Qualitative research methods

Phenomenology

To gather such data, one must undertake in-depth interviews with people who have directly experienced the phenomenon of interest. There is a focus on exploring how human beings make sense of experience and transform experience into consciousness. The only way for us to know what another experiences is to experience the phenomenon as directly as possible for ourselves.

Narratology

Originated in the study of written texts. The central idea of narrative analysis is that stories and narratives offer especially translucent windows into cultural and social meanings.

Autoethnography

Study of one's own culture and oneself as part of that culture and it's many variations. Distinguished by a self-awareness about and reporting of one's own experiences and introspections as a primary data source. Increases the importance of voice.

Voice, Perspective and Reflexivity (Analysis Strategies)

analyst owns and is reflective about her own voice and perspective; a credible voice conveys authenticity and trustworthiness

Unique Case Orientation (Analysis Strategies)

assumes each case is special and unique; the first level of analysis is being true to, respecting, and capturing the details of the individual cases being studied

Dynamic Systems

attention to process; assumes that change is ongoing

Purposeful Sampling (Design Strategies)

cases for study are selected because they are "information rich" and illuminative

Inductive analysis and Creative Synthesis (Analysis Strategies)

immersion in the details and specifics of the data to discover patterns, themes, and interrelationships.

Heuristic Inquiry

A form of phenomenological inquiry that brings to the fore the personal experience and insights of the researcher. Has strong roots in humanistic psychology.

Grounded Theory

Focuses on the process of generating theory rather than a particular theoretical content. Questions aim to get at meaning, not at truth.

Deductive Reasoning

From General to Specific. In this approach, you begin by specifying a theory. From the theory, you generate hypotheses about what should happen in specific circumstances. If you wish to test the theory, you can collect data to see whether what you hypothesize happens. If it does, the specific data you examine provide support for your theory. The direction of reasoning is often thought of as "top down," from theory (the general) to data (the specific).

Inductive Reasoning

From Specific to General. In this approach, you begin by examining concrete events or phenomena—your data. From the data, you attempt to identify larger categories of phenomena (or constructs, or variables), and to understand the relationships among them. In other words, you use the data to build theory. The direction of reasoning is often thought of as "bottom up," from the data (the specific) to theory (the general).

Four Kinds Of Qualitative Data

In Depth Interviewing, Open-ended questions Observations (as participant or not) Documents Focus Groups

Qualitative Data (Data Collection)

observations that yield detailed thick description; in depth; direct quotations about people's personal perspectives and experiences.

Emergent Design Flexibility (Design Strategies)

openness to adopting inquiry as understanding deepens and/or situations change; go where the data takes me

Context Sensitivity (Analysis Strategies)

places findings in a social, historical and temporal context; emphasizes careful comparative analyses and extrapolating patterns for possible transferability and adaptation in new settings.

Naturalistic Inquiry (Design Strategies)

studying real-world situations as the unfold naturally

In depth interviewing (open-ended questions)

to enable the researcher to understand and capture the points of view of other people without predetermining those points of view; to capture participants in their own terms.

Empathic Neutrality and Mindfulness

vicarious understanding without judgement by showing openness, sensitivity, respect, awareness and responsiveness; being fully present

Qualitative Research

Is primarily exploratory research. It is used to gain an understanding of underlying reasons, opinions, and motivations. It provides insights into the problem or helps to develop ideas or hypotheses for potential quantitative research. Used to dive deeper into the problem.

Quantitative research methods

Is used to quantify the problem by way of generating numerical data or data that can be transformed into useable statistics. It is used to quantify attitudes, opinions, behaviors, and other defined variables - and generalize results from a larger sample population.

Ethnography

What is the culture of this group? The primary method of anthropology culture. Primary method is participant observation.

Personal Experience and Engagement

the researcher gets close to the people, situation, and phenomenon under study; researcher's personal experience and insights are important.

Holistic Perspective (Analysis Strategies)

the whole phenomenon under study is understood as a complex system that is more than the sum of its parts

Observations

there are limitations to how much can be learned from what people say. To understand fully the complexities of many situations, direct observation of phenomenon of interest may be the best research method. Depth and detail- taking the reader into the setting that was observed.