Qualitative%20Research

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Qualitative Research
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Qualitative Research

• Relies on inductive reasoning and a
• systematic process
• Used to understand the how and why of a
  research question better
• Uses words to describe meanings, to discover
  things, and to understand phenomena
• It is a subjective approach
• Often study things in their natural settings and
  attempt to make sense of, or interpret, phenomena
  in terms of the meanings people bring to them

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• Deductive reasoning works
• from the more general to the more specific.
• "top-down" approach.
• begin with thinking up a theory about our topic
  of interest.

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• Inductive reasoning works the other way,
  moving from specific observations to broader
  generalizations and theories.
• "bottom up" approach
• begin with specific observations and measures
• begin to detect patterns and regularities,
  formulate some tentative hypotheses that we
  can explore
• end up developing some general conclusions or
  theories.
• reflects qualitative approach

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Approaches to Qualitative Research

• Biography
• Case Study
• Ethnography
• Grounded Theory
• Phenomenology

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BIOGRAPHY

• Study of an individual and his/her life
  experiences as told to the researcher or found in
  documents and archival material
• Types of inquiry
• Biographic - written by someone other than the
  subject
• Autobiographic- first person account
• Life History
• Interviews plus analysis of economic, historical,
  political, and social contexts of the
  individuals life
• Oral History
• Collect information from individual(s) about
  specific events and their causes and effects

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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

• Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know
  her as HeLa. She was a poor black tobacco farmer
  whose cellstaken without her knowledge in
  1951became one of the most important tools in
  medicine, vital for developing the polio vaccine,
  cloning, gene mapping, in vitro fertilization,
  and more. Henriettas cells have been bought and
  sold by the billions, yet she remains virtually
  unknown, and her family cant afford health
  insurance.
• http//rebeccaskloot.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/0
  3/HenriettaLacks_RGG_timeline.pdf

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CASE STUDY

• Exploration of a bounded system or a case (or
  multiple cases) over time through detailed,
  in-depth data collection involving multiple
  sources of information
• Bounded system is one bound by time and place
• Types of Case Studies
• Intrinsic exam one successful case to determine
  how and why of success
• Instrumental- primary purpose is insight into an
  issue, not the case itself
• Collective multiple instrumental case studies

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ETHNOGRAPHY

• Description or interpretation of a cultural or
  social group or system (e.g. Understanding
  participation in breast cancer support groups)
• Emic insiders perspective
• Etic outsiders perspective
• Reflexivity reflecting upon the ways in which
  our own values, experiences, interests, beliefs,
  political commitments, wider aims in life and
  social identities have shaped the research.
• Preconceptions are not biases unless the
  researcher fails to mention them (p.232)
• Participant Observation or Fieldwork

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GROUNDED THEORY

• Use of systematic inductive guidelines for
  collecting and analyzing data to Generate Theory
• Theory should be grounded in field-derived data
• Basic Elements
• Concepts- basic units of theory development
• Categories groups of concepts
• Propositions relationships between a category
  and its concept

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Grounded Theory (cont)

• Saturation researcher is no longer hearing new
  info
• Also termed sufficient redundancy
• Systematic coding process
• Open, axial, selective, and sometimes
  conditional matrix
• Allows researchers to develop a theory to explain
  a phenomenon

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PHENOMENOLOGY

• Meaning of lived experiencessearch for the
  central, underlying meaning of an experience or a
  phenomenon
• Need to set aside all preconceived notions,
  personal beliefs, feelings, and perceptions
  (bracketing)
• E.g. phenomenon of being stigmatized and
  discriminated based on body size (weight)
• Multiple interviews of persons who had
  experienced weight-based stigma and discrimination

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SAMPLING

• Non-probability samples used
• Sampling Techniques
• Case study
• Convenience or opportunistic
• Purposive
• Snow ball
• Quota
• Sample Size?
• Phenomenological 6 minimum
• Ethnographies 30 to 50 interview
• Reach saturation

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DATA COLLECTION METHODS

• In-depth Interviews
• Focus Groups
• 5-10 people
• Homogeneity
• Qualitative data (dialogue)
• Discussion is focused (moderated)
• Assist in understanding a topic in detail
• Observation
• Need to establish inter and/or intra-observer
  reliability
• Could use video
• Content Analysis

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Validity in Qualitative Research

• Rigor and credibility
• Rigorous data collection and analysis
• Prolonged engagement
• Persistent observation
• Rich, thick description
• Triangulation
• Peer review or debriefing
• Reflexivity (clarifying researcher bias)
• Member checks
• External audits

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TRIANGULATION

• Looking for consistency-based on the premise that
  no single method can adequately answer a research
  question
• Kinds of Triangulation
• Triangulation of methods
• Triangulation of sources
• Triangulation of analysis
• Triangulation of theory

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Eval Questions for Qualitative Research

• 1. Did the work describe an important health
  problem addressed via a clearly formulated
  question?
• 2. Was the qualitative approach appropriate?
• 3. How were the setting and subjects selected?
• 4. What was the researchers perspective and was
  it taken into account?
• 5. Where the data collection methods
  sufficiently explained?
• 6. Data analysis methods used and quality
  control measures taken?
• 7. Are the results credible? Are example
  provided to corroborate statements?
• 8. Are the conclusions stated justified by the
  results?
• 9. Are the studys findings transferrable?
• (pp. 242-243)