Educational Research

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Educational Research

• Chapter 14
• Overview of Qualitative Research
• Gay, Mills, and Airasian
• 8th Edition (Electronic Reserves)

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Topics Discussed in this Chapter

• Definition and purpose of qualitative research
• General steps involved in qualitative research
• Qualitative research approaches
• Characteristics of qualitative research
• Validity, reliability, and generalizability
• Ethics

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The Nature of Qualitative Research

• Qualitative research is the collection, analysis,
  and interpretation of comprehensive narrative
  data in order to gain insights into a particular
  phenomenon of interest
• Useful for describing and answering questions
  about participants and contexts

Objective 1.1
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The Nature of Qualitative Research

• Purpose of qualitative research
• Promote a deep, holistic understanding of a
  particular phenomenon
• Importance of exploring qualitative topics
• Provide insight into the complexity of common
  occurrences
• Provide specific concrete details to guide
  understanding in a particular setting

Objectives 1.2 and 1.3
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The Nature of Qualitative Research

• The importance of exploring qualitative topics
  (continued)
• Provide insight into the local meanings that
  activities and practices have for participants
• Develop a comparative understanding of phenomena
  as experienced by different participants in
  different settings

Objective 1.3
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The Nature of Qualitative Research

• Six General Steps
• Identify the research topic
• Review the literature
• Select the participants
• Collect data
• Analyze the data
• Report the results
• These are the same steps as those used in
  quantitative research (Figure 14.1, pg. 400)
• Objectives 2.1 and 2.2

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Range of Qualitative Approaches

• Nine approaches
• Case study
• An effort to seek an understanding of a single
  person or entity
• Ethnography
• An effort to describe and analyze all or part of
  the culture of a community by identifying and
  describing participants practices and beliefs
• Ethology
• An effort to compare several cultures with one
  another
• Objective 3.2

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Range of Qualitative Approaches

• Nine approaches (continued)
• Ethnomethodology
• An effort to examine peoples understanding of
  their daily activities
• Grounded theory
• An effort to derive or substantiate a general
  social science theory grounded in the
  perspectives of the participants
• Phenomenology
• An effort to understand the meaning of an
  individuals experiences from that individuals
  point of view
• Objective 3.2

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Range of Qualitative Approaches

• Nine approaches (continued)
• Symbolic interaction
• An effort to seek common understandings that
  emerge to give meaning to participants
  interactions
• Language development
• Interactions b/w people through social norms
• Action research
• An effort to seek a solution or improvement to a
  practical problem in the setting in which it is
  occurring
• Historical research
• An effort to seek to understand the past by
  studying documents, relics, and interviews
• Objective 3.2

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Features of Qualitative Approaches

• Differences between approaches
• Different social contexts are being studied in
  each approach
• The participants are selected for different
  reasons in each approach
• Objective 3.1

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Features of Qualitative Approaches

• Eight unique characteristics
• Researchers immerse themselves in the situation
• The data reflects the participants perspectives
• Sources of data are real-world situations or
  natural contexts
• Data is narrative in nature
• Researchers focus on personal interactions with
  participants
• Objective 4.1

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Features of Qualitative Approaches

• Eight unique characteristics (continued)
• Researchers avoid early decisions or assumptions
  about the study
• Data are analyzed inductively
• Reasoning from the specific to the general
• Methods provide clear, detailed information
  reflecting participants voices
• Objective 4.1

13
Technical Issues

• Validity
• The degree to which the qualitative data
  collected accurately gauges what is being
  measured
• Two components
• Trustworthiness
• Understanding
• Objective 5.1

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Technical Issues

• Validity
• Trustworthiness
• Credibility taking into account all the
  complexities in the study and addressing problems
  that are not easily explained
• Transferability including descriptive,
  context-relevant statements so the reader can
  identify with the setting
• Dependability collecting stable data
• Confirmability assuring the neutrality and
  objectivity of the data
• Objective 6.1

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Technical Issues

• Validity
• Understanding
• Descriptive validity the factual accuracy of
  the account
• Interpretive validity the meaning attributed to
  the behaviors or words of the participants
• Theoretical validity the explanation of the
  phenomenon being studied in relation to a theory
• Evaluative validity sufficient objectivity in
  reporting data to avoid bias, preconceived
  judgments, or evaluations
• Objective 6.2

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Technical Issues

• 13 strategies to ensure validity
• Participate at the study site for a prolonged
  period of time
• Use persistent observation (identify what usually
  happens as well as what is unusual)
• Use peer debriefing (consult with colleagues)
• Collect mechanically recorded data
• Use member checks (share results with
  participants)
• Establish structural corroboration/coherence
  (make sure that your statements dont contradict
  one another and/ or that they make since).
• Objective 6.3

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Technical Issues

• 13 strategies to ensure validity (cont.)
• Establish referential adequacy (make sure that
  your statements make since with all of your
  collected data).
• Collect detailed descriptive data
• Develop detailed descriptions of the context
  (settings, times, etc.)
• Establish an audit trail
• Practice triangulation and overlap methods (i.e.,
  multi-methods)
• Practice reflexivity (look for your own biases or
  reflections that might impact your findings)
  Objective 6.3

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Technical Issues

• Reliability
• The consistency with which data measures what is
  being attempted to be measured over time
• Qualitative perspective
• The reliability of the techniques that are being
  used to collect data
• If I collected the data the same way again, I
  would get the same results.
• Reliability is a necessary but not sufficient
  characteristic validity is the priority
• Objectives 7.1 and 7.2

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Technical Issues

• Generalizability
• The applicability of findings to settings and
  contexts different from the one in which they
  were obtained
• Internal-external validity issues revisited
• A depth of understanding can only be achieved
  from a few participants in a very limited number
  of contexts
• Generalizability is therefore very limited
• Qualitative researchers are primarily concerned
  with validity and reliability and to a much
  lesser extent generalizability
• Objective 8.1

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Technical Issues

• General strategies for ensuring the technical
  merit of a qualitative study
• Talk little, listen a lot
• Record observation accurately
• Begin writing early
• Let readers see for themselves (provide primary
  sources of datavideo, photos, etc. when
  possible)
• Report fully
• Be candid (report your judgments from your facts)
• Seek feedback
• Write accurately

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Ethical Issues

• Ethics can be considered in terms of how the
  researcher treats the participants in the
  research setting.
• The nature of qualitative research provides the
  potential for conflict and harm.
• Qualitative research is intimate there is
  little distance between the researcher and the
  participants
• Qualitative research is open-ended the nature
  of the process requires the use of an emergent
  design as the situation unfolds
• Objectives 9.1 and 9.2

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Ethical Issues

• Six guidelines to help avoid ethical problems
• Researchers should have an ethical perspective
  that is close to their personal ethical position
• Informed consent should take the form of a
  dialogue that mutually shapes the research and
  the results
• Confidentiality is more complicated even with the
  use of pseudonyms
• Consider the use of a video tape to illustrate a
  point being made
• Objective 9.4

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Ethical Issues

• Six guidelines to help avoid ethical problems
  (cont.)
• You should be able to identify broader social
  principles that are an integral part of who you
  are as a researcher and a contributing member of
  the community in which you live.
• Avoidance of harm morally binds qualitative
  researchers to conduct their research in a manner
  that minimizes potential harm to those involved
  in the study.
• Objective 9.4

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Ethical Issues

• Six guidelines to help avoid ethical problems
  (cont.)
• Even though an action can bring about good
  results, it is not ethical unless it also
  conforms to ethical standards such as honesty and
  justice.
• The qualitative researcher must remain attentive
  to the relationships between the researcher and
  the participants a relationship that is
  determined by roles, status, language, and
  cultural norms.
• Objective 9.4