Qualitative Research Designs

Grounded Theory

• Aims to develop a theory explaining a phenomenon's dynamics, grounded in participants' experiences.
• Researchers code and compare data to generate concepts, categories, and relationships.
• Opposite of quantitative research; seeks to create theory from experiences, rather than testing a pre-existing theory.
• Involves developing a qualitative model and explanatory mechanism (theory) for how a phenomenon operates based on personal experiences.

Data Types Used

• Field observations
• Interviews
• Historical records
• Letters
• Journal entries
• Activity logs

Data Analysis

• Uses constant comparison: coding data as it comes in and comparing it to previously coded data.

Grounded Theory Beliefs

• Need to get into the field to discover what's happening.
• Recognition of the complexity and variability of phenomena and human action.
• Belief that individuals actively respond to problematic situations.
• Realization that individuals act based on meaning.
• Understanding that meaning is defined and redefined through interaction.
• Sensitivity to the evolving nature of events.

Focus

• Focuses on how subjective experiences are abstracted into theoretical statements about casual relations between actors (people).

Question Examples

• How attachment style affects career choice in adolescents.
• Examine the unique stressors experienced by divorced, or single, working mothers.
• The experience of a volunteer counselor who may be profoundly affected by their work with victims of natural disasters and develop an interest in expanding practical interventions with vulnerable populations.

Phenomenological

• Studies consciousness and direct experience.
• Originated as a philosophy rather than a research method.
• Seeks to describe the meaning of lived experiences related to a concept or phenomenon for those intimately involved.
• Aims to understand the essence or structure of a phenomenon.
• Example question: “What is it like to be diagnosed with bipolar disorder?”

Example Questions

• The experiences of clients in therapy when their counselor is of a different race.
• How experienced therapists describe the importance of personal therapy in clinical practice and training.
• Elementary school children’s perceptions of play therapy.

Case Study

• Utilizes one or more cases to provide in-depth, multifaceted analysis of a particular dynamic.
• A Case Vignette describes the diagnosis and treatment of a particular client in a chronological fashion.
• Key component of a single case design is continuous measurement.

Case Study Types

• Intrinsic: Select unique cases to provide an in-depth perspective on interventions or interesting presentations of a disorder.
• Instrumental: Focuses on an issue that impacts the individual; the phenomenon is the main focus, not the person.
• Collective: Collects multiple participants from varying backgrounds to compare differences on a particular issue.
• Exploratory: Used when current literature does not adequately explain a phenomenon.
• Descriptive: Focus less on the individuals identified and more on the issue or dynamic at play.
• Explanatory: Attempts to create causal links that may already be established in quantitative literature by demonstrating the underlying process.

Sampling

• Goal: extract a sample most representative of the phenomenon in question.
• Researchers may use screeners to determine participant eligibility.
• Participant number: 6-15, enough to achieve richness of data.

Phases of Intervention

• Baseline Phase (A): Before treatment (no treatment); serves as a control.
• Treatment Phase: Each treatment follows the alphabet.
  • First intervention (B)
  • Second intervention (C)
• ABAB – baseline, treatment, no treatment, treatment
• ABAC – baseline, treatment 1, no treatment, treatment 2
• Follow Up

Data Analysis

• Percentage Exceeding the Median

  • Establish a median from the baseline; track scores during treatment and post-treatment.
  • Calculate percent of those scores over the median.

• Percentage of Non-Overlapping Data

  • Count data points in the treatment phase higher (or lower) than the highest (or lowest) data point in the baseline, then divide by the total number of data points in the treatment phase.

  $\text{Percentage of Non-Overlapping Data} = \frac{\text{Number of data points in treatment phase exceeding baseline}}{\text{Total number of data points in treatment phase}}$

Question Examples

• What is the course of treatment response for a 10-week CBT intervention to decrease the frequency of irrational beliefs among graduate students in a master’s research class?

Narrative Research

• Stories constitute the raw data from which the researcher draws insights and conclusions.
• Concept: Attending to Experience
  • The researcher
  • The participant
  • The professional literature

Phases

• Sequencing the data
• Listening to voice
• Organizing the plot
• Thematic Analysis

Examples

• Suicide competencies: Stories from counseling interns.
• A narrative inquiry into counselor trainees’ experiences of working with trauma.

Bracketing

• Process where a researcher consciously identifies and sets aside their own personal biases, assumptions, and preconceptions about a topic.
• To better understand the perspectives of participants without imposing their own interpretations on the data.

How to Bracket

• Journaling
• Self-reflection
• Consultation with peers

When to Bracket

• Before
• During
• After

Coding

• Involves labeling fragments of the data in such a way that each piece of data is categorized and summarized.
• Fragments of data are labeled to demonstrate the kind of experience that has been identified.

Sampling in Qualitative Research

• Purposive sampling
  • Research subjects are selected because of some characteristics they share.
  • All participants meet inclusion criteria.
  • Most common type of sampling in qualitative research.