. Noting non-verbal language - Body language is noteworthy from two points of view:o Adds views or emphasis relating to the discussion topic.o Provides an indicator of participants' feelings relating to the group process. Controlling the balance between individual contributions - Creating space for everyone to contribute: o Use of non-verbal communication will be significant. o By holding back, the group may regulate the balance themselves. - Addressing dominant participants: o Finding indirect ways to shift attention away from the dominant participant. o Adopting a direct approach is the indirect way is unsuccessful. o Avoid a confrontation. - Drawing out reticent participants: o Reticent participants often have viewpoints or experiences that are different from the main, and therefore of particular interest to the research. o It will sometimes be necessary to take more active steps to provide encouragement.- Avoiding simultaneous dialogue: o Stop participants from talking over each other, in order to distinguish different views on the recording tape and to allow time for everyone to express themselves. Focusing on participants' personal views - Avoidance of expressing personal views. - Researcher needs to ask directly what they think.

Tuckman stages of a Focus Group

Forming: testing and dependence on leader. Storming: intragroup conflict, criticism. Norming: development of group cohesion and optimism. Performing: functional role relatedness, cohesiveness. Adjourning: termination, separation, death of the group.

Focus Group Composition

Heterogeneity versus homogeneity - Some diversity in the composition of the group aids discussion, but too much can inhibit it. - Recognizing their shared experiences, participants can assume that others know what they mean rather than articulate if fully. - A very heterogeneous group can feel threatening to participants and inhibit disclosure. - Four issues need to be considered in weighing up the extent of diversity to build into group composition: o Sensitive topics leave less scope for diversity. o It is usually necessary for respondents in each group to have broadly the same proximity to the research subject. o Socio-demographic makeup of the group can influence how frank and fulsome discussion will be. o It may be a specific requirement of the research to look at differences between subgroups within the sample. - Token representation should be avoided; at least three people would generally be required to represent a particular subgroup. Strangers, acquaintances and pre-existing groups - Focus groups are typically held with strangers as this facilitates both open questioning and disclosure. - It can be beneficial to work with a pre-existing group. o Trigger memories of shared situations. o Safe atmosphere. - Danger that shared assumptions mean issues are not fully elaborated because their meaning is taken for granted, or that group norms dominate. - Certainly substantial differences in status between group members who know each other should be avoided. - Asking unexpected acquaintances not to sit next to each other during the discussion might help.

Managing Data

Identifying initial themes or concepts - Analyst must first gain an overview of the data coverage and become familiar with the data set. - When reviewing the chosen material, the task is to identify recurring themes/ideas. - Devise a conceptual framework or index, drawing both upon the recurrent themes and upon issues introduced into the interviews through the topic guide. - Sort themes and group them under broader categories or main themes. Labelling or tagging the data - When applying an index, it simply shows which theme or concept is being mentioned or referred to within a particular section of the data. - Coding often refers to a process of capturing dimensions or content that has already been more precisely defined and labelled. - Important features of indexing: o When the content of description is complex, emotional or has high significance, it is common to find a number of important themes in close proximity. o Subjects weave in and out of each other: sign of interconnection between themes or issues. o Analyst has to be alert to short references to subjects buried within a discussion about other issues. - If indexing proves too time-consuming because of subtleties in the index being applied, it is worth considering some revisions to reduce complexity. - If the data are very orderly in their structure, it may be decided not to index but to move straight to sorting and synthesizing the data. Sorting the data by theme or concept - Sort the data so that material with similar content or properties are located together. - Purpose is to allow the analyst to focus on each subject in turn so that the detail and distinctions that lie within can be unpacked. - It is crucial that sections of material are not removed from their context in a way that is irretrievable. - Ensure that there is the opportunity to assign material to multiple locations: o It may be that a single passage will have relevance to two conceptually different subjects and carving it up would destroy meaning and coherence. o The juxtaposition of two apparently unrelated matters may give the very first clues to some later insight or explanation. Summarizing or synthesizing the data - Reduce amount of material to a more manageable level and begin the process of distilling the essence of the evidence for later representation. - Ensures that analyst inspects every word of the original material to consider its meaning and relevance to the subject under enquiry. - 3 requirements are essential if the essence of the original material is to be retained: o Key terms, phrases or expressions should be retained as much as possible from the participant's own language. o Interpretation should be kept to a minimum at this stage so that there is always an opportunity to revisit the original expression as the more refined levels of analysis occur. o Material should not be dismissed as irrelevant just because its inclusion is not immediately clear. - Thematic matrix: each main theme and its subtopics are plotted on a separate thematic chart. - Thematic charting: summarizing key points of data and placing it in the thematic matrix. Guidelines: o Include enough data and context so that the analyst is not required to go back to the transcribed data to understand the point being made, but do not include so much that the charts become full of undigested material. o Note the page reference of each piece of data. o Retain the language of the respondent. o Mark but do not recite quotations. o Use agreed abbreviations and conventions. - Review the charted data when the end of a transcript is reached. - Once the data is synthesized, it should have coherence in terms of the content displayed such that its essence can be understood without recourse to seeing the original material.

Question Formulation: Using Broad and Narrow Questions

Interviewing involves asking questions which vary in terms of how broad or narrow they are. Closed questions can also play a role in controlling the interview process; useful when the answer is straying from the question and the researcher needs them to focus on the particular topic, or where a participant is extremely voluble and the researcher needs to structure their response by asking narrower questions to ensure an issue is discussed in the detail required. Avoid leading questions!!! Asking clear questions - Various pitfalls to avoid when trying to ask short and clear questions:o It is sometimes tempting to preface a question, to link it with something said earlier by the participant, or to explain how the question was prompted by the researcher's understanding of the subject. Can become so complex that the question itself gets lost or obscured. o Double questions should be avoided. People will answer the easier part only. o Avoid questions that are too abstract or theorized. o Important to be sensitive to the language and terminology used by people, and to mirror is as far as possible.

Techniques for Achieving Depth

Listening and remembering - Listening: understand where there is a subtext that needs to be explored, hear the meaning of what the participant is saying, and hear the nuances in the account. - Next question should be determined by the interviewee's answer, not in advance. - Helps interviewer remember pints that need to be followed up at a later stage in the interview. Facilitating the relationship with the participant - Ways in which the researcher can assist the relationship during the interview: o Expressing interest and attention: eye contact, nod, follow-up questions. o Establishing that there are no right or wrong answers: also means not correcting mistakes or misunderstandings. o Being sensitive to tone of voice and body language: body language and speech patterns can be important clues that there is more depth to be found. o Allowing the participant time to reply. o Pacing the interview: negotiate extra time as early as possible. o Handling extraneous information: approach the subject fresh with the participant, rather than introducing information that has not come from the interview. Sometimes, it may be appropriate to refer to and check to information known, to avoid undue repetition. Turning assumptions and interventions into questions - Never assume: turn an assumption into a question. - Refrain from commenting on an answer. - Refrain from summarizing the interviewee's answer. - Refrain from finishing off an answer. - Avoid extraneous remarks. Neutrality and avoidance of self-disclosure - Qualitative interviewers should aim to achieve empathy without becoming over- involved. - Retaining an objective and neutral approach may be particularly challenging if a researcher is personally drawn to or involved in their research subject. - It is important to remain detached and calm where people use language or become emotional in ways which the researcher might find shocking or distressing. - Answering questions and giving personal views or details might be problematic, and can inhibit the objective of obtaining a fulsome, open response which is as free as possible from the researcher's influence. - The interviewee may want to maintain the intimacy by staying on common ground, reluctant to raise experiences or views they think the researcher may not share. - A better response would be to say that the researcher wants to focus on the participant and their experience during the interview, but to offer to answer questions once the interview has ended. Responding to different interviewing situations - Situations may require special handling on the part of the researcher. - It may suddenly present itself without warning. Conducting sensitive interviews - Sensitive interviews come in two forms:Nature of the topic itself may be intrinsically sensitive.

Validity

Reliability: measure of the degree to which an observation is consistent with a general pattern and not the result of random chance. Validity: measure of the degree to which an observation actually demonstrates what it appears to demonstrate. Observations are susceptible to bias from subjective interpretations. - Achieving validity: o Work with multipole observers or teams, particularly if they represent various viewpoints. oAnalytic induction: emergent propositions are tested in a search for negative cases. o Verisimilitude: style of writing that draws the reader into the world that has been studied so as to evoke a mood of recognition; rich descriptive language instead of facts and figures. - Pointers to help judge the quality of research conclusions: o Objectivity/conformability/external reliability: the degree to which conclusions flow from the information that has been collected, and not from any biases on the part of the researcher. o Reliability/dependability/auditability: the degree to which the process of research has been consistent and reasonably stable over time and across various researchers and methods. o Internal validity/credibility/authenticity/truth value: the degree to which the conclusions of a study make sense, if they are credible to the people studied as well as to readers of the report, and if the final product is an authentic record of whatever it was that was observed. o External validity/transferability/fittingness: the degree to which the conclusions of a study have relevance to matters beyond the study itself; can the findings be generalized to other contexts? o Utilization/application/action orientation/pragmatic validity: the degree to which programs or actions from a study's findings and/or the degree to which ethical issues are forthrightly dealt with.

Analyzing Group Data

The nature of group data - Ways in which group data differ from individual interview data with particular significance for analysis: o Group dynamics. o Interactions. o Uneven coverage. o Less extensive coverage. o The influence of other views. Approaches to group analysis - Whole group analysis: treats the data produced by a group as a whole without delineating individual contributions. - Participant based group analysis: contributions of individual participants are separately analyzed within the context of the discussion as a whole. More detailed evidence about similarities and differences to be determined, but may remove immediate context in which contribution was made, time-consuming.

Observer Bias

Ways to minimize the bias that almost always enters into observational research: o Naturalness of observation provides some inoculation against bias. o Emergent: great potential for creativity and new insights as reality comes into clearer focus as the result of experience in the field setting. o Observational research combines well with other techniques for the collection of information. Triangulation: observational findings are constantly being cross-checked.

Analytical Hierarchy

explanatory accounts --> descriptive acconts --> data management

Content Mining Questions

explore the detail in each dimension, to access the meaning it holds for the interviewee, and to generate an in-depth understanding from the interviewee's point of view. (involves more probes than content mapping) - Amplificatory probes: encourage to elaborate further. - Exploratory probes: explore views and feelings that underlie descriptions of behavior, events or experience, and that help to show the meaning that experiences hold for interviewees. Helps to illuminate experiences and behaviors, and to create a more rounded understanding of them. - Explanatory probes: repeatedly sought for views, feelings, behaviors, events, decisions. - Clarificatory probes: used to:o Clarify terms and explore language.o To clarify details, sequences etc. o Clarifying through testing an expressed position. o Challenging in consistency.

Kvale identified three different contexts of interpretation in qualitative analysis

o Self-understanding: researcher attempts to formulate what the participants mean and understand. o Critical common sense understanding: researcher uses general knowledge about the context of statements to place them in a wider arena. o Theoretical understanding: interpretation is placed in a broader theoretical perspective.

Tesch found three focuses within the different approaches of qualitative research

o Use of language. o Descriptive or interpretative approach. o Theory building.

Two key stages of analysis

o Managing the data. o Making sense of the evidence through descriptive or explanatory accounts.

Content Mapping Questions

open up the research territory, identify relevant issues. - Ground mapping questions: first questions, asked to open up a subject. Minimal probing, raise most relevant issues. - Dimension mapping questions: used to focus the participant a little more narrowly on particular topics or concepts. - Perspective-widening questions: stimulate further through or ensure comprehensive coverage.