Week 7 & 8 - Qualitative research

Apart of Introduction to Evidence Based Practice and Research in Health Sciences at UniSA

What is the importance of qualitative research in healthcare (3 points)?

• It often provides an underlying framework for quantitative research

• Bridge the gap between scientific evidence and clinical practice

• Provides rigorous accounts of treatment regimens in everyday contexts

What is the difference between interpretive (constructivist) and critical (post-positivism)?

Although they are both philosophical frameworks that underpin qualitative research, interpretive (constructivist) which believes one's reality is socially constructed through use of language and shares meanings whereas critical (post-positivism) which believes knowledge is value-laden and shaped by historical, social, political, power, gender, economic conditions etc....

What are the five aims of qualitative research?

1. Naturalism = Understanding treatment regimens in an everyday context.

2. Interpretation = What meaning do symptoms and treatment regimens have for patients and practitioners?

3. Process = Social life is a process and how might these meanings change over time?

4. Interaction = How does communication between patients and practitioners’ impact on care delivery?

5. Relativism = Scientific "reality" may look different from different perspectives.

What are eight common types of research methodologies?

• Participatory action research

• Ethnography

• Grounded theory

• Phenomenology

• Feminist research

• Discourse analysis

• Generic qualitative/qualitative description

• Case study

Participatory action research

A type of research methodology which aims to examine the political structures that disempower marginalised, deprived, and oppressed groups of people to find ways in which these structures be changed to create new forms of knowledge through creative synthesis of the different understandings and experiences of those who take part to transform “social realities”.

Ethnography

A type of research methodology which comes from the discipline of social and cultural anthropology where the research participates overtly or covertly in people’s daily lives over an extended period of time to understand one’s culture through listening, asking questions, and collecting relevant data that are the focus of research.

Grounded theory

A type of research methodology which seeks to develop theory that is grounded in data systematically gathered and analysed in empirical observations or data, which is done continuously because theories take a long time to develop.

Phenomenology

A type of research methodology which aims to study situations in the everyday world from the viewpoint of the experiencing person.

Feminist research

A type of research methodology which grew from the perspective that existing research and theory was biased to a male perspective which could be considered political, critical, and constructivist, especially since a large focus on female health research has largely been men driven instead of women led.

Discourse analysis

A type of research methodology which aims at revealing what is being said, though, and done in relation to a specific topic or issues (which can be public, professional, political, or private), which can be helpful in uncovering dominant and marginalised discourses and locating inconsistencies.

Generic qualitative/qualitative description

A type of research methodology founded in existing knowledge and aims to understand phenomenon and describe key issues (such as barriers and enablers) and gather perceptions, attitudes, beliefs etc…

Case study

A type of research methodology which focuses on investigating a certain phenomenon with a certain group of people or community to develop an understanding of holistic and meaningful characteristics of real-life events. This is often used as a part of mixed methods research.

What are four common research methods used in qualitative research?

• Focus groups

• Interviews

• Participant observations

• Document analysis

Focus groups

A common research method which is used to gather high-quality information in a social setting where people can consider their own views in the context of others and gain an "explanatory understanding" on a particular topic or issue.

What are twelve advantages of focus groups?

• Spectrum of views

• Depth of coverage

• Range of opinions/optimal exploration of shared ideas/dynamic of disagreement

• Broadening views

• Taken/conflicting opinions

• Uniformity/harmony

• Less inhibitions/"freedom" of expression

• Honesty/ethical consideration/easy access share views + debate differences

• Accessible/interest/harmonious

• Richness of data/development of concepts

• Focusing groups on specific issues/control/good attention

• Anonymity and honesty

What are eight disadvantages of focus groups?

• Cost

• Fatigue/analyses inhibitions/formation of cliques

• Dynamic of conflict lost

• Only indirect data from children as possible inhibitions

• Particularistic

• Analyses/cost/situational changes/conditioning/exhaustion/missing data

• Motivation

• Publicity

Interviews and what are two main characteristics of interviews?

A common research method which is typically one-on-one which can be clinical (diagnostic), opinion polls (deductive), and qualitative research (inductive). Characteristics of qualitative interviews include continuum (which can be structured, semi-structured, unstructured, or informal/conversation) and one-to-one/personal (face-to-face or phone calls).

What are two advantages and three disadvantages of in-depth interviews?

Advantages:

• Large amount of rich data collected

• First-hand accounts of experiences and beliefs

• Throw light on new areas (inductive) especially on what you don't know

Disadvantages:

• Time-consuming and expensive (especially transcription costs)

• Data quality can be variable (depends on the skill of interviewer)

• Consistency across interviewers can vary (typically a team issue)

What are four advantages and seven disadvantages of telephone interviews?

Advantages:

• Quick and time-efficient

• Easy to access

• Not as expensive

• If you know the person already, it's convenient

Disadvantages:

• Can't see body language if video calls

• Cannot control environment & distractions

• Unexpected & unpredictable issues may arise like dealing with an angry receptionist

• Recording problems

• Personality clashes

• Potential harassment

• Transcript defensiveness

Participant observations

A common research method that focuses on understanding a phenomenon through direct observation which can be just observation alone or both observing and participating to varying degrees, in the study of communities’ daily activities, recorded as field notes.

What three advantages and two disadvantages of participant observations?

Advantages:

• Understand culture, context, everyday life

• Non-verbal behaviour

• The meaning and value behind everyday life and its activities and discovering complex connections in social relationships

Disadvantages:

• Time & resources

• Trust & access required

Document analysis and what are the advantages/disadvantages of it?

• A common research method which is a detailed examination of documents produced from a wide range of social practices, which could be from written or visual documentation to describe what had occurred

• Advantages and disadvantages are time and cost & access (which is easy and selective)

What is the aim of qualitative sampling?

The aim of qualitative sampling is not concerned with ensuring that the findings can be statistically generalised to the whole population, rather is purposive to describe a phenomenon rather than its distribution.

What are seven common forms of sampling?

• Intensity

• Deviant case

• Purposive

• Snowball or chain

• Maximum variation

• Convenience

• Criterion

Intensity

A common form of sampling that collects rich information from a few select cases that manifest the phenomenon intensely (eg. the experience of people who won the lottery).

Deviant case

A common form of sampling that collects highly unusual manifestation of a phenomenon (e.g. the health of people who have been in a detention centre for ten years).

Purposive

A common form of sampling that illustrates characteristics of particular, relevant subgroups who have a story to tell (e.g. views on a certain school subject).

Snowball or chain

A common form of sampling which facilitates identification of hard-to-find cases (e.g. people’s experiences with HIV/AIDS in healthcare by seeking out a support group, who will contact other people).

Maximum variation

A common form of sampling which documents diverse variations and identify common patterns that cut across variations (e.g. views on climate change).

Convenience

A common form of sampling where information is collected from a sample of conveniences (e.g. eating habits of college students).

Criterion

A common form of sampling that investigates in-depth of a particular/unique “type” of case (e.g. students who scored 100/100 in their school subject).

What are two ways sample size in qualitative research is decided?

• When the researcher is satisfied that the data is rich enough and cover dimensions they are interested in, then the sample size is large enough

• How deep and rich the responses are

How is data analysed approached in qualitative research?

It requires a holistic approach where large amounts of data in transcripts and notes (which goes from a systematic and rigorous preparation process) are interpreted and analysed side-by-side to generate themes, categories, codes, and explanations.

What are two ways to analyse data in qualitative research?

Thematic and content analysis.

What are the six key steps in thematic analysis?

1. Organise and be familiar with the data

2. Generate categories or themes

3. Code the data by applying categories to the data

4. Test emergent understandings

5. Search for alternative explanations

6. Writing the report based off findings

Content analysis

One of the common approaches to analyse data which is a more systematic coding and categorisation approach compared to thematic analysis where it involves analysing qualitative research data which focuses on looking for trends and patterns of words used, their frequency, their relationships, structures, and communications (which may be quantified).

Why isn’t bias used in qualitative research and what is used instead?

• Bias isn't used in qualitative research because it focuses on understanding individual's perspectives so there will be opportunities for bias.

• Instead, trustworthiness is the demonstration that the evidence for the results reported are sound and when the argument made based on the results is strong.

What four concepts determine the trustworthiness of data?

• Credibility

• Transferability

• Dependability

• Confirmability

What are nine strategies that are commonly used to improve rigour and trustworthiness?

• Sampling strategy

• Triangulation

• Audit of data collection

• Multiple coders

• Respondent validation or member checking

• External observer

• Peer debriefing/review

• Using detailed descriptions of data

• Reflexivity

Sampling strategy

A strategy used to improve rigour and trustworthiness of data which involves applying a clear, logical, and reasonable approach to sampling.

Triangulation

A strategy used to improve rigour and trustworthiness of data which involves using more than one method to sample people and collate data for the same research question.

Audit of data collection

A strategy used to improve rigour and trustworthiness of data where data collection has a clear trail of decision-making for the auditor to determine if the conclusions, interpretations, and recommendations can be traced to their sources and if they are supported by the inquiry. 

Multiple coders

A strategy used to improve rigour and trustworthiness of data which involves using multiple people to check the coding of data to ensure whether the coding process is consistent.

Respondent validation or member checking

A strategy used to improve rigour and trustworthiness of data which involves process of verifying information with the target group.

External observer

A strategy used to improve rigour and trustworthiness of data which involves an independent observer to critique and provide feedback.

Peer debriefing/review

A strategy used to improve rigour and trustworthiness of data which involves debriefing with someone outside the research.

Reflexivity

A strategy used to improve rigour and trustworthiness of data which involves examining both oneself as a researcher and the research relationship.

What is the importance of ethics in qualitative research?

Ethics like any research method is important, especially in qualitative research because it is done on and with people where it's crucial the relationship between the researcher and participant is not blurred. It's important to seek and obtained informed consent before beginning research.