Week 11 ---- Qualitative Research

qualitative studies are used to

find answers to research questions

qualitative research is used when:

• little information is known

• the topic is stigmatized

• topic is devalued

• topic is uncommon

• researcher is dealing with new information

components of a central research question

• purpose of the study

• central phenomenon

• appropriate method of research

• open-ended language

• population of interest

central phenomenon

the concept being explored in the study

qualitative research questions qualities

• broad

• explore experiences of individuals

• investigate influences of phenomena on other aspects of life

• seek insight from an insider prospective

inductive reasoning

building a theory after collecting data

case study

• in-depth analysis of the subject of interest (most commonly individuals)

• situates the subject within real world context

phenomenology

• studying how people experience a phenomenon

• describe the lived experiences of individuals and find common threads among them

ethnography

• studying phenomenon within a culture/subculture

• understanding within the context of the culture

• develop better understanding of the culture

grounded theory

• collecting observations, then building a theory based off of that collected data directly

• understand the value assigned to events

participatory action

• combining qualitative research and social action to address a social problem

• local and focused

• investigate possible solutions

content analysis

• using artifacts as primary data

• artifacts- anything products by people that can be viewed

mixed methods studies

combination of both quantitative and qualitative methods in research

exploratory sequential design

explanatory sequential design

convergent design

• simultaneous data collection (quantitative + qualitative)

• data analyzed independently

• merging results during interpretation