Qualitative Research

Qualitative research

-Systematic interactive and subjective research method to describe and give meaning to human experiences

-Studies things in natural settings to make sense of, or interpret, phenomena in terms of the meaning people bring to them

-Explanatory and descriptive in nature

Qualitative Process

-Review of the literature

-Study design

-Sample

-Setting, recruitment and data collection

-Data analysis

-Findings

-Conclusions

Key Informants

individuals who have special knowledge status or communication skills and who are willing to teach the researchers about the phenomenon

-PEOPLE WHO FEEL STRONGLY/EDUCATED ON SUBJECT

Data Saturation

The point in a qualitative study when the information being shared with the researcher from participants becomes repetitive. The information has been shared by previous participants and no new information emerges.

Data Collection

-Data usually collected in form of words

-Interview or observe individual completing a task

Data Analysis

Goal is to find commonalities and differences in interviews and group into abstract, broad categories of meaning that capture most of the data

Bracketing

personal biases about the phenomenon are identified in order to clarify how personal experiences and beliefs may influence what is heard and reported

-it is based on the assumption that people can separate their personal knowledge and experiences and background and interpret true participant results

triangulation

expansion of research strategies to enhance diversity, enrich understanding and accomplish specific goals

(Data triangulation, Investigator triangulation, Theory triangulation, methodological triangulation, interdisciplinary triangulation)

Mixed Methods

-either different research methodologies or mixing of different research methods

-wider range of tools and options to study phenomenon

Phenomena

a fact or situation that is observed to exist or happen, especially one whose cause or explanation is in question. A person's perception, what senses or mind notice. 'To show'

Concept

an abstract idea, general notion, plan or intention, an idea or invention to help sell or publicize a commodity. Idea or mental picture of a group or class of objects formed by combining all their aspects. 'something conceived, thought, frame of mind, imagination'

Phenomenological Method

-a science whose purpose is to describe particular phenomena or the appearance of things as lived experience

-Used in questions of personal meaning

-used to understand experiences the way that people actually experience it

Descriptive Phenomenology

focus is on rich detail descriptions of the lived world

Heideggarian Phenomenology

expands on description to understanding achieved through searching for the relationships and meanings of phenomena

Hermeneutic Philosophy

-focuses on interpretation of phenomena

-refers to theoretical framework used to understand and interpret human phenomenon

-interpretations must be viewed from perspective of the historical or cultural context of the original purpose of the text

Phenomenological research concepts

1) Method is a process of learning and constructing meaning of an experience through dialogue with people who have lived through the experience

2) based on positivism which was seen as inappropriate in the study of humans

3) Researchers concerned with the appearance of things rather than the things themselves

4) Intersubjectivity: a person's belief that other people share a common wold with him or her, phenomena differ yet all share similarities based on similarities in people

5) phenomenological reduction or bracketing: researchers must be aware of and examine their prejudices or values and is controversial in some approaches

Phenomenological Data Analysis Steps

1) Thorough and sensitive reading of entire transcript

2) Identify shifts in participant thought

3) Identify significant phrases in each segment using participants own words

4) Extract each significant phrase and express it to reveal a central meaning, using researcher's words

5) Group together the segments with similar central meaning for each participant

6) Preliminary synthesis: with grouped segments focusing on the phenomena for each participant

7) Final synthesis: central meanings that surface amount all participant descriptions, resulting in an exhaustive list of the lived experience

Grounded Theory Method

systematic set of procedures used to explore the social processes that guide human interactions and to inductively develop a theory on the basis of these observations

-ranges from post positivist to constructivist

-purpose of generating theory about social processes

-truth is from relevant groups

-research question address basic social processes that shape human behaviour (chooses area of interest, not necessarily including a question)

-Data analysis and collection occur simultaneously

Premises of Grounded Theory

1) Humans act towards objects on basis of meaning and meaning is embedded in context and therefore cannot be separated from it

2) Social meaning comes from social interaction

3) People use interpretive processes to handle and change meaning and meaning in dealing with their situations

Data collection and Analysis (GT)

-both occur simultaneously

Ethnographic Method

-oldest method

-the method of scientifically describing cultural groups

-focus on health and illness in a cultural setting

-focused ethnographic research: the study of distinct problems within a context among a small group of people

-seek to understand a different way of life through the people living in it

-combine emic (insiders view of the world) perspective with the etic perspective (outsiders view of the world) to help develop generalizations about societies

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Ethnonursing

rigorous, systematic and in depth method for studying multiple cultures and care factors within familiar environments of people and focusing on the interrelationships of care and cultures to provide culturally sensitive care

Ethnography

the study of cognitive models or patterns of behaviour of people within a culture

culture

the structure of meaning through which people shape experiences

Case Study Method

the study of a selected contemporary phenomenon over time to provide an in depth description of the essential dimensions and processes of the phenomenon

Historical Research Method

The systematic compilation of data resulting from evaluation and interpretation of facts regarding people, events, and occurrences of the past.

Participatory Action Research

A form of orientation research that seeks to change society; the researcher studies a particular setting to identify problem areas to improve practice, identify possible solutions, and take action to implement changes.

Research Problem

-indicates the importance of the issue and therefore reason for study

-typically includes: sample, issue/phenomenon of interest

-supported by literature review

Research Purpose

-Aim of the study

-Rationale and relevance to research problem

Methodology

-main interest of the researcher

-specific design used to structure the study

-supports achievement of research purpose

Purposive Sample

-people who are experiencing the circumstance and events that relate to the social process being studied

-a group consisting of particular people who can explain the phenomenon they want to study

-handpicked cases based on researcher's knowledge of the population being studied

-easy

-bias increases with heterogeneity of population

-limited ability to generalize because the sample is handpicked from a quantitative view but this approach is necessary for the qualitative researcher to choose participants on the basis of the phenomenon of interest

-PEOPLE LIVING WITH IT

Theoretical sampling

-selecting experiences that help researchers test ideas and gather complete information about developing concepts: so they find participants who can further clarify the emerging concepts

-associated with grounded theory

-requires two stage process

-bias is minimal if a thorough sampling plain is developed

-SPECIALISTS

Snowball Sampling (Network Sampling)

-participants recommend other participants from their contact

-good for locating samples that are difficult to locate

-takes advantage of social networks and shared characteristics among friends

-bias is minimal with thorough sampling plan

Sample Size

determined be purpose and type of sampling and research method used (6-pheonomenological, 30-ethnographers and grounded theory)

Participants are added until data saturation is reached

Sampling procedures

-systematically organized to decrease bias

Objective

data is not influenced by the person who collects the information

Systematic

data must be collected in the same methodical way by each person involved in the collection procedure

Operationalization

the process of translating the concepts of interest of a researcher into observable and measurable phenomena

Measurement

the assignment of numbers to objects or events according to rules

Operational definition

translates conceptual definition into behaviours or verbalizations that can be measured in a study

Consistency

the method used to collect data from each participant is exactly the same or as close to the same as possible

Interrater reliability

consistency of observations between two or more observers often expressed as a percentage ro coefficient (coefficient kappa)

Physiological or Biological Measurement of Data collection

-involves the use of specialized equipment to determine the physical and biological status of participants

-data collected in everyday practice by nurses about a patient (BP, HR, glucose levels...)

-Advantages: objective, precise and sensitive

-Disadvantages: potentially high cost, specialized knowledge or training, environmental effects of tools, physiological way to measure might not exist.

Observational Method of Data collection

-allows researcher to see how participants behave under certain conditions

-needs to be done in objective, systematic manner

-watching for certain events

-four conditions

1) observations are consistent with studies objectives

2) standardized and systematic plan exists for the observation and recording of data

3) all of the observations are checked and controlled

4) observations are related to scientific concepts and theories

-Advantages: may be the only way to study the selected variable, study designed to obtain findings on human behaviour and ensures validity of findings, depts and variety of information collected surpasses those of other studies

-Disadvantages: reactivity, ethical dilemmas, bias by the observer

Reactivity

Participants change behaviour because they know that they are being followed

Interviews and Questionnaires

-participants have information that can only be obtained when asked

-purpose is to get participants to report the data for themselves

-often survey research

-Advantages: allow the direct approach to a task, elicit specific kinds of information (attitudes, and values) which is hard to get without directly asking

-Disadvantages: accuracy, is what the researcher being told true, social desirability (responding in a way which makes a favourable impression)

Interview

-collector questions a participant verbally

-face to face or via telephone, Skype or electronic means

-open or closed ended questions

-Advantages: rate of response is better than questionnaires, better for those with literacy difficulties, interviewers can ask for clarification, allow for more rich and complex data to be collected especially with the use of open ended questions

Questionnaire

instrument designed to gather data from people about knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and feelings

-Advantages: collect information, less expensive and can provide complete anonymity and no researcher bias

Disadvantage: if it is too long it likely won't be filled out

Likest-Type Scale

list of statements for which responses are varying degrees of agreement or opinion (agree, strongly agree, somewhat agree, disagree, strongly disagree...)

Records or Available Data

-Existing data can be examined in a new way

-use hospital records, care plans and existing data sources (census) are frequently used for collecting information

-data examined in a new way not simply summarized, they answer specific research questions

-Advantages: data collection is often the most difficult and most time consuming, allow examination of data trends over time, decreases problems of reactivity and response set bias and researcher does not need to ask people to participate

-Disadvantage: privacy act, missing data leading to bias or data written in biased manner, authenticity and primary or secondary sources of data is another concern

Online and computerized method of data collection

-form of web-based surveys or data input into microcomputers

-This information can be quantitative or qualitative

-open/closed ended questions

-Advantages: survey can be downloaded quickly and results obtained for a small fee, anonymous, respondents can fill out in their own time, large number of people can be reached, data collection time is reduced, duplicate responses can be identified and implementation for researcher is time efficient

-Disadvantages: not everyone has access to a computer or are computer literate, responses may be low and large amount of data may be missing

Construction of new instrument

-complex and time consuming consists of these steps

1) Define the construct to be measured

2) Formulate the items (questions)

3) Assessing the items for content validity

4) Developing instructions for respondents and users

5) Presenting and pilot testing the items

6) Estimating reliability and validity

-researcher must develop an expertise in the construct which involves a lit review all other similar instruments and scales

Audio Recording interviews

-interviews are most common source of info, they are recorded and then transcribed into verbatim,

-some paraphrase or summarize spoken words, most prefer original words so that biases or interpretations are not confused

-original words helps prove authenticity

Data management

-often there is more data collected than needed

-researchers need to organize and manage large piles of data

-use computer assisted qualitative data analysis software, ATLAS, Ethnography, HyperRESEARCH...

-computer programs used to organize and group data but researcher analyses and interprets data

Overview of data analysis

-teh classification and interpretation of linguistic or visual material to represent its implicit and explicit dimensions and structures for making meaning of subjective and social phenomenon

-researcher may choose to collect and then analyze data or may do both concurrently.

-get preliminary data then choose what data is missing

-purpose is to make meaning of massive amounts of data to describe a phenomenon by focusing on a group or case, identify and explain conditions/context, and develop a theoretical understanding of a phenomena

Data Reduction

-process of selecting, focusing, simplifying, abstracting and transforming the data that appear in written up field notes or transcriptions.

-data can be organized into meaningful clusters

-methods: reflective journal, analytical files, rudimentary coding schemes, write monthly field reports

Thematic Analysis

-process of recognizing and recovering the emergent themes

Coding

progressive marking, sorting, resorting and defining and redefining the collected data

-codebooks are then created by organizing codes into lists or words or numbers used, text is marked with codes,

Code

tags or labels assigned to a theme

Descriptive coding

helps researcher keep track of factual knowledge (gender, age...)

Topic Coding

used most commonly, data grouped together by topic: to reflect on all the different ways people discuss topics, to seek patterns in their responses or develop dimensions of that experience

Analytic Coding

more theoretical and leads to development of themes

Conceptualizing

moves up the ladder of abstraction to build frameworks or concepts or theory

-necessary for ethnography, grounded theory, and phenomenology,

Data Display

-organized, compressed, assembly of info that allows conclusions to be drawn

-data needs to be presented in a way that support the findings and relay what needs to be known

-can be in form of graph, flowchart, matrices....

Conclusion Drawing

-starts at the beginning of data collection and continues until the project is complete

-researcher must be open to new ideas and themes and concepts as they appear

-data moves from categories (codes and themes) to concepts and constructs

Data Abstraction in Grounded Theory

-verification occurs as data is collected

-researchers use the constant comparative method where data is compared as it emerges with data previously analyzed

13 tactics for generating meaning

1) Noting patterns and themes

2) seeing plausibility (sounds true or makes sense)

3) Clustering (grouping things that share characteristics)

4) Making metaphors

5) Counting (something happens x # of times

6) Making contrast or comparisons

7) Partitioning variables (breaking down themes into small units)

8) Subsuming particulars in the general (higher level of abstraction)

9) Factoring (generating words to express common findings)

10) Noting relationships between variables (relationship between findings)

11) Findings intervening variables (discerning other variables that may link findings together

12) Building logical chain of evidence (validating each of the relationships identified)

13) Making conceptual or theoretical coherence (linking findings into overarching how and why of the phenomenon under study)

Analytic Procedures

Phenomenology: immerse in data, listen to recordings, read/reread transcripts, identify significant statements, determine relationships (themes), prepare description of the phenomena and relationship among themes, synthesize them into description or statement of the phenomenon

Ethnography: immerse in data, identify patterns and themes, complete cultural inventory, interpret findings, compare the findings with literature

Grounded Theory: Examine data carefully line by line, divide data into discrete parts, compare data for similarities and differences, compare with other data continuously used a a process (constant comparative method), cluster codes to form categories, expand and develop categories and determine relationships between categories

Trustworthiness

-Rigour is determined by credibility, audibility, and fittingness as criteria for evaluation

-validity of data and interpretation is also a component of trustworthiness

-Ask these questions to ensure trustworthiness

1) what do you notice?

2) Why do you notice this?

3) How can you interpret what you notice?

How can you know that your interpretation is the right one? (share findings with participants "member checking")

Auditability

-is there enough information so that you can understand how the study was conducted and how they moved to raw data

-adequacy of info leading the reader from the research question and raw data through various steps of analysis to the interpretation of findings

-Analytic logic: described process, raw data to theoretical understanding

-researcher should include questions used to interrogate the data and record and trace relationships as they emerge

Credibility

-epistemological integrity

-representative credibility: participants, context

-Interpretive authority: from rich data, reflexive accounting

Epistemological Integrity

-did they follow the right methods, is it actually written the way it was supposed to be written

-theoretical underpinning of a study

-research question fits with the theoretical frame

-research design fits with research question

-appropriate sampling

-describes data gathering strategies that are appropriate for the design

-Analysis process fits with the research question and design

-ensure data analysis is adequate

Representative Credibility and Interpretive Authority

-Prolonged engagement

-Member checking

-Credentials and history of researchers

-do they have knowledge to move from raw data to credible information

Transferability (Fittingness)

-needs to have rich description of context

-findings need to be at a theoretical level

-if problem is similar and pertinent in another setting then the theory should be applicable to that setting as well

-Findings that are at a simply descriptive level will not be transferable

CASP or McMaster

break up the elements that make up quality or rigour into sets of questions