Qualitative Research Methodology
Ben Daniel, PhD
Senior Lecturer & Coordinator of Educational Technology
Higher Education Development Centre (HEDC)
University of Otago
Dunedin, NEW ZEALAND
ben.daniel@otago.ac.nz
Today’s Agenda
• Framing qualitative research project
• Qualitative approaches/design
• Steps in qualitative study
• Ethical considerations
• Sampling
Break
• Types of data
• Data collection
• Data analysis
• Reporting qualitative study
Workshop Outcomes
• Learn and practice inquiry processes for
conducting qualitative research
• Understand how to:
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frame the study,
use an inquiry/approach
describe methods of data collection
select an appropriate sampling strategy
perform steps in qualitative data analysis
report your results
Qualitative Research
Methodology—What it is?
Quantitative vs. Qualitative:
• Thought of as Objective
• Thought of as Subjective
• Tests a Theory
• Develops a Theory
• Measurable
• Interpretive
• Researcher stay away from the
process
• Researcher is part of the process
• Strives for generalization – leads
to prediction
• Strives for uniqueness – leads to
understanding
• Basic element of analysis is
numbers
• Basic element of analysis is
words/ideas, voice, audio, etc
• Context free
• Context dependent
When to use Qualitative Research
• Qualitative research methodology is suitable when
a researcher:
– wants to generate new theories
– wants to achieve a deeper understanding of a social
phenomenon
– was to develop and narrate a detail participants stories
– wants to gain further analysis of a new phenomenon
Qualitative Research: Solving a Puzzle
• Solve this puzzle below
Hurrah
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Solving the Puzzle
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Discussions
• In which projects would you expect to see a
qualitative methodology used?
– A comparison of the effectiveness of face-to-face teaching
method versus online teaching
– An investigation of Zanzibar public’s knowledge of the role of
SUZA in economic development
– Experiences of SUZA lecturers in the utilisation of OERs
– Tourists perceptions of Zanzibar as a holiday destination
Qualitative Research: Key Features
Lack of General Standards: How to Judge?
Adapted from the Balanced Scorecard by Robert S. Kaplan and Dave P. Norton. Harvard Business School Press. 1996
Qualitative Research Methodology Process
(Daniel & Horsburgh, 2009)
Qualitative Research:
Framing the Study
Problem Statement: What it looks like
• A qualitative problem statement includes:
– a single sentence
– E.g. “The purpose of this study . . .”
– compose of a central phenomenon
– uses words (e.g. “explore,” “understand,”
“discover”) are used
Tips for Wordings
• Begin: Use words such as “how,” “what,”
• Tell: What are you trying to know “discover,”
“generate,” “explore,” “identify,” or “describe”
• Inquire: “what happened?” to describe
• Ask: “What was the meaning to people of what
happened?” to understand
• Ask: “What happened over time?” to explore a
process
Problem Statement: Exercise
Write up a problem statement for a qualitative
research project
Sample
• “The purpose of this qualitative study (replace
later with type of qualitative tradition) will be to
..………(understand, describe, develop,
discover) the……(central focus)
for……(participants: person, process, groups)
at……(site of study)."
Qualitative Research
Design
Qualitative Research Design
• A qualitative research design involves specifying
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a research topic
philosophical assumptions,
which data collection techniques will be used,
approach to data analysis,
approach to writing up
• A research design provides a road map for the
entire project
Types of Research
Inquiries/Approaches
(Allyn and Bacon, 2008)
Approaches for Inquiry
Qualitative Approaches
• A qualitative research approach refers to a general
way of thinking about conducting research
– It describes clearly the purpose of the research,
– the role of the researcher(s),
– the stages of research, and the method of data analysis
Approaches
• Case Study
• Phenomenology
• Ethnography
• Grounded Theory
• Narrative Analysis
Case Study
• Case study is used to describe a unit of analysis
– e.g. exploring academic staff experiences (satisfaction)
in the use of ITC for teaching
– e.g. Examining Secondary school students’ perceptions
of Nuclear Physics as a Scientific Discipline
• A case study looks at episodic events in a
definable time and setting
Exercise: Describe a Case in your field
Ethnography
• Ethnographic research comes from social, cultural
anthropology—based on examination of cultures
• It is an in-depth description of a people through
“immersed” participant observation
– E.g. Understanding the culture of street children
• Ethnographers seek to place the phenomena studied
in their social and cultural context
Exercise: How would you use this
approach in your study?
Phenomenology
• Phenomenological research is the study of lived
experience of participants
• As a research approach it is the study of essences
where researchers ask:
– What is the essence of this phenomenon as
experienced by people who lived it?
– What does it mean to them?
– E.g. investigating the life of teachers in secondary
schools in Zanzibar
Exercise: How would you use this
approach?
Grounded Theory
• Goal to develop a theory from data
• Involves an iterative process
• Questions asked drive data and results
Exercise: How would you use this
approach?
Narrative Inquiry
• It emphasize the importance of language as a
vehicle for communication
• Employed in Anthropology, Sociology, Education,
Nursing, Law, Linguistics, etc.
• Stories are symbolic actions that create social
reality
Structure of a Story
Exercise: How would you use this
approach?
Ethics
Important Ethical Considerations
• Mutual respect and trust(prolonged interaction)
• Respect for social and cultural contexts
• Voluntary participation
• Informed consent
• Beneficence – doing good for others and preventing harm
• Confidentiality
Group Task
• Develop a research statement that employs a
qualitative research methodology
• Identify an appropriate approach and discuss
with others why this is relevant to the problem
you described
Sampling Strategy
Literature Review
• Literature review is often carried out before or
after data have been collected and analyzed
• Some researcher delay review to avoid leading
the participants
Exercise
Epistemology and Ontology
• What are your beliefs about your area of
research?
• What are your experiences and how does that
inform your views on knowledge?
• What methods of investigation is relevant to your
study
Selection of Participants
• The sampling techniques is often non-probabilistic
• Clear criteria and rationale for sample selection
• The goal is not generalization of findings but rich
descriptions of phenomenon as it is experienced
Sampling Techniques
Some Facts: Data Collection
• “Informant-driven” rather than “theory-driven”
• Data is collected in the “field” – the natural world
where people live and experience life
– an investigator should be nonintrusive
– spends a prolonged time in the field
• Some researchers used multiple methods
Break
Data Collection Methods
Method of Data Collection
• Qualitative research usually involves one or more
of the following data collection techniques
– In-depth interviewing
– Observation—including participant and non-participant
observation
– Focus groups
– Textual/content analysis
Purpose of Interviews
• The qualitative research interview seeks to:
– describe meanings of central themes in the life world of
participants
– enable participants to tell their story the way they wish
– ask participants one general questions but encourage
them to open up and lead them with little influence
Key Facts
• Interviews are often effective when a
researchers gain rapports from participants
Types of Interviews
Choose a topic: 5 minutes interview
Interview Process Stages
Participant Observation
• In participant observation a researcher immerses in
a chosen setting for a period of time in to gain an
inside perspective of a culture
– The term culture is broadly defined to include activities,
behaviours, values, expectations within a group
– What to look for—e.g. what makes postgraduate
students different from undergraduate students at
SUZA?
Participant Observation Template
• Guiding questions to
• Alternative Approach
participant observation
– How are people arranged in
– Who is present?
– What is happening?
– When does the activity
happen?
– Where is the activity
happening
– Why is the activity happening
– How is the activity
organized?
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the environment?
What are the people doing?
How are people related?
How are their activities
organized?
Is there a sequence or pattern
to events?
What are their values, beliefs,
assumptions?
Data Analysis
Qualitative Data Types
• Largely unstructured
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Text
Video
Pictures
Sounds
smell
taste
Preparation for Analysis
• Transforming data into usable form of analysis
• Developing a meaning way to organise or sort
data
Before Data Analysis: Think about
• How to map the range, nature and dynamics of
phenomena
• How to find associations
• How to look for explanations
• How to develop new ideas, theories or strategies
Typical Steps of Data Analysis
• Organize and prepare the data for analysis
• Reading all transcripts
• Marking notes
• Developing a codebook
Coding of Qualitative Data
• Codes are chunks of information connected to
specific setting in data
• Coding is the most difficult operation for
inexperienced researchers to master
• The level of determining coding/unit of analysis
subjective and negotiable
Basic Types of Coding
– Open coding: condensing information into
preliminary analytic categories or codes
– Axial coding: organising codes, linking and
identifying taxonomies or keywords, ideas etc.
– Selective coding: examining previous codes to
identify and select specific passages that will support
the conceptual coding categories previously
developed
Tools for the Analytical Process
• Summaries
– Should contain the key points that emerge from undertaking
the specific activity
• Self Memos
– Allow you to make a record of the ideas which occur to you
about any aspect of your research, as you think of them
• Researcher Diary
– Reflections
CAQDA Software Packages
• Data management environments—helps to
manage, classify and interpret data
• Types
– NVivo
– Atlas-ti
Project Exercise: a Research Proposal
Assume that you are employed by a nonprofit organization that has worked for
years to provide poor people with affordable housing in Stone Town. The funding
agencies have indicated that they are pleased with the number of homes your
organization has built, but they want to learn about the impact of those homes on
those who live there before renewing the grants that support your organization’s
housing program.
• Discuss in groups how you would approach this project
• Develop a research statement based on a qualitative paradigm
• What appropriate research approach would you use and why?
• How would you collect data?
• How would you approach your data analysis?
Writing up the Report
Reporting Qualitative Research
• Narrative form of reporting is common
– and quotations are used to illustrate & substantiate
• Attention paid to how meaning is derived and how labels
come to be applied and how assumptions are made
• The explanation and analysis built from the data will
include:
– Comparing differences and similarities of themes in the data
– Tracing developments
– Descriptive explanations and theorizing
Thank you!
Ben Daniel, PhD
Higher Education Development Centre (HEDC)
University of Otago
Dunedin, NEW ZEALAND
ben.daniel@otago.ac.nz