Qualitative Research Cycle

• Qualitative research in positivist and quantitative disciplines involves an explicit study design process
• There is alternation between inductive and deductive reasoning

Qualitative Research Cycle

• The qualitative research cycle has three interlinked cycles.

• The design cycle comprises four interlinked tasks: research question, literature and theory, conceptual framework, and selecting research methods.

• The data collection cycle includes designing a research instrument, recruiting participants, collecting data, and making inductive inferences, guided by study design.

• The analytic cycle involves developing codes, describing and comparing, categorizing and conceptualizing, and developing theory.

• Qualitative research examines people's experiences in detail via methods like in-depth interviews and focus groups.

• Qualitative research helps to identify issues from the perspective of study participants by using an interpretive approach and studying people in their natural settings.

• Two dominant paradigms in social science research are interpretive and positivist.

• Paradigm serves as perspectives through which we interpret reality and use ontology, epistemology and methodology

• Qualitative research addresses 'why' and 'how' questions, understanding behavior from the perspective of study participants

• Verstehen helps gain better understanding of behavior from the study participants themselves

• Qualitative research studies sensitive/complex issues.

• Positivist paradigm uses the scientific approach to research, emphasizes objective measurement of social issues, and separates facts from values.

• Epistemological approach forms a hypothesis from theory, operationalizes and tests the hypothesis by collecting data and evaluating if evidence supports the hypothesis.

• Positivist paradigm fails to acknowledge the interactive and co-constructive nature of data collection with humans and only focuses on facts rather than contextual influences.

• Interpretive paradigm seeks to understand people's lived experiences from their perspective using emic perspective

• The interpretive paradigm focuses on the social construction of subjective meaningful experiences and that there can be multiple perspectives on reality

• Background of researchers influences data collection/interpretation

• Understanding comes from the researcher's perspective/interpretive framework.

• Verstehen is from the perspective of the study population.

• Emic perspective provides information on the insider's POV, perceptions, and beliefs.

• Etic perspective offers the outsider's POV, opinions, and beliefs.

• Subjectivity can occur as study participants' perspectives reflect their subjective views of their social world and researchers also bring their subjective influences to the research process.

• Reflexivity is a process where researchers engage in self-reflection to identify their influence on the research process

• Personal reflexivity occurs when researchers reflect on their own backgrounds and assumptions may influence research process

• Interpersonal reflexivity focuses on how the interview setting and interpersonal dynamic between participant and researcher can influence knowledge creation and influence research designs

• Verstehen involves understanding how disabled people experience the neighborhood, the researcher learns about the insider's perspective, such as learning about their experience using a wheelchair.

• Interpersonal reflexivity involves reflecting upon how the process of rapport building during the interview may have impacted the collected data and whether an uncomfortable atmosphere or awkwardness may have made it difficult for the participant to answer truthfully.

• Interpretive approach forms a subjective understanding of the experiences of the immigrant community in a city and focuses on their subjective experiences.

• Deduction is is derivating expectations and hypotheses from theories, while induction involves developing generalizations from specific observations.

• Qualitative research questions deal with processes, understanding, insight, perceptions, opinions, beliefs, and feelings.

• Embedding research within the wider scientific literature helps improve research, helps refine research questions and justifies the research - why conduct this study

• Incorporation of scientific literature and theory informs the researcher what data can be collected and using what methods?

• Theory is relationship between concepts, while middle range theories involve the integration of theory with empirical research and apply to measurable pieces of reality.

• Clarifying concepts clarifies the theoretical focus of study and guides data collection

• Conceptual framework maps the relationships between the concepts used in the study

• Conceptual framework is developed through deductive reasoning based on existing theory and depicts an abstract concept - socio-economic context

• Conceptual framework isn't an operationalized variable like annual household income.

• Design cycle is mostly deductive conceptual cycle where inductive reasoning begins in data collection and analytic cycle

• Point of saturation is when, after each interview, you make more inductive inferences, going deeper into the research issue until you reach a point where new information is no longer coming up.

• Making inferences is formulating grounded or inductive hypotheses.

• Induction is the development of generalizations from specific observations, in the research process some participants mention that procrastination of schoolwork leads them to sleep less

Purposive Sampling

• Purposive sampling is used in qualitative research to gain a detailed, contextualized understanding of the phenomenon studied.
• It works well with a small sample
• It requires flexible sampling to capture diversity of issues.
• It involves purposefully selecting participants with certain characteristics important to the study and allows the sample to evolve as study progresses.
• Purposive sampling process begins by deductively defining the study population reflected in the study's questions during design cycle, helping to identify how to recruit participants
• Purposive sampling also employs building diversity into study population to capture diversity by using the design cycle for deductive and refining participants after some data collection in inductive
• Data collection during the sample provides researchers the opportunity to learn more about their topic → identify new types of people that may be information-rich
• Theoretical Sampling is used to further refine sample by broadening or narrowing what is permissible within the sample
• Participant recruitment strategies can include using several strategies in one study, employing different strategies for different types of participants, methods of data collection/locations or entering the study community for the first time with rapport building
• Reflecting on how you enter community and influence on positionality is key during participant recruitment
• Gatekeepers are people with a recognized role in the community and knowledge to encourage community participation in the study
• Gate Keepers are good because they can help with respect, social hierarchy and can advocate for the study and can also face potential drawbacks like bias or coercion
• Registers are a central list to extrapolate participants from and can include school enrollment or membership lists
• Registers can also face draw backs like permission problems and incomplete Registers
• Networks can also function through formal or informal networks, such as work places or event listings
• Networks can also face drawbacks like issues in permission or limited access
• Researchers can also access participants through formal networks and services such as breast cancer survivor forums or local greek associations
• Informal networks such as local social events can also function as a recruitment point for data collection

Snowballing

• Snowballing refers to study participants helping the researcher to identify additional participants.
• Participants can self identify through placed ads
• Mixed method studies can allow data collected to be refined for better analysis
• Saturation is the point in data collection when no new issues are identified which often makes further data collection redundant
• Sample size in qualitative research is guided by the adequacy of data, in terms of richness and diversity and emphasizes induction
• Saturation happens much faster when the study is broad
• A detail focus means faster saturation occurs
• Ethical guidelines include: obtaining informed consent from participants, self-determination, minimization of harm, ensuring anonymity and confidentiality.
• Human subjects research involves collecting data from living human subjects collection and storage of personal data.
• Ethical guidelines are made to prevent harm

Reflexivity

• Reflexivity means reflecting on who you are and how you influence the research, that you must reflect on your personal characteristics.
• What a researcher chooses to highlight or not highlight about themselves and what they want to gain from the interviewee could possibly lead to ethical violations.
• By continuously adapting the research and conceptual framework, we get closer to the phenomenon we are studying. It becomes more robust and rooted in the experience of the participants by adapting.