OTHER TYPES OF
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
ACTION RESEARCH
HISTORICAL RESEARCH
THE CASE STUDY APPROACH
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2010
Action Research
 “A model
for enacting local, actionoriented approaches of investigating”
(Berg)
 A research framework used to…
Produce
useful knowledge through research,
education, and sociopolitical action
Enlighten and empower the average person
in a group
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2010
Origins of Action Research
Kurt Lewin first used the term “action
research” in 1946 to describe “research
leading to social action” that uses “a spiral
of steps, each of which is composed of a
circle of planning, action, and fact-finding
about the result of the action”
 Criticized as having an intrinsically political
nature.
 “Participation is empowerment and
empowerment is politics” (Berger)

Participatory Action Research in
the Community
Increasing use of action research methods
to perform community based research
(CBR)
 Rationale:

 Perceived
academic-community disconnect
 Criticism of overly narrowly defined research
by academia
 Perceived need for students to develop civic
capacity and democratic citizenship
Community Based Research (CBR)
Can have a local, regional, national or
global focus
 Using action research in communities is a
way of combining academic knowledge
with praxis with the goal of social and
economic justice for all

Praxis
From the Greek praxis (refers to work
performed by free men)
 Aristotle: three types of activity and related
knowledge in life:

 theoria
(the theoretical pursuit of truth)
 poiesis (with the goal of making things and
production)
 praxis (with the end goal of action)
Karl Marx and Praxis
In Communist Manifesto (Marx, 1848),
noted need for working class (proletariat)
to overcome false consciousness
 to develop class consciousness and move
from being “class-in-itself” to become
“class-for-itself”
 Achieved through praxis = knowledge and
research should inform one’s action (Marx,
Theses on Feuerbach 1845)

Action Research in the Community


Has become popular method for teaching
community members (esp. in low income areas)
to explore, challenge, and react to own needs
Paulo Freire advocated community controlled
social change in Brazil. Freire (1990) wrote,
 "The
silenced are not just incidental to the curiosity of
the researcher but are the masters of inquiry into the
underlying causes of the events in their world. In this
context research becomes a means of moving them
beyond silence into a quest to proclaim the world.”

Orlando Fals-Borda organized PAR conferences
for researchers in Colombia to teach them how
to collaborate with and empower members of
peasant groups in creating their own forms of
social change.
CBR Principles

Research should:
 1.
be a collaborative enterprise
 2. validate multiple sources of knowledge and
employ mixed methods
 3. have the goals of social action and social
change in order to achieve social justice
The Research Process
 Identify
the research questions
 Gather the information to answer the
questions
 Analyze and interpret the information
 Share the results with the participants
 In participatory-action research and
CBR, the participants are active
collaborators
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2009
Berg’s Basics
 Looking
Gathering
information, identifying
stakeholders
 Thinking
Making
interpretations, analyzing
collected data
 Action
Application
of results to improve lives of
stakeholders
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2010
Guiding Questions of Analysis
 Why?
Establishes
a general focus for the
investigator and stakeholders
 What
Help
 Who,
and How?
to establish the problem issues
Where, and When?
Specific
actors, events, and activities
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2009
The Action Researcher’s Role
 Holistic
Collaboration
with local practitioners
Collaboration with local stakeholders
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2010
Berg’s Types of Action Research
 Technical/Scientific/Collaborative
Testing
interventions based on a
theoretical framework
Researcher collaborates with practitioner
Practitioner facilitates implementation
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2010
Types (cont.)
 Practical/Mutual
Collaborative/Deliberate
Researcher
and practitioner collaboration
 Mutual
identification of problems, causes,
and interventions
Empowering
and emancipating
stakeholders
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2010
Types (cont.)
 Emancipating
or
Empowering/Enhancing/Critical Science
Apply
theory and book knowledge to the
real world
Raise collective consciousness of
practitioners
Promote change
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2010
Photovoice
 Subjects
themselves photograph certain
aspects of their lives
Can
empower and enable reflection
Encourages dialogue and knowledge
transfer
Allows sharing of perceptions of those not
in control with those in control
Can be key to giving members of
disenfranchised groups a voice
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2010
Methods of Photovoice
 Selecting
Photographs
Which
photographs most accurately
reflect the issues?
 Contextualizing
Offer
Stories
accounts about photographs
 Codifying
Identify
central issues, themes or
theories
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2010
Photovoice Projects
 Photovoice.ca
Women’s
Journey
Urban-Rural Process
Nya:Weh: Our Stories Our Way
Historical Research
 To
understand the historical nature of
phenomena, events, people, agencies
and institutions
 Historiography
systematic
reconstruction of the past
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2010
Value of Historical Research




It throws light on present and future trends.
It enables understanding of and solutions to
contemporary problems to be sought in the past.
It can illuminate the effects of key interactions
within a culture or sub-culture.
It allows for the revaluation of data in relation to
selected hypotheses, theories and generalizations
that are presently held about the past and the
present.
Data Sources
 Primary
Sources
oral
or written testimony of eyewitnesses
Documents, photographs, recordings,
diaries
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2010
Data Sources
 Secondary
Sources
oral
or written testimony of people not
immediately present
Oral histories
Newspaper stories, textbooks
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2010
Data Sources
 Tertiary
Sources
presentation
or collection of primary or
secondary sources
Almanacs, biographies, encyclopedias
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2010
Steps in Historical Research
 Identify
an idea
 Conduct a literature review
 Refine the research questions
 Select historiography
 Identify primary and secondary
sources
 Confirm authenticity and accuracy
 Analyze the data
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2010
Evaluating Primary Sources
 External
Criticism--Authenticity
Who
wrote the source?
What was the intended audience?
Historical context?
 Internal
Criticism-Accuracy
What
does it mean?
Why was it written?
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2010
Oral History
 To
collect real-life experiences and
stories from individuals about their pasts
 Gives narrative access to real-life
experiences and memories
 Uses depth or intensive interviewing
 Necessitates good interviewing skill
 Oral history interviewing is valuable for
history, anthropology, and folklore.
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2010
Oral History (cont.)
 Gathers
data not available in written
records about events, people,
decisions, and processes.
 Can show how individual values and
actions shaped the past, and how the
past shapes present-day values and
actions.
 Methodological problem:
 Grounded
in memory, and memory is a subjective
instrument for recording the past, always shaped by the
present moment and the individual psyche.
Why Collect Oral Histories?

Listen to Alice Nixon Cooper (104 years
old) and her recollections of the American
south and “the Jim Crow days”
Case Study Approach
Provides a “holistic description and
explanation” (Berg)
 Research skills needed:
Inquiring mind
Ability to listen
Adaptability and flexibility
Understanding of the issues
Unbiased interpretation of data

Types of Case Studies
 Intrinsic—better
understanding of a
particular case
 Instrumental—focus on single issue or
concern
 Collective—extensive study of several
instrumental cases
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2010
The design can be…
 Exploratory
as a prelude to a large social
scientific study
 Explanatory as in causal studies
 Descriptive to establish an overall
description and framework
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2010
The Organizational Case Study
 Systematic
information gathering
 Can use grounded theory approach
 Insight into the life of the organization
Relationships,
behaviors, attitudes,
motivations, stressors
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2010
Community Case Study
 Geographically
delineated unit of
larger society
 Provides awareness of community
occurrences
Why
and how things occur
 Interest
groups
 Social Classes
 Can use participatory action research
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2010
Case Study Example

A Case Study of Organizational Stress in
Elite Sport (Woodman and Hardy, 2001)
 Case
study performed in Wales of 15 elite
athletes using standardized interviews
 This study uses content analysis and
grounded theory to analyze data