Qualitative Research Methods
Ryan Cannon
Adriana Cantu
Focus Groups
 A focus group is a form of qualitative research in which a group of people are
asked about their attitude towards a product, service, concept, advertisement,
idea, or packaging.
 Usually consists of 6 to 12 participants who are gathered to discuss a topic.
 This group is lead by a facilitator (or moderator), as opposed to an
interviewer.
 The facilitator describes the topic to be discussed and tries to create a
nonthreatening environment in which all group members feel free to express
their opinions, attitudes, and experiences even if they differ from those of other
participants.
 The facilitator should have a predetermined set of questions (also known as a
“questioning route”) to ensure that all relevant aspects of the topic are
discussed and everyone in the group gets involved.
Questioning Route for Stress Focus Group
Opening comments:
Welcome statements regarding the purpose of the study, focus group procedures, and ethical
issues.
Opening comment:
“Please tell us a little bit about yourself.”
Introductory question:
“Stress is prevalent in our everyday lives; many people fell stressed. In thinking about your daily
life, what does stress mean to you?”
Transition questions:
“Is stress a positive/negative factor in your life? In what ways is it positive/negative?”
Subprobe: “What is it about stress that’s good or bad”?
Key Questions:
“What are the things that contribute to stress in your life?”
Subprobe: (a) “How does this work? Does one thing contribute more stress than others, or does
the combination of many things contribute to stress?” (b) “Do you have any particular health
concerns that contribute to your feelings of stress? Can you tell us more about this?” (c)
“Besides possible health concerns, is there anything else that adds to your feelings of stress?”
(d) “does being a manager contribute to your feelings of stress? If so, describe how.”
Ending Questions:
“All things considered, what would you say is the major cause of stress in your life?”
“Is there anything about stress that we haven’t talked about that you would like to raise before we
leave tonight?”
Focus Groups
Typical focus group lasts about an hour
Typical to use two or more focus groups in
a given research project
Advantage of using focus groups in research
 Reveals the evolution of perceptions in a social context.
 Focus group method began as a business marketing research tool
when researchers realized that the perceptions of an individual in
isolation may be different from his or her perceptions as they develop
in a social context.
Example:
A new product that initially seems satisfactory to an individual may
been seen as less desirable after he or she has discussed it with other
individuals who may have different perspectives on it.
Weaknesses of Focus Groups
 Researcher has less control over a group than one-on-one interview
 Data are tough to analyze because the talking is in reaction to the
comments of other group members
 The number of members of a focus group is not large enough to be a
representative sample of a population; thus, the data obtained from the
groups is not necessarily representative of the whole population, unlike in
opinion polls
 The design of the focus group study (e.g. respondent selection, the
questions asked, how they are phrased, how they are posed, in what
setting, by whom, and so on) affects the answers obtained from
respondents.
 New Coke
Case Study
 Qualitative descriptive research that is used to look at individuals or
small groups of participants.
 Looks for How and Why
 Researchers collect data about participants through direct observations,
interviews, tests, examinations of records, and collections of writing
samples.
 Draws conclusions only about the participant or group and only in that
specific context.
 Researchers do not focus on the discovery of a universal, generalizable
truth, nor do they typically look for cause-effect relationships; instead
emphasis is placed on exploration and description.
Types of Data Collected in Case Studies
 Documents
 Archival Records
 Interviews
 Direct Observation
 Participant Observation
Case Study
Strengths:
Flexibility
 The case study approach is a comparatively flexible method of scientific research. Because its
project designs emphasize exploration rather than prescription or prediction, researchers are
comparatively freer to discover and address issues as they arise in their experiments.
 The looser format of case studies allows researchers to begin with broad questions and narrow
their focus as their experiment progresses rather than attempt to predict every possible
outcome before the experiment is conducted.
Emphasis on Context
 By seeking to understand as much as possible about a single subject or small group of
subjects, case studies specialize in "deep data," or "thick description"--information based on
particular contexts that can give research results a more human face. This emphasis can help
bridge the gap between abstract research and concrete practice by allowing researchers to
compare their firsthand observations with the quantitative results obtained through other
methods of research.
Case Study
Weaknesses:
 Difficult to generalize because of inherent subjectivity and
because they are based on qualitative subjective data,
generalizable only to a particular context.
 High investment for non-generalizable results: A budget
request of $10,000 to quantitatively examine 200 subjects
sounds more efficient than a similar request to examine four
subjects in a case study.
Interviews:
Semi-structured Interviews:
Most widely used type of instrument for
collecting data
Typically face-to-face interviews and tape
recorded
Interviews can be examined at a later date (can
be examined by other researchers also)
Interview Protocol
 Consists of written directions for conducting
the interview
 Contains standard set of predetermined
questions to be asked of all participants
 Questions should be pilot tested
Pilot tested on a few individuals that are not involved
in the study
Questions should be revised
Questions should be reviewed by experts in the area
being investigated
Semi-structured Interviewers
The interviewer does not need to ask only
the predetermined questions
Questions can be re-worded
Answers can be asked to be elaborated
Qualitative interviewers need to be skilled
because they are not following
predetermined questions
Novice interviewers need to gain practice and
should receive feedback from more
experienced qualitative researchers
Interviews:
 Issue of reality
 Interviews are primarily perception based
 Objective factual reality is not as interesting
or informative to qualitative researchers as
participants’ perceptions
 Examining perceptions is known as
phenomenological approach
The Interviewer:
Interviewer should be unbiased
Can achieve an unbiased attitude through selfdisclosure
Self disclosure: considering the research
problem in relation to the interviewer’s
background and attitude before conducting the
interviews
Classroom Observation
Method of measuring classroom behaviors
from direct observations
Direct observations specifies both the
events or behaviors to be observed and
how they are to be recorded
Measures the frequency of specific
behaviors that occur in the classroom &
their duration
Classroom Observation
Research on effective teaching typically
includes subjective data based on
personal and anecdotal accounts of
effective teaching.
In order to develop a scientific basis for
teaching, researchers have used objective
and more reliable methods of systematic
classroom observation.
Classroom Observation
Purpose:
Description of instructional practice
 Investigation of instructional inequities for
different groups of students
 Improvement of teachers' classroom instruction
based on feedback from individual classroom or
school profiles
Classroom Observation
Distinction between nonparticipant
observation and participant observation
Nonparticipant observation: the qualitative
researcher sits at the back of the
classroom to observe student/teacher
interactions
Observes individuals as an outsider
Concern: participants behavior may change
because they know they are being observed
Classroom Observation
 Participant observation: researcher becomes
member of the group being researched
Makes observations as an insider
Ex. Teacher who is also a researcher who wants to
study a high school that is widely known for academic
achievement might arrange to teach at a school
providing an opportunity to observe while participating
Making participant observations without awareness
by those being observed brings up serious ethical
problems