EQL 671: QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHOD IN
EDUCATION (Chapters 3 – 6)
Facilitator: Prof Dr Chang Lee Hoon
Types of Qualitative Research Methods
• Ethnography (Chapter 3)
• Case study (Chapter 4)
• Action research (Chapter 5)
• Generic qualitative research (Chapter 6)
Ethnography
• focuses on studying the culture of the school community socio-cultural interpretation on what you observe
• Ethnographic research is especially appropriate when:
– to know “why” people behave in a certain way over a
period of time
– to understand a phenomenon in its natural setting
– to know how, when and why people behave the way
they do when they interact with others in a particular
setting or situation (i.e. social interaction)
– want data to support your understanding of the
complexity of society
Ethnography
• focuses on studying the culture of the school community
- socio-cultural interpretation
• focus on natural, ordinary events in natural settings understand better the latent or hidden or non-obvious
aspects of people’s behaviours, attitudes, feelings and
so forth.
• It uses multiple data collection methods over reasonably
sustained period
• emphasis on people’s lived experiences - locating the
meanings people place on the events, processes, and
patterns of their lives (Miles & Huberman, 1994, p. 11).
• Disadvantages - time consuming (at least six months to
two years)
- risky in terms of access to the group
of people or organisations.
FEATURES OF THE ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH METHOD
WHAT ARE THE STEPS INVOLVED IN ETHNOGRAPHIC
RESEARCH?
(A) The “How” - Wolcott (1999) ethnographic
research procedures require three things
detailed description
themes or perspectives.
interpretation
(B) SAMPLING
• samples are small.
• “convenience sampling” and “snowball
technique”
• gain access to as wide a range of
individuals
• the issue of time and context
C) RESEARCH QUESTIONS
• enter a setting without any research
question in mind (?)
• having research question or at least
guiding questions is a good idea
• research questions may change in the
course of the research as more is
learned.
e
D) WHAT IS THE ROLE OF THE RESEARCHER IN
ETHNOGRAPY?
• Bryman (2004) role of the researcher is
different according to:
1) Open fieldsite and covert role
2) Open fieldsite and overt role
3) Closed fieldsite and overt role
4) Closed fieldsite and covert role
• Ethics issues involved where the overt
role is less problematic.
E) HOW DOES THE RESEARCHER GAIN ACCESS TO THE
FIELDSITE?
• negotiate entry or access.
• seek permission to gain access.
• requires interpersonal resources and strategies, aware of
the obstacles to access and effective means of overcoming
them by understanding the social setting.
• access is continuously negotiated throughout the period of
fieldwork.
• gaining access from gatekeepers:
• having gained access to the setting, the first thing you have
to decide:
WHEN
HOW OFTEN and for HOW LONG
Where to POSITION yourself.
F) WHAT ARE FIELDNOTES?
• Note-taking are done at two levels.
1) surface level
2) observer’s comments
• Spradley (1980) suggested a checklist
• extensive fieldwork by the researcher.
• rich, detailed description - does not attempt to
summarise, generalise or hypothesise. The notes capture
and describe what happened to permit interpretations,
and most of all, to later infer cultural meaning.
• Neuman and Wiegand (2000) suggested some rules for
note-taking
G) THE INTERVIEW IN ETHNOGRAPY
The following are some important points to consider when
conducting interviews:
• establish rapport & be a good listener.
• Choose settings – relax and willing to talk openly.
• what you want to learn from the interview? - list of
possible questions
• If goes of at a tangent in answering a question, listen for
a while
• record important information
• Tape the interview to capture nonverbal clues
• H) HOW TO END THE FIELDWORK?
• ethnographic saturation
• manage the process in a proper way.
- she or he must keep the promise
- provide good explanations for departure.
- ethical commitments must not be forgotten e.g.
confidentiality
I) IS ETHNOGRAPHY OBJECTIVE?
• not objective research but an interpretive effort
• The following are some arguments put forward to support
the ethnographic method:
- subscribe to some form of “cultural relativism”.
- ethnographers are expected to be “reflexive” (note
that it is different from ‘reflective) in their work. Tell the
readers upfront your background and experiences!
- triangulation
- in depth view of people’s behaviours, beliefs, values
and feelings over a long period of time - ethnographic
conclusions are arrived at only over lengthy
consideration.
WHAT IS ACTION RESEARCH?
• encourages the practitioner to be reflective of own
practice with the aim of improving the system (McNiff,
1994).
• based on the belief that practitioner is the best judge of
own practice.
• helps the teacher to bridge the gap between theory and
practice
• According to Guskey (2000), educational problems and
issues are best identified and investigated where the
action is, i.e. at the classroom and school level.
• Carr and Kemmis (1986) - self-reflective enquiry
• O’Brian (1998) - learning by doing
• McNiff (1994),- be aware of their own practice (reflective)
• Ferrance (2000) - examine their own educational
practice systematically and carefully, using the
techniques of research.
WHAT IS NOT ACTION RESEARCH?
• is not problem-solving or consulting but rather a quest for
knowledge about how to improve.
• is not about learning why we do certain things, but rather
how we can do things better. It is about how we can
change our instruction to impact students.
• on turning the people involved into researchers (O’Brian,
1998).
• researcher makes no attempt to remain objective, but
openly acknowledges his or her bias towards the subjects
or participants
• has a social dimension whereby the research takes place
in real-world situations, and aims to solve real concerns.
THE ORIGINAL WORK OF KURT LEWIN
ACTING
PLANNING
OBSERVING
REFLECTING
B) ACTION RESEARCH MODEL BY SUSMAN
C) ACTION RESEARCH MODEL BY KEMMIS AND
McTAGGART (1986)
Phase 1
Phase 2
Techniques for Observation*
(Kember, D. & Kelly, M. 1993. Improving teaching through action
research. Campbelltown: HERDSA
Diary/journal
Records
Supporting documents
Tape recording
Observation
Technique
Feedback
from Students
Closed questionnaire
Open questionnaire
Interviews
Student assessment
Diagnostic
Devices
Learning inventories
Interaction schedules
Diagnosis of conceptions
• Types of Action Research (Ferrance (2000)
–
–
–
–
Individual Teacher Research
Collaborative Action Research
School-Wide Action Research
District-Wide Action Research
• Triangulation
•
Ethics in Action Research (Richard Winter, 1996)
WHAT IS A CASE STUDY?
• Miles and Huberman (1994)
• to qualify as a case study, you have to state the
boundary or delimit what you want to study limit the number of people you intend to
interview, you have to limit the amount of time
you intend to spend.
• “If there is no end, actually or theoretically, to
the number of people who could be interviewed
or to observations that could be conducted, then
the phenomenon is not bounded enough to
qualify as a case (Merriam, 1998, p.28).
• an “instance drawn from a class” (Adelman, Jenkins &
Kemmis,1983) or “action” (MacDonald & Walker,1977)
• could a individual child in the classroom, a classroom of
preschool children, a low achieving high school or a
specific remedial programme in reading
• study in depth because it is intrinsically interesting, to get
a full understanding of the phenomenon, uncover the
distinct characteristics of the phenomenon
• Yin (1994) - most appropriate in situations in which it is
impossible to separate the phenomenon studied from its
context (i.e. the child’s behaviour in relation to other
children in the playground).
Characteristics of case study method used in
qualitative research Merriam (1998),
• Particularistic – focus on a particular individual,
group, event, programme or phenomenon.
• Descriptive – a case study can illustrate the
complexities of a situation, influence of people,
and influence of time on the phenomenon.
• Heuristic – a case can explain the reasons for
a problem or issue (i.e. what happened and
why).
•
Table 1: Summary of Moustakas' core processes of heuristic inquiry
(Moustakas, 1990, p. 15-27)*
Identify with the focus of the inquiry
The heuristic process involves getting inside the research question, becoming one with it,
living it.
Self dialogue
Self dialogue is the critical beginning, allowing the phenomenon to speak directly to one's
own experience. Knowledge grows out of direct human experience and discovery involves
self-inquiry, an openness to one's own experience.
Tacit knowing
In addition to knowledge that we can make explicit, there is knowledge that is implicit to our
actions and experiences. This tacit dimension is ineffable and unspecifiable, it underlies and
precedes intuition and can guide the researcher into untapped directions and sources of
meaning.
Intuition
Intuition provides the bridge between explicit and tacit knowledge. Intuition makes possible
the seeing of things as wholes. Every act of achieving integration, unity or wholeness
requires intuition.
Indwelling
This refers to the conscious and deliberate process of turning inward to seek a deeper, more
extended comprehension of a quality or theme of human experience. Indwelling involves a
willingness to gaze with unwavering attention and concentration into some aspect of human
experience.
Focussing
Focussing is inner attention, a staying with, a sustained process of systematically contacting
the central meanings of an experience. It enables one to see something as it is and to make
whatever shifts are necessary to make contact with necessary awareness and insight.
Internal frame of reference
The outcome of the heuristic process in terms of knowledge and experience must be placed
in the context of the experiencer's own internal frame of reference, and not some external
frame
http://www.psy.dmu.ac.uk/drhiles/HIpaper.htm
Merriam (1988) defines ‘a qualitative case
study as an intensive, holistic description
and analysis of a single instance,
phenomenon, or social unit (p. 21). The
case study can be:
• Descriptive qualitative case study
• Interpretive qualitative case study
• Evaluative qualitative case study
TECHNIQUES FOR GATHERING DATA
• Case studies can be either a single-case
design or a multiple-case design.
According to Yin (1994),
• a single-case design
• Multiple-case designs
• The following are some types of data collection
techniques employed in case studies (Stake, 1995 and
Yin, 1994):
• Interviews: - Closed or Structured Interviews and OpenEnded Interviews. .
• Observations: direct observation of events and
behaviours as well as participant-observation
• Documents: These could be letters, memos, agendas,
administrative documents, newspaper articles and any
other relevant documents.
• Physical Artefacts: These are objects collected from the
setting which could be products made by students and
other individuals, the objects used such as tools or
instruments.
STEPS IN USING THE CASE STUDY
METHOD
Yin (1994) identified the following steps in conducting any
case study.
• The first relates to the research questions which most
likely to be “how” and “why” questions.
• Second relates to the unit of analysis which could be an
individual, a group of individuals, or an organisation.
• Third relates to linking the data collected with the
research questions.
• Fourth relates to the interpretation of findings. A useful
technique is “pattern-matching’ where data collected
from the case may be related to some theoretical
proposition (Campbell, 1975).
Step 1:Determine and
Define the Research
Questions
Step2: Select the Cases and
determine Data Gathering and
Analysis techniques
Step 3: Prepare to Collect the
Data
Step 4: Collect Data in the Field
Step 5: Evaluate and Analyze
the Data
Step 5: Prepare the Report
Figure 5.2 Steps in Using the Case Study Method
[source: Tellis, W. 1997.
Application of a case study methodology. The Qualitative Report,
Volume 3, Number 3]
WHAT IS THE GENERIC QUALITATIVE
RESEARCH?
• Thorne (1997) used the term “noncategorical qualitative
research”; Sandelowski (2000) “fundamental qualitative
method”; Merriam (1998) “generic qualitative method”; “basic
interpretative qualitative study (2002).
• generic qualitative method is a method that “simply seeks to
discover and understand a phenomenon, a process or the
perspectives and worldviews of the people involved” (Merriam, 1998.
p.11).
• does not have a guiding set of philosophic assumptions in the form of
one established qualitative methodology.
• exhibits some or all of the characteristics of other methodologies or
approaches but makes no claim to any particular qualitative
method.
• will use the techniques of ethnography, the case study method,
grounded theory and the techniques of action research, but does not
claim it is either ethnography, case study, grounded theory or action
research
GUIDELINES FOR THE GENERIC QUALITATIVE METHOD?
• may incorporate many of the elements of ethnography,
action research and the case study, but cannot be
considered to belong purely to any of these qualitative
methods.
• focus is on the identification of patterns and categories
with the aim of describing phenomena.
• Besides description, the data is interpreted to explain
phenomena but not with the intention of building or
developing theory.
• techniques that may be employed in a Generic
Qualitative Method depending on the objectives of the
study.
CHECKLIST FOR THE GENERIC QUALITATIVE METHOD [an adaptation of
the Checklist by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence,
(2009, & Spencer, Ritchie, Lewis and Dillon, 2003]
1. Are you convinced that a qualitative approach appropriate?
2. Are you clear as to what your study seeks to do?
3. How defensible or rigorous is your research design or methodology?
4. How well was the data collection carried out?
5. Is the role of the researcher clearly described?
6. Did you clearly described the context?
7. Were the methods reliable?
8. Is the data analysis sufficiently rigorous?
9. Are the data „rich‟?
10. Is the analysis reliable?
11. Are the findings convincing?
12. Are the findings relevant to the aims of the study?
13. Are the conclusion adequate?
ETHICAL GUIDELINES IN QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
•
WHY IS RESEARCH ETHICS IMPORTANT IN QUALITATIVE RESEARCH?
•
WHAT ARE THE FUNDAMENTAL RESEARCH ETHICS PRINCIPLES?
THREE core principles, originally articulated in National Commission for the
Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioural Research., The
Belmont Report (1979) form the universally accepted basis for research ethics.
- Respect for persons .
- Beneficence
- Justice
- respect for communities (Weijer, Goldsand & Emanuel, 1999).
•
.
•
WHAT IS INFORMED CONSENT?
•
ARE THE CONCLUSION ADEQUATE?
•
HOW CLEAR AND COHERENT IS THE REPORTING OF ETHICAL
CONSIDERATIONS?
HOW DO WE ACHIEVE INFORMED CONSENT FOR QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
Concluding remarks
•
All qualitative research methods share some common
characteristics but different qualitative methods differ in terms of
form and purpose
• Design of qualitative study
- framing of research problem/questions (from general to specific)
- selection of sample (information-rich cases, access)
- collection of data (interviews, observations and documents –
transcripts, photos, videos, field notes, journals, diary, log )
- analysis of data (simultaneously with data collection, different
strategies depending on research design e.g. constant comparative
method, narrative analysis, organising scheme/typology/framework
for concepts/themes/categories/patterns
- validity and reliability – triangulation
- ethics in research – informed consent
- writing up (no standard format)
• Which qualitative research design should I use for my thesis?
You decide and you tell your
readers.