Qualitative Research 2

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Qualitative Research 2

• Dr Shona Bettany

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Key issues

• Learning a little about methods
• Participant observation
• Focus groups
• In-depth Interviewing
• Projective techniques
• And a little about sampling

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1) Participant observation

• Deep hanging out
• Type of engagement with the group varies
• Relation to the group varies
• Researcher is the research instrument
• Observation or participant observation?
• Presentation of self
• Field notes, video, as ways of capturing
  observation

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2) Focus groups

• A group discussion facilitated by a moderator to
  access memories, feelings and perceptions about a
  particular focused topic
• Promotes self disclosure, debate and interesting
  interaction the whole is more than the sum of
  the parts!
• Seven to ten similar (related to the topic)
  information rich participants
• Moderator keeps the discussion going, keeps
  everyone on track, makes sure everyone can
  participate
• Provide a comfortable, permissive, non
  threatening environment
• Three focus groups usually provide a good result
• visual aids can be employed, TV, video,
  magazines, to stimulate discussion
• Incentives can be used (pizza is a good one)
• Data collection can be through tape recording,
  video, notes

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Focus group examples

• Are focus groups a good method to use for these
  questions and why?
• (and what kinds of methodologies do these
  questions come from?)
• Question 1
• Understanding the lived experience of becoming a
  first time mum after the age of 40
• Question 2
• Understanding the lived experience of
  alcoholism
• Question 3
• How are new university employees at Bradford
  University socialized into workplace rituals?
• Question 4
• What are the cultural characteristics of a
  highly innovative organization?

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3) In depth interviewing

• In-depth interviews - one person (but sometimes
  two) is interviewed at a time.  The format
  remains unstructured, the interview is generally
  conducted by a researcher, and projective
  techniques may also be used.
• In-depth interviews explore the nuances of what
  people think, feel, and experience
• Ideal for investigating personal, sensitive, or
  confidential information. 
• This type of interview involves asking informants
  open-ended questions, and probing wherever
  necessary to obtain data deemed useful by the
  researcher
• Can be used used to explore conceptual issues at
  an early stage in the development of a
  questionnaire or to complement quantitative
  research
• Valuable for researching people with busy
  lifestyles who would be unlikely to attend a
  focus group - e.g. senior businesspeople - also
  somewhat easier to arrange!!
• The disadvantage of in-depth interviews is that
  the respondent may be less willing to open up
  than in the relaxed atmosphere of a focus group. 
  A skilled interviewer can overcome this, through
  the establishment of rapport and trust

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3) In depth interviewing (2)

• Three main types of IDI
• Informal conversational
• Guided
• Standardised

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3) In depth interviewing (3)

• Truly open-ended questions cannot be answered by
  yes or no, do not pre-determine the answers and
  allow room for the informants to respond in their
  own terms. For example, tell me about the last
  time you went clothes shopping, tell me about
  typical work place relations at Bradford
  University
• Start with simple questions relating to
  experiences or actual behaviour or incidents
  rather than jumping straight into feelings,
  emotions etc.
• Probing
• Establish rapport

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4) Projective techniques

• A technique to use in different research
  encounters (i.e. interviews or focus groups)
• Based on the projective hypothesis
• Stimulus an be a question, a fantasy, an
  incomplete sentence, a drawing/cartoon, an
  observed situation, a photograph, word
  association, a shared construction of a collage
  or simply what do you think other people think
  about x? (otherwise known as gossip!!)

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Projective techniques (2)

• The Zaltman metaphor elicitation technique (ZMAT)
• Based on the idea that we think in pictures and
  metaphors
• We need to get at those to understand what/how
  people are really experiencing phenomena

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Projective techniques (3)

• Thematic apperception test (TAT)
• A drawing, picture or video of a particular
  situation is presented to the participant and
  they are encouraged to explain what they think is
  happening what is going on here?
• OR Ask participants to draw a cartoon or line
  drawing of a particular situation
• The data generated from the discussion can be
  analysed in several ways to generate themes and
  models, thick description, discourses and/or
  concepts

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Sampling in qualitative research

• We have already talked about this, can you
  remember?
• Different sampling techniques can be used at
  different stages of the qual research project
• Probability sampling is inappropriate for QUAL
  research why?
• Purposive sampling
• Theoretical sampling

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Fit within overall topic

• Introduction to specific research methods
• You need to know the pragmatics of methods to do
  any research
• In qualitative research the onus is more on you
  as research instrument so even more important
  that you understand specific methods, where they
  came from, how they work and have worked through
  examples