Qualitative research methods - L9

What is research?

The systematic gathering, presenting and analysing of data

What are the 4 purposes of research?

• Information - to acquire new knowledge, find answers, and solve problems

• Facilitate change - disrupt and enhance practice, find new ways of doing things, and improve experiences

• Ethical issues - prevent harm, reduce waste, improve living conditions, and social change

• Academic mission - interest, profile, contributions, and enterprise

What is a paradigm?

A set of commonly held beliefs and assumptions within a research community

What are 6 differences between qualitative research and quantitative research?

• Qualitative research uses words or images with meaning whereas quantitative research uses numbers

• Qualitative research usually has no counting whereas quantitative research always has counting

• Qualitative research has emphasis on individuals’ experiences and feelings whereas quantitative research sets general statements about people as groups

• Qualitative research sees the world as changing whereas quantitative research looks to prove causal relationships

• Qualitative research doesn’t set hypotheses whereas quantitative research does

• Qualitative research is inductive (builds theories) whereas quantitative research is deductive (tests theories)

What is ontology?

The philosophy of knowledge

What is epistemology?

The philosophical study of how knowledge is acquired

What is methodology?

The framework of the research and guides the decisions about the research

What is methodology determined by?

Ontology and epistemology

What are methods?

The tools used to collect the data

What are the 2 types of epistemology?

Positivism and constructivism

What is positivism?

A philosophical position that believes there is truth to be found

What is constructivism?

A philosophical position that believes there is no fixed truth

What type of epistemology do the 2 types of research use?

Quantitative research uses positivism and qualitative research uses constructivism

What ontological position does qualitative research take?

Relativism

What are the characteristics of constructivism?

• Context

• Detail rich

• Researcher role - the researcher is an intrinsic part of research, so they will bring biases with them which are acknowledged by the process of reflexivity

What is a qualitative interview?

A conversation with a purpose

What do qualitative interviews provide in-depth detail about?

• How individuals think/feel

• Why people hold certain opinions

• Context and experiences

What is a semi-structured interview?

An interview with a schedule, providing some structure, but can be flexible

What are the benefits of a semi-structured interview?

• Greater standardisation across interviews

• The interviewer has more control over the topics

What is an unstructured interview?

An interview with a single question and no interview schedule

What are focus groups?

Group interviews where the researcher facilitates the process

How many people are usually in a focus group?

4-10

What are the benefits of focus groups?

• Good for children and young people

• Good for under-researched areas as they do not require prior knowledge

• Participant interactions can reveal group dynamics

What are observations?

A method for describing events, behaviours and artefacts in a real world setting

What are the benefits of observations?

• Good for understanding real life

• Valuable when research is interested in practice

• Can be used with other methods to be more effective

How many participants are usually recruited for qualitative research?

4-40

What is purposive sampling?

The researcher recruits people to gain as much information as possible

What is theoretical sampling?

Construction of a theoretically meaningful sample to help develop or test a theory

Why is an inclusion criteria used?

To ensure researchers recruit people that will provide information rich cases

What is criterion-based sampling?

Sampling based on a predetermined criteria

What is snowball sampling?

Participants direct the researcher to other potential participants

What is total population sampling?

Everyone who is involved in the topic of study is sampled

What is thematic analysis?

A way of analysing qualitative data that organises and describes the data set meaningfully

What can thematic analysis be used to do?

• Understand a pre-determined idea or model

• Develop new ideas or theories

• Explore patterns and meaning emerging or constructed from the data

What is Braun and Clark’s process of thematic analysis?

1. Familiarisation with the data

2. Generating initial codes

3. Searching for themes

4. Reviewing themes

5. Defining and naming themes

6. Writing the report

What is Sparked and Smith’s process of thematic analysis?

1. Immersion in the data - read/re-read transcripts, responses, fieldnotes, etc.

2. Generate some initial codes - tie into the initial research aims/question

3. Identify themes running through the data, sort themes (through coding), and create a visual map of themes/sub-themes

4. Review the themes, examine the coherence, look to tell the story of the research through these

What is transcription?

The first step of analysis and involves converting speech into text for analysis

What are some characteristics of what transcription should be like?

• Verbatim - not paraphrased, summarised or in any way doctored

• Accurate - recording the words of both researcher and respondent

• A true representation of the conversation

What is coding data?

The second stage of analysis where the data is pulled apart with a code description attached to a piece of data which can be later related to a theme

What does coding help to do?

• Systematically identify the patterns in the data

• Reduce the data set into manageable chunks

What are some different techniques used to code data?

• Working through texts and marking them up with colours

• Cutting and sorting

• Post-it notes

• Writing codes in the margins of transcripts

• CAQDAS - computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software

What are semantic (data-derived) codes?

They provide a summary of the explicit content of the data and represent surface level meanings of the data

What are latent (researcher-derived) codes?

They go beyond the content of the data to identify underlying assumptions

What are themes?

Patterns across the data sets that are important and categorise codes that fit together with commonly reoccurring topics and codes

Describe the 2 key concepts of reviewing and labelling

• Constant comparison - process of repeatedly going through your data in order to make sense of it. It involves comparing codes to generate common themes

• Thick description - providing enough description to enable the reader to understand the context

Why is visual mapping a useful process when reviewing themes?

• Condenses large quantities of data

• Makes sense of the relationship of codes and themes

• Start to see links and patterns - helps develop structure

• Facilitates the writing process

• Facilitates understanding for the reader

What is rigor?

The trustworthiness of research

What is the qualitative equivalent of reliability and how is this criteria met?

Dependability

Accurate documentation of each process

What is the qualitative equivalent of objectivity and how is this criteria met?

Confirmability

• Rigorous documentation

• Inter-rater reliability

• Critical friends

• Post-analysis data audit

What is the qualitative equivalent of validity and how is this criteria met?

Transferability/credibility

• Member checks

• Rich detail

• Reflexivity

• Content accuracy

• Triangulation of methods

• Prolonged engagement

Describe the 8 big tent criteria for excellent qualitative research

• Worthy topic - the research is relevant, timely, significant, and interesting

• Rich rigor - uses sufficient, abundant, appropriate, and complex theoretical constructs, data and time in the field, samples and contexts

• Sincerity - self-reflexivity about subjective values, biases, and inclinations of the researchers, transparency about the methods and challenges

• Credibility - thick description, concrete detail, explication of tacit (non-textual) knowledge, and shows rather than tells

• Resonance - the research resonates with particular researchers or audiences through its aesthetic, evocative representation, naturalistic generalisations and transferable findings

• Significant contribution - provides a significant contribution either conceptually, theoretically, practically, morally, methodologically, or heuristically (someone can learn for themself)

• Ethical - considers ethics broadly across the research

• Meaningful coherence - achieves what it says its about, uses methods and procedures that fit its stated goals, meaningfully connects literature, research question, findings, and interpretations all together