Qualitative Research Methodologies PDF

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES LEARNING OUTCOMES By the end of the presentation you should be able to: 1. Describe what is qualitative research 2. Demonstrate the differences between Qualitative & Quantitative research 3. Understand the basic concepts of Qualitative...

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES LEARNING OUTCOMES By the end of the presentation you should be able to: 1. Describe what is qualitative research 2. Demonstrate the differences between Qualitative & Quantitative research 3. Understand the basic concepts of Qualitative studies: 4. Characteristics of qualitative research 1. Bias 2. Triangulation 3. Trustworthiness CASE STUDY 1 MALARIA A group of researchers from University of Limerick worked in a village in South Sudan. They did a survey of villagers and asked them what were the most serious problems. The villagers said that one of the most serious problems was malaria. The researchers tested the blood of some of the villagers and found that malaria was very common. They gave people in the village bed-nets soaked in insecticide and told them that using the nets would decrease malaria. The people started using the nets. The research team tested the blood of the people and found that there was a big reduction in malaria for those people who used the nets. So they felt the program was successful.  Later some other researchers came to the village. They found the people no longer used the nets. They said that they didn’t work. The villagers were sceptical of outsiders and were less interested in cooperating in programs to reduce malaria. CASE STUDY 1 Question: What are possible reasons that the people stopped using the nets?  In this case the reason the villagers stopped using the nets was a misunderstanding. By ‘malaria’ the researchers meant infection with the malaria parasite. But the villagers meant all fevers. Therefore, although CASE STUDY the number of ‘malaria infections’ decreased, the total number of ‘all fevers’ did not change much in the 1 community’s eyes. For this reason, they felt the nets did not work against THE REAL what the community called ‘malaria’ and abandoned using the nets. REASON: Question: Ask yourself: How could we have discovered the real reason?  Qualitative research is an approach to obtain a lot of in-depth information from people. The aim is to understand WHY people think and behave the way they do. Because we spend a lot of time with people QUALITATIVE to get this information we usually can only talk with a FEW people. RESEARCH PART 1 Qualitative research is a form of social inquiry that focuses on the way people interpret and make sense of their experiences and the world in which they live, and understand the social reality of individuals, groups and cultures. QUALITATIVE RESEARCH This is different from quantitative methods like surveys and case control studies. In quantitative research we obtain relatively little detailed information from each person. This is because with quantitative methods we are interested in describing WHAT people do (things like how many people have had vaccinations) - without really wanting details about why the situation is like that. Because we need less time with people to get this information, we can interview A LOT OF people. Both qualitative and quantitative methods are important, and whether we use one or the other depends on what we are trying to learn. Quantitative approaches are important and solve many type of research problem. Qualitative research is appropriate for different type of questions. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN QUALITATIVE & QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH Qualitative Quantitative 1. Aim 1. Exploration of participants’ 1. Search for causal experiences and life world explanations 2. Understanding, generating theory from 2. Testing hypothesis, data prediction 3. Exploratory 3. Confirmatory 2. Approach 1. Broad focus 1. Narrow focus 2. Process oriented 2. Product oriented 3. Context – bound 3. Context free 4. Getting close to data 4. In artificial or laboratory setting DIFFERENCES BETWEEN QUALITATIVE & QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH Qualitative Quantitative 3. Sample 1. Participants & Informants 1. Respondents 2. Purposive and theoretical sampling 2. Randomised sampling 3. Flexible sampling that develops during 3. Sample frame fixed research before research starts 4. Data 1. In-depth non-standardised interviews 1. Questionnaire, collection Standardised interviews 2. Participant observation / fieldwork 2. Tightly structured 3. Documents, photographs, videos observation DIFFERENCES BETWEEN QUALITATIVE & QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH Qualitative Quantitative 5. Analysis 1. Thematic, constant 1. Statistical analysis comparative analysis 2. Content analysis 3. Grounded theory 4. Ethnographic analysis 6. Outcome 1. Story 1. Measurable results 2. Ethnography 3. Theory DIFFERENCES BETWEEN QUALITATIVE & QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH Qualitative Quantitative 7. Relationship 1. Direct involvement of 1. Limit involvement of researcher researcher 2. Research relationship 2. Research relation distant close 8. Rigour 1. Trustworthiness 1. Internal validity 2. Authenticity 2. External validity 3. Typicality 3. Reliability 4. Transferability 4. Generalisability BASIC CONCEPTS OF QUALITATIVE STUDIES CHARACTERISTICS OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH The primacy of data The theoretical framework is not predetermined but derives directly from the data Contextualisation Qualitative is context bound, and researchers must be context sensitive Immersion in the settings Researchers immerse themselves in the natural setting of the people whose thoughts and feelings they wish to explore The ‘emic’ perspective Focus on the views of the people involved in the research and their perceptions, meaning and interpretations Thick description Describing the location, people within it, visual picture of the setting, events, verbatim, etc The research relationship Based on the position of equality Triangulation Several methods, data collections, investigators AIMS OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCHERS Qualitative researchers Explore the behaviour, perspectives, feelings and experiences of people and what lies at the core of their lives Ethnographers Focus on culture and customs Grounded theorist Investigate social processes and interaction Phenomenologist Consider the meanings of experience and describe the life world We need to be FLEXIBLE when carrying out a qualitative study. There are many methods we can use to achieve the same learning objective. Also we can ask different kinds of questions to learn the same BE information. FLEXIBLE So, if we find that a method or question we are using isn’t being understood or isn’t working well, we can change methods or use a different question. This is unlike a household survey where methods and questions are fixed before we start collecting data. “Bias means having only part of the truth, but we use the information as if it were the whole truth” BIAS Since bias is having only part of the truth, we reduce bias by getting more information. We get more information by looking at something in different ways. CASE STUDY 2 THE MOUNTAIN Think of a mountain. If you were standing in one place looking at a mountain and tried to describe it, you would only see one side. So your description would be biased. You would need to stand at different places to be able to see the whole mountain and really describe all of it. But even then the description would be biased because you may prefer to describe some things and not others. CASE STUDY 2 THE MOUNTAIN Therefore we should bring in other people and ask them to describe the mountain also. But even then the description is biased because we are all looking at the mountain with the same method, our eyes. We should use different methods, like using a telescope as well as our own eyes, to get a more complete description. CASE STUDY 2 THE MOUNTAIN But the description is still biased because we are all looking at the mountain at the same time of year. Some months there may be snow on the mountain but not at other times, so we would want to look at different times of the year. There is a name for reducing bias by using different ways to study the same thing. It is called TRIANGULATION. We do this, triangulation, in qualitative studies to describe populations instead of mountains. TRIANGULATION Reduce bias by using team members with different experiences and perspectives Continuously cross-checking information using different methods and types of informants  Actively identify bias at the end of each day  Decide how to manage bias in days ahead Levels of triangulation  Data  Investigators  Methods  Information  From different Multidisciplinary groups Gender Insiders / Outsiders Different locations Different times Data Investigator triangulation triangulation Types of Methodological Informants triangulation women & men Within – method (intra – young & old method) different ethnic groups Between method (across different SES groups – method)  We sometimes say that we trust a person. With this we mean that his behaviour is predictable in that similar behaviour is expressed at different occasions and we believe that the person is not lying. A trustworthy person is someone who tells us the “truth” and dose so consistently. What then, is trustworthy research? TRUSTWORTHINESS How can we judge what findings are worth believing? Several criteria have been established within both quantitative and qualitative research to judge their trustworthiness or rigor: FOUR CRITERIA FOR ASSESSING TRUSTWORTHINESS Question asked Issue Qualitative Quantitative 1. Have we really measured what we set out Truth value Credibility Internal validity to measure 2. How applicable are our result to other Applicability Transferability External validity subjects and other context 3. Would our findings be repeated if our Consistency Dependability Reliability research were replicated in the same context with the same subject 4. To what extend are our findings affected by Neutrality Conformability Objectivity personal interest and biases 1) TRUTH VALUE: CREDIBILITY The ability of the study to capture what the research really aimed at studying, meaning that the result are not simply the product of research design errors, misunderstandings, or influence of unknown factors. = Internal validity in quant HOW CAN WE IMPROVE THE CREDIBILITY OF A STUDY? 1. Prolonged Engagement (Stay in the field until data saturation occurs.) 1. counters distortions from researcher's impact on the context 2. limits researcher biases 3. compensates for effects of unusual or seasonal events 2. Persistent Observations (Consistently pursue interpretations in different ways in conjunction with a process of constant and tentative analysis. Look for multiple influences. Search for what counts and what doesn't count) 3. Triangulation (The best way to elicit the various and divergent constructions of reality that exist within the context of a study is to collect information about different events and relationships from different points of view.) ask different questions seek different sources utilize different methods 4. Referential adequacy (What materials are available to document your findings? Video tape provides a good record but it can be obtrusive.) 5. Peer Debriefing (This is done with a similar status colleague (not with a junior or senior peer) who is outside the context of the study and who has a general understanding of the nature of the study and with whom you can review perceptions, insights, and analyses.) tests working hypotheses helps develop next step 6. Negative case analysis: involves the conscious search for data that don’t fit the current working hypothesis, within existing data as well as in planned data collection. 7. Member Checks : is an activity that entails brining back the results to the members of the studied group. At different levels:  Transcripts  Preliminary report corrects errors provides additional information puts respondent on record assesses the overall adequacy of the data in addition to individual data points 2) APPLICABILITY: TRANSFERABILITY ◼ Thick Description Because transferability is a naturalistic study depends on similarities between sending and receiving contexts, the researcher collects sufficiently detailed descriptions of data in context and reports them with sufficient detail and precision to allow judgments about transferability to be made by the reader. ◼Purposive Sampling In contrast to random sampling that is usually done in a traditional study to gain a representative picture through aggregated qualities, naturalistic research seeks to maximize the range of specific information that can be obtained from and about that context by purposely selecting locations and informants that differ. 3) CONSISTENCY: DEPENDABILITY An inquiry must also provide its audience with evidence that if it were replicated with the same or similar respondents (subjects) in the same (or a similar) context, its finding would be repeated Increasing Dependability To enable readers of the research report to develop a thorough understanding of the methods and their effectiveness, the text should include sections devoted to: The research design and its implementation, describing what was planned and executed on a strategic level; The operational detail of data gathering, addressing the minutiae of what was done in the field; Reflective appraisal of the project, evaluating the effectiveness of the process of inquiry undertaken. 4) NEUTRALITY: CONFIRMABILITY To what extend are our findings affected by personal interest and biases This is the degree to which the findings are the product of the focus of the inquiry and not of the biases of the researcher.) Confirmability Audit Trail An adequate trail should be left to enable the auditor to determine if the conclusions, interpretations, and recommendations can be traced to their sources and if they are supported by the inquiry METHODOLOGIES Part 2 OVERVIEW OF METHODOLOGIES Ethnography analysis Conversation analysis Grounded theory Discursive psychology Action research Foucauldian discourse analysis Social representation Memory work Q methodology Narrative Psychology Phenomenological psychology Interpretative phenomenological  A form of observation A process in which the researcher participates in people’s everyday lives for a sustainable period ETHNOGRAPHY Aims to understand the cultural and symbolic aspects of people’s actions Usually focuses on a specific group of people or a case involving culturally significant practices  ❖ The study of talk-in-interaction ❖ Interdisciplinary approach to understanding social life ❖ Assumes that (1) talk is a form of action; (2) talk is CONVERSATION structurally organized; (3) talk creates intersubjectivity (shared experiences) ANALYSIS ❖ Looks at how people do/produce social order ❖ Uses a naturalistic data – ordinary conversation, institutional talk or both. Example: meetings – formal talk DISCURSIVE PSYCHOLOGY - the central topic is discourse – talk and text or image as part of practice - recognizes the primacy of the social/relational nature of life - focus on what people do in the settings that they live their lives; in the everyday and in institutional situations - the materials for study are recordings of people in particular locations  - discourses as sets of statements that construct objects and an array of subject positions - explores the role of discourse in subjectivity FOUCAULDIAN and selfhood; links discourse to power, to institutions and social practices DISCOURSE ANALYSIS - asks “how does discourse construct subjects and objects?” Example: Discourse among teenage pregrancy  collective analysis of experience examines the social production of experience, looks at the process of appropriation - the relationship between objective social structures and subjective experience a group of people write memories and analyze their memories for a period of time MEMORY WORK Memory work is a methodology and method first introduced by Frigga Huag and others in Germany and appeared in academic publications in 1980s. It involves writing a memory in the third person in relation to a question or theme. Memory works is an approach that enables emotions to come to the fore, particularly emotions that are not easily voiced.  Phase 1 – the individual’s reflection indicate the processes of constructions PHASES OF Phase 2 - involves a collective examination of the memories in which the memories are theorized and new meanings result MEMORY WORKS Phase 3 – materials provided from both the written memories and the collective discussion of them is further theorized. A recursive process in which the insights concerning the “common sense” of each set of memories is related back to the earlier discussions and to theoretical discussions within the wider academic literature. NARRATIVE PSYCHOLOGY argues that narrative pervades everyday life concerned with how human make sense of the world through narrative (stories)- an organized interpretation of a sequence of events can look at biographical or topic-focused narrative interviews narrative are analyzed in terms of structure and content  The narrative thematic analysis process I used consisted of five stages: MICHELLE (a) organization and preparation of the data, BUTINA’S (b) obtaining a general sense of the information, NARRATIVE (c) the coding process, APPROACH (d) categories or themes, and (e) interpretation of the data. JOHN DEWEY (THREE-DIMENSIONAL SPACE NARRATIVE STRUCTURE)  aims to capture as closely as possible the way in which the phenomenon is experienced within the context in which the experience takes place. PHENOMENOLOGICAL analysis attempts to discern the psychological essence of the PSYCHOLOGY phenomenon derives the psychological meaning or sense of people’s description of their lived experiences INTERPRETATIVE PHENOMENOLOGICAL ANALYSIS aims to explore in detail how participants make sense of their world involves detailed examination of the participant’s lived experience and subjectivity assumes a “double hermeneutic” – a two stage interpretation process; (1) participants making sense of their world, (2) researchers making sense of participants The origins of IPA are credited to Jonathan Smith, a health psychologist in the United Kingdom (Smith et al., 2009). Smith (2004) sought to develop an experiential qualitative approach that honored the pluralistic roots of psychological disciplines at a time when more reductionist research methods dominated  Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis Aspect (IPA) Phenomenological Research Examples of - Smith & Osborn (2007): Study on the - Giorgi (2009): Descriptive phenomenological Research experience of chronic illness. analysis of psychological phenomena. - Eatough & Smith (2008): Exploration of - Colaizzi (1978): Descriptive phenomenological emotional experiences in the workplace. method in psychology. - Van Manen (1990): Focus on the phenomenology of - Larkin & Thompson (2012): Focused on the practice, exploring lived experiences in educational lived experiences of psychological trauma. contexts. Not strictly required, as the researcher’s interpretations are considered part of the Aims to bracket (set aside) personal biases and Bracketing analysis process. preconceptions to focus on participants’ experiences. Typically small, often between 3-10 Can vary, but often includes a larger sample size to participants, focusing on depth rather than capture the essence of experiences across different Sample Size breadth. contexts. Particularly useful in psychology, health studies, Widely used in psychology, nursing, education, and and social sciences where understanding health studies to explore the essence of lived Applicability subjective experiences is key. experiences.  Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis Aspect (IPA) Phenomenological Research Philosophical Rooted in phenomenology and hermeneutics, focusing Rooted in phenomenology, focusing on describing the essence of Foundation on how individuals make sense of their experiences. lived experiences. Key Jonathan Smith, Paul Flowers, Michael Larkin, Smith & Edmund Husserl (founder), Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Max van Researchers Osborn Manen, Amedeo Giorgi, Colaizzi To explore how individuals interpret and make sense of To describe the essence of a phenomenon as experienced by Purpose their personal and social worlds. individuals. Role of Active interpretative role, engaging in double Descriptive role, aiming to set aside biases (epoché) and focus Researcher hermeneutic (interpreting participants’ interpretations). on participants’ descriptions of experiences. Idiographic and iterative, focusing on in-depth analysis Descriptive and systematic, often involving bracketing, Methodology of individual cases before cross-case analysis. reduction, and imaginative variation. Thematic analysis focusing on patterns of meaning Descriptive analysis to identify the essence and structure of Data Analysis across individual cases. experiences. Results Themes are presented with interpretative commentary, Themes or essences are presented with rich descriptions and Presentation often supported by participant quotes. examples, often in a more structured format. Theory is often used to interpret data, with a focus on how individuals’ experiences relate to broader social Less emphasis on theory; focuses more on pure descriptions of Use of Theory and psychological theories. experiences without imposing external frameworks. Considers the socio-cultural context and individual Typically seeks to describe the universal essence of experiences, Contextual differences, allowing for nuanced interpretations of though some approaches (e.g., contextual phenomenology) do Considerations experiences. consider context. GROUNDED THEORY ❖ a flexible set of inductive strategies for building theories “grounded” from the data ❖ start inductively with cases or focused data - researcher creates categories and make theoretical sense of the data – gathers specific data to refine categories and theoretical explanations ❖ a set of systematic guidelines for gathering and analyzing data to construct theory THANK YOU FOR LISTENING