Qualitative Research Design & Methods

Qualitative Data Collection: Research Design & Methods

• Qualitative research aims to understand phenomena difficult to measure, using various data types: oral, textual, visual, and audible.
• Primary data sources include participant data (interviews, focus groups, observation), archival data (historical accounts, publications), and arts-based data (photovoice, co-creation).

Sampling in Qualitative Research

• Sampling plans are crucial, directly tied to research goals and analysis.
• Non-random sampling methods include:
  • Purposeful sampling (criteria-based selection, convenience sampling).
• Sampling considerations include: theoretical population, study population, sample, sample frame, scope conditions, and selection criteria.
  • Factors like sample diversity and symbolic representation influence selection.
  • Sample size considerations include diminishing returns (saturation) and resources.
  • Sample frames can be existing or generated.

Research Transparency & Ethics

• Ethical principles in qualitative research include:
  • Production transparency: documenting data collection procedures.
  • Analytical transparency: clearly outlining how conclusions are drawn from data.
  • Data access: making data and supporting materials available.

Ethical Principles for Research Participants

• Key ethical principles include:
  • Do no harm, informed consent.
  • Confidentiality/anonymity, participation/withdrawal.
  • Self-reflexivity (recognizing researcher-participant relationships).
  • Data archiving/privacy and transparency/gratitude.

In-Depth Interviews (IDIs)

• IDIs serve various research purposes:
  • Preparatory: initial orientation in a new research area.
  • Systematizing: gathering descriptive evidence.
  • Exploratory/theory-generating: generating theory inductively.
  • Confirmatory/theory-testing: testing theories deductively.
• IDIs can be used at different stages of research:
  • Preliminary: identifying research avenues, refining concepts.
  • Main study: testing hypotheses, gathering rich data.
  • Multi-method research: triangulating with other methods.
• Interviewee types include: experts, elites, and non-elites.
• Interview approaches:
  • Philosophical perspectives on doing interviews
    • Minor perspective: accessing pre-existing knowledge, digging for nuggets, post-positivism.
    • Traveler perspective: participating in knowledge generation, interpretivism.
  • Different interview types (unstructured, semi-structured, structured) and question types.
  • Interview techniques (mapping questions, open-ended questions, probes, prompts, etc.)

Conducting Interviews

• Effective interviewing involves establishing rapport, active listening, responding/rephrasing, and flexible questioning.
• Skills necessary for successful interviews include:
  • Rapport-building.
  • Active listening & note-taking.
  • Language proficiency & intuition.
  • Flexibility & adaptability.

Explore the essentials of qualitative research design and sampling methods in this quiz. Understand the significance of qualitative data collection techniques and the various forms it can take. Test your knowledge on sampling strategies, including non-random methods and factors influencing sample selection.