Sessions 9, 10, 11, 12 Qualitative Research

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Sessions 9, 10, 11, 12 Qualitative Research
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Session outline

• What is qualitative research?
• Research designs

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Session 9 Introduction to Qualitative research
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• In groups of 3, share your information about
  thick description
• Prepare a summary of key points

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Thick description

• Clifford Geertz (1926-2006)
• His oft-cited essay, "Deep Play Notes on the
  Balinese Cockfight 1973," is the classic example
  of thick description. Thick description is
  anthropological practice of explaining with as
  much detail as possible the reason behind human
  actions.

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• At the University of Chicago, Geertz became a
  champion of symbolic anthropology, a framework
  which gives prime attention to the role of
  symbols in constructing public meaning.
• In his seminal work The Interpretation of
  Cultures (1973), Geertz outlined culture as "a
  system of inherited conceptions expressed in
  symbolic forms by means of which people
  communicate, perpetuate, and develop their
  knowledge about and attitudes toward life"

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What is qualitative research?

• Qualitative research is a type of scientific
  research that
• seeks answers to a question
• systematically uses a set of procedures to
  answer the question
• collects evidence
• produces findings that were not determined in
  advance
• produces findings that are applicable beyond
  the immediate boundaries of the study

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Qualitative research

• seeks to understand a given research problem or
  topic from the perspectives of the local
  population it involves
• is especially effective in obtaining culturally
  specific information about the values, opinions,
  behaviors, and social contexts of particular
  populations

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Reading

• At the edge of the silent centre... (Wildy
  Clarke, 2010)
• What can you learn from reading this piece?
• How might the data that inform this piece have
  been collected?
• Is it research?

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Qualitative Research

• Seeks to explore phenomena
• Instruments use flexible, iterative style of
  eliciting and categorizing responses to questions
• Use semi-structured methods such as in-depth
  interviews, focus groups, and participant
  observation
• To describe variation
• To describe and explain relationships
• To describe individual experiences
• To describe group norms
• Open-ended
• Textual (obtained from audiotapes, videotapes,
  and field notes)
• Flexibility (the addition, exclusion or wording
  of interview questions)
• Participant responses affect how and which
  questions researchers ask next
• Study design is iterative - data collection and
  research questions are adjusted according to what
  is learned

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Advantages of qualitative methods for exploratory
research

• 1. Open-ended questions and probing give
  participants the opportunity to respond in their
  own words, rather than forcing them to choose
  from fixed responses
• 2. Open-ended questions evoke responses that are
• meaningful and culturally salient to the
  participant
• unanticipated
• rich and explanatory
• 3. The researcher has the flexibility to probe
  initial participant responses to ask why or
  how. The researcher engages with the participant
  according to their individual personalities and
  styles, and use probes to encourage them to
  elaborate on their answers.

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What can we learn from qualitative research?

• complex textual descriptions of how people
  experience a given research issue
• the human side of an issue the often
  contradictory behaviours, beliefs, opinions,
  emotions, and relationships of individuals
• intangible factors, such as social norms,
  socioeconomic status, gender roles, ethnicity,
  and religion, whose role in the research issue
  may not be readily apparent.

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The steps in designing a qualitative study

• Establish the general problem/aim to be addressed
• Establishing a conceptual/theoretical framework
  for the study
• Posing general and specific research questions
• Deciding who will participate in the study
  (sampling methods)
• Deciding on an appropriate qualitative research
  design

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• 6. Consider issues of quality e.g.,
  trustworthiness
• Decide on data collection methods and establish
  data collection protocols
• Manage, analyse and interpret data
• Write up findings

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Research designs
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The Case Study

• Focuses on individual cases and what can be
  learned from an in-depth analysis of these
• The definition of a case can vary significantly
  this can be, for example
• A single teacher
• A school of teachers
• A school district
• In a typical single case study, only one example
  is studied to investigate a phenomenon of
  interest
• In a collective case study, several examples are
  studied to investigate a phenomenon (allows
  cross-case comparisons)

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Ethnography (Participant Observation/Naturalistic
Inquiry)

• Complete observer
• Behind one-way mirror, invisible role
• Observer as participant
• Known, overt observer
• Participant as observer
• Pseudo-member, research role known
• Complete participant
• Full membership, research role not known (eg Bryn
  Roberts PhD)

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Action Research

• Generally grounded in professional practice
• Primary goal is to improve practice, develop
  effective interventions, and promote and evaluate
  change processes
• Is done in a cyclical manner alternating phases
  of action and reflection both doing and
  inquiring

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Grounded Theory

• Focuses on development of theory based on data
  systematically collected and analysed
• Constant comparative analysis used in deriving
  theory based on cases
• Aim is to develop generalisable theory throught
  multiple comparisons across situations

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Session 10 Sampling
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Session outline

• Sampling in qualitative research
• Data collection in qualitative research

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Considerations in sampling

• In deciding on sampling method
• Depth of analysis versus breadth (across
  people/cases)
• Rich understanding of a specific context rather
  than generalising to a population
• Based on conceptual rather than statistical power
  issues
• The notion of purposive sampling

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Purposive Sampling Strategies

• Heterogenous samples
• Sample diverse cases with diverse characteristics
  with goal of exploring common patterns
• Homogenous samples
• Obtain similar cases to obtain an in-depth
  understanding of a particular group
• Deviant samples
• Focus on cases that are unusual in some
  identified way (e.g. very high level leaders)
• Typical case samples
• Attempt to elucidate what is typical in a given
  context or setting

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Sampling types

• Purposive
• Convenience
• Quota
• Snowballing

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Sample size in Qualitative Research

• An effective sample is not determined by size,
  but by
• Saturation
• Redundancy
• Aim to obtain small samples to provide a sound
  basis for studying the phenomenon of interest

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Data collection methods

• The interview

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Interviewing

• Interviews allow researchers to
• Explore participants perspectives in their own
  terms
• Inquire about the meaning people attach to
  certain events
• Interviews can be
• Informal conversational (handout)
• Structured - fixed-response
• Semi-structured

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What makes a good interview?

• Brainstorm the actions of interviewer and those
  of interviewee that make for a good interview
• Role of interviewer
• Role of interviewee

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Probing

• What are some effective probes?
• Direct probes
• Indirect probes

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Interview

• In groups of three, take turns to be
• Interviewer
• Interviewee
• Observer
• Roles
• Interviewer seeks to understand the research
  interest of the interviewee, especially the
  research question
• Observer gives feedback to both interviewer and
  interviewee on their roles

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• In pairs, help each other to generate at least 3
  different ways of exploring your research topic
• Consider alternative research questions

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• Write notes on what you have learned about the
  art and craft of interviewing

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Session 11
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Session outline

• More data collection
• Observation
• Focus group discussions
• Document review
• Data analysis
• Data representation

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Observation

• Purpose of observation
• Describe the context
• See what is spoken about first hand
• Confirm reports of respondents
• Requires training, preparation and discipline
• Develop an observation checklist
• Observation as
• as outsider - unobtrusive
• participant observation
• Includes what is not seen
• Generates field notes (narratives eg drug
  rehabilitation)

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Focus Group Discussions

• Advantages
• Efficient/Cost-effective
• Quality of data enhanced by group participants(?)
• Can quickly assess the extent to which there is
  agreement or diversity on an issue

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• Limitations
• Limits number of questions that can be posed
• May minimise responses made by each participant
• Minority views may not be heard
• Confidentiality cannot assured
• Requires significant group process skills
• Explores broad themes, not subtle
• Views are mediated by group members

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Document review

• Obtain access to key documents and records at the
  outset
• Documents can help to establish what needs to be
  pursued through other methods (e.g., direct
  observation, interviews)
• Consider whether the documents are public
  ethical issues
• Examples minutes of meetings, brochures, school
  reports, school websites

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What forms do qualitative data take?

• Types of data are
• field notes
• audio (and sometimes video) recordings
• transcripts

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Stages in qualitative data analysis

• Qualitative data analysis is an iterative
  process, involving several rounds of reflecting,
  analysing, theorising, and verifying
• During data collection
• Reading data immersion reading and re-reading
  
• Coding listen to the data for emerging themes
  and begin to attach labels or codes to the texts
  that represent the themes

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• After data collection
• Displaying the themes (all information)
• Developing hunches, questioning and checking
• Reducing from the displayed data identify the
  main points

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• Interpretation (2 levels)
• At all stages searching for core meanings of
  thoughts, feelings, and behaviours described
• Overall interpretation
• Identify how themes relate to each other
• Explain how study questions are answered
• Explain what the findings mean beyond the context
  of your study
• Representation of data
• Themes, illustrated by data
• Tables, schemes, models, diagrams, frameworks
• Narratives

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Processes in qualitative data analysis

• 1. Reading / Data immersion
• Read for content
• Identify emergent themes and pose tentative
  explanations
• Read identifying patterns
• After identifying themes, examine how these are
  patterned
• 2. Coding
• Building theme related files

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• Displaying data
• Capture the variation or richness of each theme
• Take note of any differences between individuals
  and sub-groups
• Return to the data and examine evidence that
  supports each sub-theme
• Developing hunches, questioning and checking
• Extract meaning from the data
• Do the categories developed make sense?
• What pieces of information are missing or
  underdeveloped?
• What other opinions should be taken into account?
• How do my own biases influence the data
  collection and analysis process?

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• Data representation
• Make visible the most essential concepts and
  relationships and provide overall sense of the
  data
• Distinguish main and sub- themes
• Separate essential from non-essential data
• Use visual devices e.g. matrices, diagrams
• Interpretation
• Identify core meaning of the data
• Attributed meanings should be credible
• Consistent with data collected
• Verified with respondents
• Present multiple perspectives (convergent and
  divergent views)

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Activity

• Read three short narratives
• Select one to share with a colleagues in terms of
• place
• actions
• point of view
• message

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Narrative writing

• Narratives or narrative accounts are one method
  of representing qualitative data
• Benefits
• provide context (opposite of decontextualisation)
• show interrelationships (opposite of
  fragmentation)
• illustrate complexity (opposite of reductionism)
• give voice to participants (rather than the
  impersonal and neutral researcher
• serve as metaphors
• stay in the memory

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Session 12 Conceptual frameworks
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Conceptual framework

• A representation (diagram, description) of the
  main concepts and their relationships
• Helps clarify
• Where you are coming from
• Your assumptions
• Your research focus
• The appropriateness of your design

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Click here for full sized version of the
image
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A Conceptual Framework for Architectural
Description
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Conceptual Framework
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        Knowledge of Learner Candidates
understanding of the learner which is necessary
to provide effective and equitable instruction  
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• Conceptual frameworks are usually less common in
  qualitative research but can be useful
• (handout)

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Session 12 Trustworthiness in qualitative research
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Criteria for judging the quality and credibility
of qualitative research

• General criteria
• Data collection and analysis methods well
  justified and suited to research question/s posed
• Alternative possibilities are considered, such
  as
• Plausible alternative themes or explanations are
  discussed
• Negative cases are analysed in depth to establish
  the basis for their abberrant status

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• Triangulation (crystalisation) divergent sources
  of information
• Methods (interviews, observations, document
  analysis)
• Sources (different teachers, or teachers with
  other school staff)
• Theoretical frameworks (different assumptions to
  identify any inconsistencies in developed
  theories)
• Member check ask participants to confirm
  transcripts/analyses

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Debate preparation

• Set up teams
• Identify speakers
• Prepare arguments for/against
• Topic That qualitative research is better than
  quantitative research