Research Seminars in IT in Education MIT6003 Qualitative Educational Research Design

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Research Seminars inIT in Education(MIT6003)Qu
alitative Educational Research Design Practical
Concerns I

• Dr Jacky Pow

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Agenda

• Nature of qualitative research
• Framing research questions in qualitative
  research
• Qualitative research design

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Nature of qualitative research
Denzin and Lincoln (1998, p.8), the word
Qualitative implies an emphasis on processes and
meanings that are not rigorously examined or
measured (if measured at all), in terms of
quantity, amount, intensity or frequency.
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Research Paradigm ????

• Ontological nature of the knowable phenomenon
  or nature of reality
• Epistemological nature of the relationships
  between the researcher and the phenomenon
• Methodological how to use methods to gain
  knowledge about the phenomenon
• Notes Research paradigm determines the
  nature, type and directions of educational
  inquiry (see transparency)

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The subjective-objective dimension
A scheme for analyzing assumptions about the
nature of social sciences
The subjectivist approach to social science
Positivism
Determinism
Nomothetic
Burrell and Morgan (1979)
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Qualitative approach ??/???

• Assumption Not all the phenomena are measurable
  quantitatively or quantifiable (i.e., in terms of
  amount, intensity or frequency)
• Human as the instrument (e.g., in-depth
  interviewing, participative observation, action
  research)
• More flexible and fluid than the more rigid
  quantitative study

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Qualitative approach

• Qualitative the study of singularities (explore
  the inner experience of the individuals)
• The study is an end of itself. We (the reader)
  determine whether the findings of the study are
  generalizable
• fuzzy generalizations (it is possible, or very
  likely or unlikely that ) it is an
  qualitative measure

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Qualitative approach

• Questions change over time (exploring the most
  meaningful questions)
• Expressions of subjectivity and biases
• Multiple observers, repeated interviews (cycles
  of study)
• Constant refinement and testing
• Making the world real to the reader to
  recognize the authenticity of the study

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Developing an argument

• Substantive focus
• Examining a specific setting or individual is
  studying a case of a larger phenomenon
• Showing that the particulars of the study serve
  to illuminate larger issues
• Design soundness
• Justifications for decisions are rested in the
  literature, research questions and the conceptual
  framework surrounding those questions
• Researcher competence
• Academically and ethically

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Why do we need qualitative research?

• For social scientists, research is a systematic
  process to gain better understanding of the
  complexities of human interactions
• Qualitative research fits in better for the
  following types of research (Marshall, 1985,
  1987)
• Research that cannot be done experimentally for
  practical or ethnical reasons

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Why do we need qualitative research?

• Research that delves in depth into complexities
  and processes
• Research for which relevant variables have yet to
  be identified
• Research that seeks to explore where and why
  policy, folk wisdom, and practice do not work
• Research on unknown societies or innovative
  systems
• Research on informal and unstructured linkages
  and process in organization
• Research on real, as opposed to stated,
  organizational goals

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Why do we need qualitative research?

• Quantitative
• Numbers
• Big sample
• Theory testing

• Qualitative
• Words
• Small sample
• Theory building

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Quantitative or qualitative

• Keep in mind that most researchers probably do
  not hold either approach to be completely
  correct, but, instead, fall somewhere on a
  continuum between the two extremes
• Many researchers mix ideas from both approaches
  into their research

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Framing research questions in qualitative research
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Introduction/ background to the study

• Provide an overview of the study
• Set the scene
• Nature of the research questions
• How we can obtain answers to those research
  questions (brief description of the qualitative
  methods to be employed)

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Significance of the study

• The aspects to make a study significant
• The study must contribute to knowledge
• It should be useful to practitioners
• The relevant policy arenas should find usefulness
  and meaning in the study

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Significance of the study

• The relative emphasis given to each aspect of the
  studys significance depends on the study itself
• However, in applied fields such as education,
  demonstrating a studys significance in all three
  aspects is especially important

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Significance of the study

• Significance of study generally responds to the
  following questions
• Who has an interest in this domain of inquiry?
• What do we already know about the topic?
• What has not been answered adequately in previous
  research and practice?
• How will this new research add to knowledge,
  practice, and policy in this area?

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Review of related literature

• Mostly in social research except generating
  grounded theory without any previous theory
  support (often found in cultural /
  anthropological studies)
• Purposes
• Evaluating past research
• Finding out new directions
• Addressing the locations of new research in the
  background of past research

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Review of related literature

• Four broad functions (Marshall Rossman, 1989)
• Shows the underlying assumptions behind the
  general research questions
• Shows that the researcher is thoroughly
  knowledgeable about related research and the
  intellectual traditions that surround and support
  the study
• Shows that the researcher identified some gaps in
  previous research and that the proposed study
  will fill a demonstrated need
• Refines and redefines the research questions and
  related tentative hypotheses by embedding those
  questions in larger empirical traditions

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Recurrent steps to review literature

• 1. Review secondary sources (research on primary
  sources or literature review of primary research)
• 2. Identify key terms related to subject topics
• 3. Identify journal indexes through the internet
• 4. Search for primary sources (pioneer research
  handling with first-handed data)
• 5. Summarize, categorize, conceptualize and
  analyze primary sources
• 6.Organizing literature review to articulate
  limitations of past research, find out feasible
  new research directions and researchable contexts

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Statement of problem/ research questions

• In qualitative research, questions and problems
  for research most often come from real-world
  observations, dilemmas, and questions
• Qualitative research questions are not stated as
  if-then hypotheses derived from theory
• Research questions can be changed over time
  (developmental in nature)

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Qualitative research design
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Essence of qualitative research

• The developmental nature of the research
  questions
• Research design change over time
• Thick description (??)

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Research design

• Site and sample selection
• Researchers role management, including entry,
  reciprocity, and ethics
• Research strategies
• Data collection techniques
• Managing and recording data
• Data analysis strategies
• Management plan, time line, and feasibility
  analysis

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Site (field) selection

• The ideal site is where
• Entry is possible
• A rich mix of many of the processes, people,
  programs, interactions, and/or structures
• The researcher can derive an appropriate role to
  maintain continuity of presence for as long as
  necessary
• Data quality and credibility of the study are
  reasonably assured by avoiding poor sampling
  decisions

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Sample (participant) selection

• Poor sampling decisions may threaten the findings
• Impossible to have ideal samples the best
  compromise is to include a sample with widest
  possible range of variation in the phenomena,
  settings, or people under study (Dobbert, 1982)

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Qualitative data collection methods

• Documentary analysis
• Secondary sources of data
• May avoid unnecessary personal bias
• Can be referred back to when necessary
• Be careful of documentary reality

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Qualitative data collection methods

• Focus group
• A focus group is to promote discussion and
  stimulate the sharing of differing opinions and
  points of view in a permissive environment
  created by the interviewer
• Generate new attitudes and beliefs when they
  listen to others opinions and understanding of
  the topics under discussion
• one-to-one interviews would be less preferable in
  some situations when the participant had not
  reflected on the topic and feels unprepared to
  respond

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Qualitative data collection methods

• Interviewing
• In-depth interviews described as conversations
  with a purpose (Burgess, 1984) allow a more
  conversational atmosphere to collect data
• It is the participants perspective on the
  phenomenon of interest that should be uncovered,
  NOT the researchers
• Researchers can let the participants immediately
  clarify points and concepts introduced in the
  course of study
• As interviews involve personal interaction,
  cooperation between the interviewer and
  interviewees is essential

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Qualitative data collection methods

• Observation
• Fundamental and widely used method in qualitative
  research
• It requires a systematic noting and recording of
  a phenomenon
• A researcher plays a role on the continuum
  between complete participant and complete
  observer (should make a balance)
• a complete participant would lose the researcher
  neutrality
• a complete observer as a detached witness would
  lose the context

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Strengths of observations

• Allows one to directly see what people do without
  having to rely on what they say they do
• Provides firsthand experience
• Can provide relatively objective measurement of
  behavior (especially for standardized
  observations)
• Excellent way to discover what is occurring in a
  setting

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Strengths of observations

• Helps in understanding importance of contextual
  factors
• May provide information on things people would
  otherwise be unwilling to talk about
• Provides moderate degree of realism (when done
  outside of the laboratory)

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Weaknesses of observations

• Reasons for observed behavior may be unclear
• Reactive effects may occur when respondents know
  they are being observed (e.g., people being
  observed may behave in atypical ways)
• Investigator effects (e.g., personal biases and
  selective perception of observers)
• Observer may go native (i.e., over-identifying
  with the group being studied)
• Sampling of observed people and settings may be
  limited

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Weaknesses of observations

• Hard to observe large or dispersed populations
• Some settings and content of interest cannot be
  observed
• Collection of unimportant material may be
  moderately high
• Data analysis can be time consuming
• More expensive to conduct than questionnaires and
  tests

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End of Lecture 7