Qualitative Research Methods PDF

FIELD METHODS REVIEWER ▪ allowing us to investigate how decisions are made and get a deep understanding. Most Important Characteristics of Qualitative Q...

FIELD METHODS REVIEWER ▪ allowing us to investigate how decisions are made and get a deep understanding. Most Important Characteristics of Qualitative Qualitative Research Research: ▪ involves the collection and analysis of ▪ The qualitative research approach is non-numerical data to gain a thorough useful for complicated thinking, which is understanding of a concept or a problem an important feature. of research. ▪ There are instances when a complicated - seeks to answer a research question explanation is necessary to obtain the through the collection of evidence. best outcomes rather than simple Types of Qualitative Research statistics responses. 1. Ethnography is the descriptive study of Qualitative Data Analysis people and their culture. ▪ Notes, films, audio recordings, pictures, - aims to study individuals in their own and written documents are examples of habitat through the usage of methods like qualitative data. observations, interviews etc. 2. Oral History involves the collection of oral ▪ Text analysis is a popular approach for testimonies from people about their own analyzing qualitative data. lived experiences. Some of the major fields where qualitative 3. Case Study involves a detailed research is performed include: examination of a particular person, event, or community. 4. Phenomenological Method aims to ▪ Anthropology explore the experiences of a particular phenomenon in a community or a group of ▪ Political science people. ▪ Psychology 5. Grounded Theory Method a qualitative research methodology that attempts to ▪ Business management unravel the meanings of people's ▪ History interactions, social actions, and experiences. In other words, these ▪ Social science explanations are grounded in the participants' own interpretations or How to Make a Research Paper Title in 5 Steps explanations. ▪ should accurately capture what you have 6. Narrative Model one of the types of done. qualitative research methods which focuses on spoken or written words or ▪ should sound interesting to the people visual representations by people. who work on the same or a similar topic. 7. Historical Model is one of the unique ▪ should contain the important title approaches within qualitative research keywords that other researchers use when which is involved in the detailed study of looking for literature in databases. past events in order to get a better understanding of the present and predict ▪ The “title” should be descriptive, direct, future events on that basis. accurate, appropriate, interesting, concise, 8. Focus Groups typically consists of a precise, unique, and should not be small number of respondents (6-10) from misleading. your target market. - to obtain answers to the questions “why,” ▪ The “abstract” needs to be simple, “what,” and “how.” specific, clear, unbiased, honest, concise, precise, stand-alone, complete, scholarly, What is qualitative data collection? (preferably) structured, and should not be misrepresentative. Qualitative data gathering allows for the collection of non-numerical data Step 1: Answer some key questions about your b. Start your statement by saying, “The research paper. purpose is” You could also talk about the “intent” or the “objective” of the study. Step 2: Identify research study keywords c. Use an appropriate verb tense in the Step 3: Research title writing: use these statement. keywords d. Use non-directional language that Step 4: Create a working research paper title opens up the responses from your participants rather than closing them - To create a working title, remove elements down. that make it a complete “sentence” but e. Use an action verb to convey how you keep everything that is important to what will learn about your topic, such as the study is about. understand, describe, develop, discover, Step 5: Remove any nonessential words and or generate. phrases from your titlethe study is about. f. State the central phenomenon - is the core idea you want to explore g. Indicate the participants in your study. Who will be providing data in your project? The Central Question h. Indicate where you will gather the the broadest question that can be asked data—the research site about the topic you are studying in your i. Provide a general definition of your qualitative project. central phenomenon if the term or an interrogative statement in the form of a phrase is not self-evident to readers. question, does not include directional words signifying a quantitative project, such as 2. The central question is a single general positive, successful, or change. question that reframes the purpose into begins with a word how or what. a specific question. Typically it does not begin with the word why, which suggests a quantitative cause- ▪ the broadest question that can be asked. effect language. ▪ It is unlike quantitative questions, in which states the central phenomenon, the core authors try to narrow the questions down idea you want to explore in the qualitative to specific variables that can be related. project. identifies the participants in the study, the The Central Phenomenon people from whom the data will be collected. ▪ the core idea being explored in a may identify the research site or the place qualitative study. where the study will be undertaken. ▪ It needs to be stated in a way that is not Interrelating the Purpose, the Research too broad (e.g., experiences of individuals) Questions, and the Methods or too narrow (e.g., identity when at work). 1. The purpose statement is the overall ▪ rest somewhere in the middle, such as the objective or intent of the study. In some “cultural identity” of individuals. projects it is called the “study aim.” ▪ stated within both the purpose ▪ the most important statement in your statement and the central question. qualitative study. Uses of Content Analysis - It is a statement that conveys the essence ▪ Identify the intentions, focus or of a project communication trends of an individual, Elements to Include in a Good Purpose group or institution Statement ▪ Describe attitudinal and behavioral a. Use key words to denote to the reader responses to communications that your statement is the purpose ▪ Determine psychological or emotional statement. state of persons or groups  ▪ Reveal international differences in - Code remaining transcripts using communication content codebook - Organize codes into larger categories ▪ Reveal patterns in communication content - Organize categories into larger, ▪ Pre-test and improve an intervention or overarching themes (thematic analysis) survey prior to launch Code → Category → Theme ▪ Analyze focus group interviews and open- Theme – word/phrase to describe broader, ended questions to complement overarching idea. quantitative data Category – word/phrase to describe a group of codes Types of Content Analysis Code – word/phrase which represents a 1. Conceptual analysis determines the single idea existence and frequency of concepts in a text. How Many Codes? - determines the existence and frequency of ▪ Depends on research question concepts in a text. - to analyze the consistency or regularity of ▪ Start with large number, then refine over explicit (clear) notions or ideas that are time through additional analysis (iterative) represented within the text and discussion (peer debriefing) 2. Relational analysis develops the conceptual analysis further by examining ▪ End result = 25-30 codes ->4-5 themes the relationships among concepts in a ▪ Single transcript = 10-15 codes text. ▪ Each type of analysis may lead to different results, conclusions, interpretations and meanings. Qualitative Research Requires Rigor Analyzing Data CODING, CATEGORY AND THEME CREATION Analysis Considerations ▪ Everyone - codes all transcripts ▪ Everyone- codes first X transcripts, agrees on coding schema and then divides up the remaining transcripts. Data Analysis Steps Read through data Develop preliminary code list - Code– word/phrase (often taken verbatim from text) which represents a single idea - Single words, phrases, sentences, or paragraphs can be coded - Discuss code list with colleagues to finalize list and create codebook (iterative process)